Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) Trip for the Barber Boys – 16 Fish

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, July 28, I conducted a Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip for U.S. Army Captain Donovan Canaday’s sons, Colton and Logan Barber, ages 11 and 8, respectively.  Captain Canaday is part of a large movement of troops to Europe announced last week in the local Killeen Daily Herald in which the Greywolf Brigade will take the place of a brigade from another post for a rotation of about a year in duration.  CPT Canaday is an Armor officer with eight years of service.

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, and 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 to make your reservation.

TODAY’S DATE: Monday, 28 July 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  05 August (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 09 August (AM)

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Colton and Logan Barber pushed through calm, bright conditions, tough fishing, and even an upset stomach to land some fish on their free SKIFF trip this morning.

 

FIND CORK RIGS & OTHER WHITE BASS/HYBRID LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

It was a pretty tough morning, but, willing sunfish in the shallows saved the day.  The sun rose hot and bright into humid, calm conditions.  The surface was like glass with no fish or bait dimpling the surface, no birds working, no deer browsing — it was like nature had left town.

We managed two white bass while downrigging, but even finding concentrations of bait to use as a clue as to where to fish for the white bass  was tough.

At the kids’ ages, their attention spans are pretty short, so I dared not grind it out and do one thing for too long of a period of time.

The best action came in the back of a flooded cove where sunfish were hugging submerged vegetation.  The boys operated pretty much autonomously and landed 14 sunfish under floats using live bait.  But, even this was less productive than it typically is as the rapidly falling water (over 0.60 feet in the last 24 hours) tends to move fish otherwise oriented on the shoreline.

As it was, the kids lasted until about 9:30 when a bout of nausea for Colton convinced me that we’d reached the end of our adventure.

RESULTS: 16 fish, all caught and released

 

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SMOKE” AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE HORIZONTALLY USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial 

 

OBSERVATIONS: Hot, calm, humid, bright conditions made it pretty darn tough this morning.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: N/A

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 9:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 3.77′ high with a 0.61 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 2491CFS.

Water Surface Temp: 83.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  S1 increasing to S4

Sky Condition: 10% white cloud cover or less on a hazy sky

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 16% illumination.

GT = N/A

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:  N/A

 

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

Area SH0043C – sunfish

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

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