CLIENTS: This morning I welcomed Mrs. Trinity Howard and her five children aboard … EllaGrace (7), Kennedy (6), Jaxon (4), Mason (2), & little Mackenzie (7 months). The three eldest kids fished with me while mom looked after the younger two. The kids’ dad, U.S. Army Specialist James Howard, is an infantryman currently deployed to South Korea. He has served for nine years, including prior service in the U.S. Marine Corps. This was the 20th SKIFF trip of the 2024 season.
To her (great) credit, Trinity has been holding down this 5-kid household (with dogs and fish included) single-handedly for 8 months now, after hurriedly moving from Georgia to Texas only to have her husband deploy while she was “very pregnant”. With no friends yet made at their new post, and no one to watch the other four kids, she opted for a home birth for Mackenzie (now 7 months old) with the aid of a mid-wife. Wow! Did I mention she homeschools? Wow again!!
ABOUT SKIFF: SKIFF trips have been provided to military families at no charge since May of 2009. SKIFF is funded by donations from Austin Fly Fishers, The McBride Foundation, & Austin Subaru. S.K.I.F.F. provides kids of military members separated from their families by duty commitments with the opportunity to fish. SKIFF trips are also provided to Gold Star families who have lost their service member. In mid-2019, SKIFF began providing trips to kids of bona fide disabled veterans. I conduct these 3.5 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir year ’round. Call or text 254.368.7411.
DATE: Tuesday, 01 October 2024 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES: Next open dates: 11 & 12 Oct. (AMs and PMs)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Kennedy (6), Jaxon (4), and EllaGrace (7) with a few of the 100 fish they landed on Lake Belton. The kids fished for sunfish with bait, then we targeted white bass via downrigging, then with MAL Original Lures worked vertically.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Fishing with young kids demands a few things: keeping it interested by building in transitions, keeping fish coming over the side of the boat routinely, and keeping an eye out for when the kids have reached their limit.
This morning was particularly challenging with my three anglers ranging from 4 (the youngest I normally allow onboard) to 7 (the age at which some kids can function pretty autonomously).
We began our trip fishing for sunfish with telescoping bream poles up in shallow water to ensure some “instant gratification” and to make sure the kids were successful right off the bat. The kids landed 30 sunfish, including 28 bluegill and 2 green sunfish.
Next, after seeing some light topwater action out over open water, I ran to it, put downriggers down, and helped the kids add another 16 fish to their tally. This included one largemouth bass, two hybrid striped bass, and 13 white bass caught as singles, doubles and triples on downrigged 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #12 Pet Spoons.
After a shoreline snack break, we moved to yet another area and employed our third and final tactic for the day — working MAL Originals vertically up off the bottom through heavily schooled white bass using a “smoking” tactic. By now, Kennedy had dropped out of the batting order (as she was recovering from a bit of a bug she’d caught last week). So, now I had EllaGrace to my right working an MAL Lure like a pro, and Jaxon to my left on the starboard gunwale very enthusiastic, but with limited manual dexterity and strength. So, I just let EllaGrace do her thing while I dropped the MAL Lure to bottom, reeled it up until a fish struck, then handed it off to Jaxon to reel in with the rod propped up in the downrigger’s rod holder so all he had to do was turn the reel’s handle.
We arrived at that final area with 46 fish in the boat, and those two kids landed an additional 56 fish in short order.
By 10:38, the kids had landed exactly 100 fish. The light breeze we’d enjoyed had gone flat, the temperature was rising, and the kids were spent. We called it a great morning right there and enjoyed the breeze created by the boat’s movement across the water as we made our way back.
Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We smoked MAL Originals vertically this morning. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 100 fish caught and released, including 1 largemouth bass, 28 bluegill, 2 green sunfish, 5 short hybrid, and 64 white bass.
OBSERVATIONS:
1) The number of bottom-oriented schools of white bass now found in deep water AND showing a willingness to remain stationary long enough to allow for presentations to be made for substantial lengths of time have increased sharply; these fish are there to stay, likely until the water temps drop below 60F.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Saturday, September 28…
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 8:00A
End Time: 10:38A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F
Elevation: 1.43′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow; .01′ fall in last 24 hours (w/ inflow from Proctor)
Water Surface Temp: 79.1F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NW0-6.
Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a light blue sky.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 1% illumination.
GT = N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Bob Maindelle
Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service
Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle
Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle