While away in Juarez, Mexico last week on a home-building mission trip I received a call from Jiashi Zhao. She wanted to take her 7 year old son fishing.

Henry caught the first fish of his life today and earned a Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. First Fish Award doing it!

Little Henry had never been fishing before in his life, and Mother Nature dealt us a tough hand to try to get him initiated, but, we prevailed.

Late this past Wednesday night a significant cold front pushed through leaving us with cold, clear, calm, post-frontal conditions to deal with today. These are not impossible conditions, but they are tough.

Before Henry arrived, I made very sure I pre-located sunfish so as to give him some immediate success and confidence.

When Henry and his mom arrived, I greeted them with the only Chinese phrase I know which means, “How are you?” and is pronounced “Knee-How-Mah?” Henry’s mom, Jiashi, moved to the United States from China in 1998, initially living in Queens, NY. A few years ago she joined the U.S. Army where she now serves on active duty with a Quartermaster unit on Ft. Hood.

We got down to the business of fishing, first with a slipfloat rig targeting sunfish. Henry boated 3 sunfish, all bluegills, in about 20 minutes’ time at our first stop, Area 239. He was so excited!! Both he and his mom were shouting and clapping!! Henry’s first fish earned him a TPWD “First Fish Award”.

As happens with kids who are 7 years old, the novelty of our first approach wore off, so, we then chased white bass in open water using downriggers. We located fish holding tight to the bottom in 20-27 feet of water between Areas 459 and 908 and managed 4 white bass in about 40 minutes’ time. The novelty again wore off.

Next, we made an attempt at locating heavily schooled white bass in open water so we could fish with a vertical jigging technique, but failed at that, which was not surprising given we had no wind at that time.

So, we returned to fishing for sunfish, this time at Area 231, and Henry did much better, this time landing 8 fish with very little help.

By around 11:15, a consistent, albeit light, SSW wind had begun to blow over the entire lake’s surface. I suggested we head out to check a few more deepwater spots before we finished up our day as the direction and velocity of the wind was favorable to “turn on” deepwater white bass.

As we ran sonar over Area 232, a small school of bottom-hugging white bass clearly showed in a feeding posture in about 40 feet of water. Henry, who had already practiced the vertical jigging technique with me, caught a foot-long white bass the first time his slab approached bottom. We continued working over these somewhat reluctant fish for about 25 more minutes, boating 7 more white bass.

Our tally today included 12 white bass, 10 bluegill sunfish, and 1 longear sunfish. Not bad for a boy’s first trip and in post-frontal conditions!!

TALLY = 23 FISH, all caught and released

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 12:15p

Air Temp: 38F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~69.1F

Wind: Winds were near calm until 11:30 when a light SSW4 breeze began, blew for 40 minutes and then stopped.

Skies: Clear, post-frontal, blue-bird skies.

This morning I fished with Lauren and Zachary V., the children of Major and Mrs. Craig V. of Ft. Hood. Craig is currently serving at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and is due home on R&R in just a few days.

Lauren was a very enthusiastic, intense fishing student. Once she caught a few fish on a given technique, she was ready to learn another, or to improve on a technique she’d already learned.

Zach was more of a “tourist” fisherman. If the fish bit, great. If the fish didn’t bite, that was great, too. As long as there was good weather, nature to enjoy, and plenty of snacks in the cooler, he was just fine! Check the blue Gatorade mustache and white powdered sugar from the last of ~14 donuts!

I first got to fish with Lauren and Zach earlier in the summer on a SKIFF trip. They enjoyed their experience and were ready to go again today. We met at 7:30 and boated our first fish at 7:55. We found some steady white bass action out between 35 and 40 feet of water at Areas 931 and 933 up on top of the gentle breakline here, lasting until around 9:30. During this feed the kids boated 28 whites, 27 of which were keeper, with several exceeding 13 inches.

Zach caught the first fish — a nice white bass going right about 11.5 inches. Almost immediately Lauren caught what was to be the only short white bass of the entire trip, measuring around 8 inches. As I removed the hook, she looked at me with concern on her face and very honestly asked, “Mr. Bob, am I prone to catching small fish?” I just smiled, motioned to the sonar screen filled with fish beneath us and reassured her that this was not a genetic thing and that she, too, would catch fish the size of Zach’s, and maybe even larger. She was good with that explanation and went right back to fishing and did, in fact, catch a nice bunch of white bass by trip’s end.

By around 9:30am, the gentle S. breeze which was blowing steadily at 4-5 mph since sunrise, went calm, the surface went glassy and the action died quickly. We tried 2 more areas without any success and then, by request, based on a positive experience last trip, we targeted sunfish in hydrilla beds.

Last Saturday’s rain dropped ~3 inches of water area-wide. The runoff coming down the Lampasas raised the lake’s elevation a shade over 2 feet, so, some of the hydrilla that stood in jeopardy of being left high and dry was now reaching to withing a few inches of the surface — just right for sunfish given the water temperature is still in the mid-70’s.

We hit Areas 231 and 200 with slipfloats and maggots and bagged 17 sunfish up to 6.25 inches. Lauren really honed on the principle of “edges” seeing how the sunfish were abundant where rock met weeds or weeds met muck, but not so abundant in the midst of the weeds or where cover was totally lacking.

By 11:30 we headed back to the ramp to meet mom who seemed to really enjoy her 4 kidless hours this Saturday. The whole family is really looking forward to a trip to Disney during dad’s visit home from serving our country in harm’s way.

TALLY = 45 FISH, all caught and released

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp: 63F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~75.1F

Wind: Winds were S4 until 9:30 then went calm.

Skies: Clear, post-frontal, blue-bird skies.

Environmental Note: I noted no schooling action whatsoever this morning.

Today I welcomed Mike M. and his son-in-law, Keith D., aboard for some plain old fun fishing. Mike was given a gift certificate for a trip with me by his wife last Christmas and has been itching to use it, so today was the day!

Keith lips two of our 3 largest hybrid today. We caught a mess of fish, but all of the hybrid in the mix were short.

Mike holds another “cookie cutter” hybrid. Although we boated white bass from 10-13 inches from this same area, all the hybrid were sized within 3/4″ of this youngster.

Mike told me as we talked things over before the trip that he didn’t care anything about trophy fish, he just wanted to “put something wet and slimy over the side and have fun doing it”.

Weather is everything in this transitional fall fishing season. Watching the fronts and timing fishing trips according to their arrival whenever possible is key from now until the weather stabilizes and warms again in the spring. Today we missed the timing by a bit because the wind shift from SW to NW happened overnight, but, as the winds increased to their maximum of ~13mph in the late morning, the fish did put on the feedbag for about 75 minutes from around 10:30 to about 11:45am.

Prior to this feed, we had boated a total of 10 fish (1 drum, 2 largemouth, 7 white bass) all of which came from small scattered pods of fish. We never graphed a single large concentration of fish, suspended or bottom-hugging, up to this point.

When we arrived in the vicinity of Area 930, I saw, over a 20 yard stretch of bottom white “blobs” for lack of a better term showing on my StructureScan screen in downlooking mode. Traditional sonar gave no indication these fish were here. We got in a hover over these fish, Keith drew first blood, and after that first fish was hooked and began struggling, the entire bottom came alive with what had been resting, low-lying fish. We fished in a 15 foot radius for approximately 75 minutes and boated exactly 66 fish with multiple doubles and triples coming over the side during the peak of the bite.

It’s funny how 3 guys can have the exact same rod, reel, line, lure and be striving to effect the same technique spaced just 2-3 feet apart and have “slightly different results”. As the tactful guide I try to be, I usually blame this discrepancy on the wiles of nature, unpredictable fish behavior, or anomaly, but certainly not on my guests. Mike, however, chose to pin the blame squarely on Keith. Once Keith edged 2 or 3 fish ahead (which implies one or both were secretly keeping score!!) then Mike began to refer to his son-in-law as his “former best fishing buddy”, consoling himself with the knowledge that whomever caught the most was supposed to buy lunch!!

When all was said and done we saw 76 “wet and slimy” somethings come over the side. Keith indicated that may have exceeded the number of fish caught in ALL of he and Mike’s previous fishing adventures COMBINED!!

Great trip, fellows! Thanks for coming out with me.

TALLY = 76 FISH, all caught and released

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 12:15p

Air Temp: 64F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~74.4F

Wind: Winds were NNW11-13.

Skies: Clear blue-bird skies.

This morning I was joined by John and Kelly M. of Troy, TX, and their 13 year old son, Matthew.

