CLIENTS: On Friday morning, April 11, I conducted the fourth SKIFF trip of the 2025 season. Joining me was the family of U.S .Army Staff Sergeant Jovan Curtis Sr., who is currently deployed to South Korea where he serves as a heavy equipment mechanic. His wife, Jewels, and their three children, Maliah (16), Jaylah (10), and Jovan Jr. (8) came out with me for a much-needed stress break.
Beyond the stressors of being a single parent during a lengthy deployment, Mrs. Curtis was also dealing with a recent car accident, as well as some uncertainty about her employment with the Veterans Administration.
Not long after launching, SSG Curtis was able to “tune in” through Facetime from halfway around the world and got to see and hear his kids catching their first fish on their first time on a boat!!
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: Friday, 11 April 2025 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 02 June (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 14 June (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jaylah (10), Maliah (16), Jewels, and Jovan Curtis with a few of the white bass we targeted on Lake Belton following the passage of a mild, dry cold front late in the afternoon the day prior.
PHOTO CAPTION: While protecting her manicured nails all set for her prom this coming weekend, Maliah did her best to display this 9-pound smallmouth buffalofish which struck her slab.
PHOTO CAPTION: Jaylah landed this nice hybrid striped bass from out of a school of larger white bass we encountered late in our trip.
PHOTO CAPTION: Twice during this trip Jaylah landed 2 fish on 1 lure at the same time. These fish were very aggressive. Even if they weren’t hungry, they’d still chase after something just to keep another schoolmate from getting it first!
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
We met up at 7:15 this morning with the kids bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, full of energy, and anticipating landing their first fish on what would be their first time out on a boat.
At 10:30, after landing 104 fish, the energy level was considerably lower and everyone looked like they could use a good lunch and a nap!
During this morning‘s trip, we saw the annual threadfin shad spawn continue for the second consecutive day after a four day pause due to a hard cold front the previous weekend. A very mild, dry cold front also pushed in yesterday afternoon. This shifted the winds and dampened the bite just a bit, but the fish were still plenty aggressive.
For simplicity sake, due to their total lack of prior fishing experience, I simply had the kids work silver, 3/4 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs vertically using a smoking tactic in conjunction with the splasher.
The splasher drew in fish and kept them beneath us while the kids worked on exacting their technique. I did not introduce the GARMIN LiveScope until after the kids had the fundamentals under their belt. Even then, LiveScope was far from necessary, as the fish were just that cooperative.
We fished in under 25 feet of water until 10 o’clock rolled around. At that time, the shallow water bite went soft as the sun climbed and the winds slacked off. I made one final move and found fish in 41 feet of water. We put our final 27 fish in the boat at this area, bringing the kids’ tally to104 fish.
Twice during the trip Jaylah landed a double, catching two fish on her lure at the same time, and the big fish award went to Maliah with a 9-pound smallmouth buffalo.
RESULTS: 104 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial
LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the silver 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab exclusively to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS:
- Threadfin shad spawn resumed yesterday after a four day pause due to a harsh cold front 5-6 April. Shad were on banks opposite those from yesterday due to light N. wind.
- No helpful bird activity.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:20AM on Thursday, 10 April
This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Wednesday, 02 April…
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 10:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F
Elevation: 3.05′ low
Water Surface Temp: 62.9F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: N5-7 all morning
Sky Condition: Cloudless, light blue skies all AM
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 98% illumination.
GT = N/A
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic 748 – 28 fish smoking Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic B0074G – 3 fish smoking Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 097 – 46 fish smoking Hazy Eye Slabs
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