Mom landed the big one today! This keeper hybrid hit Kelly’s TNT 180 slab in ~36 feet of water

John and Matthew show off a double caught just seconds apart. Matthew hadn’t used spinning gear prior to this trip, but learned quickly and did well, boating hybrid, largemouth, white bass, and a blue cat today.

We came very close to postponing this trip as the wind forecast fluctuated between SE (marginal) and ESE (very tough) influenced by a low pressure system out to the west of us, but, by 7pm the night before, the weatherman stuck with SE winds in the morning changing to SSE by afternoon, and forecast decreasing cloudiness, so, we made a go of it and the calculated risk paid off.

As expected, the day started off slowly with heavy clouds reducing the amount of sunlight brightening the depths, and with winds as easterly as they would be at any point in the day. We found two small “patches” of fish at Area 929 (caught 3) and at Area 301 (caught 5) and picked up fish at both areas downrigging with a single White Willow spoon and a single Pet Spoon. After Area 929 played out we went searching with sonar over several areas to no avail over the course of almost an hour.

Finally, around 10am, the wind decreased significantly and the skies began to brighten although still 100% clouded over. We headed to Area 904 and saw schooled gamefish on sonar just sub-surface, as well as near bottom but holding up off of it in a feeding posture. We put downriggers down to test the waters and had immediate success and marked two concentrations of fish along the breakline on the NE quadrant of this feature. I prepared to bring the downriggers in and work these congregated fish over thoroughly with jigging spoons. As we made preparations to do that, a mixed school of white bass and short hybrid began to feed on the surface for all of 45 seconds, but, there was no doubt we were in the presence of active fish. We worked our slabs in 35 to 42 feet of water and in the end pulled 7 fish from this location before things went soft.

I then headed back over to Area 929 hoping that would have come alive with the now more favorable conditions, but that didn’t pan out.

I then headed us over to Area 344 and there in 35-36 feet of water we graphed a large school of gamefish and buoyed them. We immediately circled back and e-anchored over them and quickly got our slabs down to bottom. The response was instant and fairly aggressive. Long story short, we sat in that one spot for about an hour and boated 26 fish including keeper white bass, short and keeper hybrid, and even one blue cat. The fish, although responsive, were still far from aggressive as is often the case when there is an easterly component to the wind. We would hook a fish, begin reeling it in, get the entire school jazzed and get a second or third hookup, only to have the school cool off and settle right back to bottom as we unhooked the caught fish and let our slabs fall back to bottom. I watched this play out on the sonar screen over and over again. Interestingly, John and I both noted that some of the more aggressive feeding came during periods of brief rainfall.

By trip’s end we’d boated 41 fish and had missed a few more that came “unbuttoned” as we reeled them in. All in all I was satisfied that we’d done as well as we could have given the conditions this day.

From this point on to at least mid-December fishing will rise and fall with frontal activity. Windy and warm pre-frontal conditions will see excellent fishing, while wet, cool post-frontal conditions will make for good “boat maintenance” days! In between fronts we’ll have average fishing.

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 1:15p

Air Temp: 67F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~76.4F

Wind: Winds were SE11-14 with occasional higher gusts.

Skies: 100% leaden grey with occasional brightening, but no clearing.

Big brother Michael Raines, 11, caught the big one today!

Middle brother Justin Raines, 9, battled a hybrid as the rain came down! You can see a big drop on the end of his nose, but, he’s still smiling!!

Little brother Austin Raines, 5, fished, then snacked, then fished, then snacked, then… well, you get the picture!

The S.K.I.F.F. (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) Program exists to take the children of deployed or deceased soldiers on fishing trips at no charge to the soldiers’ families as a way of showing our support for our troops and providing a respite for their spouses. The following is a note to SKIFF supporters about this most recent outing…

Saturday, 08 Oct. 2011

Dear Austin Fly Fishers and Friends of SKIFF,

This afternoon, in the face of very tough weather conditions, we set off to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

This trip had been planned for over a month and was in celebration of Michael’s birthday. I fished a morning trip and felt fortunate to put together an average catch then. Now, weather was getting nastier so I called to offer to reschedule, but the enthusiasm level was so great, there was no turning back at this point. So, we loaded up and rolled the dice.

I need to back up here and tell you who “we” consisted of, as that in itself is both heart-warming and classic “Army family” stuff. Mrs. Victoria G. (herself a mother of kids in their 30’s and a grandma currently working full time for the US Postal Service) arrived with the 3 Raines’ boys. The boys’ dad, David, is deployed to Iraq with the Special Forces and has been for about 10 months now. The boys’ mom is not a part of their lives on a regular basis, and so Victoria and her husband (an Army buddy of Dave’s) have been mom and dad to the boys for nearly a year now. Two of the boys are overcoming special needs, thus adding even more challenges to daily life. Now if that isn’t a friend, I don’t know what is. Now, add to that the fact that Victoria not only chose to fish with the boys versus leaving them in my care for a few hours, but DID IT IN THE RAIN, well, that’s why I’ve dubbed her Saint Victoria!! What a blessing people like her are to others.

As for the fishing today, well, we headed to the single most productive area I had previously identified during my ~6 hour long morning trip which concluded just a few hours before the Raines boys arrived.

We got right to work and got downriggers down with a spread that included a single Pet Spoon and a single White Willow Spoon. The plan, according to St. Victoria, was to fish until the little one got antsy and then call it a great day right then.

Fish #1 went to little Austin. He reeled in a short hybrid and giggled and screamed the entire time he did it. That was a hoot.

Next, two keeper hybrid fell to the Pet Spoon allowing Justin and Michael to get their lines stretched. And so it went for 3 iterations (3 fish for each boy), not to mention 2 boxes of wheat thin crackers, 2 boxes of granola bars, a few PB&J sandwiches and a whole box of Twinkies (I think I got it all right).

I kept the largest 3 hybrid in the livewell for a photo-op. All 3 fish were 3.5 pounds+. Each time the boys lifted the livewell lid to “check” on the fish, Victoria just shook her head and said, “Those are the biggest fish I’ve ever seen!”.

By around 5:30, just as she suspected he might, Victoria gave me the “sign” that Austin was about to play out, so, we brought in the gear and “went really fast” back to the boat ramp.

The boys traipsed up the hill with me to my pickup and loaded into the back for a ride back down the boat ramp where Victoria was holding the boat and keeping it from getting knocked broadside and pushed up onto the shore in the stiff wind. I got the boat on the trailer and then all 4 of them hopped aboard for a ride to the restroom at the top of the hill with lifejackets and windbreakers all flagging in the breeze — this kind of resembled a parade float at this point if you can imagine that.

What a fun day we had!! The boys were just so excited to be outside, in the rain, in the wind, catching fish, eating soggy snacks, and doing all they got to do — most of which is not typically a part of their day to day lives.

Thank you all for making this possible!!

Sincerely,

Bob Maindelle

TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 3:15p

End Time: 5:45p

Air Temp: 73F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~76.3F

Wind: Winds were SE8-10.

Skies: Skies were 100% grey clouded with increasing thickness and decreasing light levels.

JOINING FORCES COMMUNITY CHALLENGE ENTRY

Submitted by:

Bob Maindelle with the assistance of Dave Hill, Ron Cruse, and Manuel Pena

On behalf of:

Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (S.K.I.F.F.) Program

2328 Pirtle Drive

Salado, TX 76571

254-368-7411

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This is Nadia M. of Belton, TX. Nadia’s mom and dad are both active duty non-commissioned officers in the U.S. Army. She and her sister love SKIFF fishing trips!!

Tell us why you’re passionate about helping military families, i.e., why do you want to help?

My name is Bob Maindelle. I am a children’s pastor and a fishing guide living near Fort Hood, Texas. I am passionate about helping military families because I grew up in and around the military, because I had a great dad who served in the military, and because, as an adult, I began to fully appreciate how profoundly having a great dad impacted me for the better. When my own dad passed away too early, I became passionate about helping kids that were without dads due to death, divorce, and deployment.

In my role as a Children’s Pastor in Killeen, Texas, right outside the gates of Fort Hood, I was on watch when the War in Iraq and when the War in Afghanistan began. As soldier-parents began to deploy for 18 months at a time (and in many cases, several times over), I immediately began to see the impact that their absence made on the family members left behind. I first detected it most notably in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade boys I ministered to. I instinctively knew that the academic, emotional, and behavioral problems they were experiencing was directly linked to missing their parents.

I began to do what I could about what I saw happening around me. I began setting time aside for “Guy Time” wherein boys and girls could spend time with me (a “guy”, hence the moniker) in hopes of making up in some small way for missing the parent serving in harm’s way. I did with the kids the things that I imagined them doing with their father, and the things my father did with me – change oil, mow grass, fix broken things, and fish. Of all these things, the fishing trips really struck a chord with the kids.

I began taking more and more kids, many several times, all from my church at first. Then, I began getting calls from moms I didn’t know to take kids I didn’t know out fishing as word of mouth spread about “Guy Time”. My wife prudently suggested I carry some manner of insurance now that I was dealing with the public and not just families that we knew from church. Well, insurance is costly, so, I set up a small business and began taking adults fishing and subsidizing the “Guy Time” trips with the money earned there, all so that the trips I offered could be offered totally free of charge to the families of our deployed soldiers.

As I gained a following of satisfied adult customers, a call came in inviting me to speak to a fishing club in Austin, Texas, in early 2009. The club’s name is the Austin Fly Fishers. As the presentation wound down I informally mentioned about how paid trips from adult clients went to fund “Guy Time” adventures for kids without dads in Killeen.

The next morning I got a call from a very excited club member, Ron Cruse. He simply said, “Bob, we want to make a way for you to take more military kids on more trips, and not have to do it all out of your own pocket.”

What is the program(s) and/or service(s) that you offer and to whom? How long have you been doing it? (What are you doing to help?)

Over a 3 month span, from February 2009 to May 2009, Ron Cruse, other Austin Fly Fishers club members, and I worked to get our joint venture off the ground. We named it “SKIFF” a generic name for a little boat, the letters of which stand for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun.

Describing what we do to help is very simple — we put the children of deployed or deceased soldiers on my boat in the middle of nature for about 4 hours at a time and make sure they have a blast catching fish. In so doing, we also give the non-deployed or surviving spouse some much needed down time if he or she chooses not to attend along with the children.

At the conclusion of each trip, we send along to the state-side spouse a blog entry summarizing the fishing trip and showing photos of the kids in action. This is done electronically so the deployed spouse can view the blog and digital photos, too, often on the day of or the day after the fishing trip, despite being half a world away. Children are also presented with souvenirs to recount the occasion. We’ve sent home embroidered hats, t-shirts, silicone wristbands, tackle boxes, lures, and more.

SKIFF is open to children from 5 to 16 years of age. We’ve been taking children fishing under the SKIFF banner from May 2009 to present.

The Austin Fly Fishers does all of the fundraising for SKIFF both through donations from their own members and through garnering grassroots, local support from businesses and individuals around the country, but mainly in the central Texas area. It currently costs ~$65 per child to offer the quality excursion the children experience during their time on the water. The Austin Fly Fishers’ efforts have accounted for over $6,700 in funding for SKIFF from its inception to present.

Who is involved? Are you an organization or an individual? Tell us about you or your organization, how it got started, what other programs are offered, etc.

SKIFF is a cooperative effort between the Austin Fly Fishers (a non-profit organization) and Bob Maindelle, a professional, licensed, insured fishing guide. Three Austin Fly Fishers club members, Dave Hill, Ron Cruse, and Manuel Pena, serve as the SKIFF point persons.

As mentioned earlier, this all started in early 2009 when I noticed how positively kids with parents deployed reacted to the time I spent with them in the context of the fishing trips I took them on. I began taking more and more kids, many several times, all from my church at first. Then, I began getting calls from moms I didn’t know to take kids I didn’t know out fishing as word of mouth spread about what I had nick-named “Guy Time”. My wife prudently suggested I carry some manner of insurance now that I was dealing with the public and not just families that we knew from church. Well, insurance is costly, so, I set up a small business and began taking adults fishing and subsidizing the “Guy Time” trips with the money earned there.

As I gained a following of satisfied adult customers, a call came in inviting me to speak to a fishing club in Austin, TX. The group’s name is the Austin Fly Fishers. As the presentation wound down I informally mentioned about how paid trips from adult clients went to fund “Guy Time” adventures for kids without dads in Killeen.

The next morning I got a call from a very excited club member, Ron Cruse. He simply said, “Bob, we want to make a way for you to take more kids on more trips and not have to do it all out of your own pocket.” SKIFF was born at that moment.



How have you touched the lives of military families? What kind of positive impact have your efforts had on the lives of military families – from active duty, National Guard and Reserve to veterans and survivors of fallen troops?

Since the first fishing trip conducted under the “SKIFF” banner in May of 2009 to the time of this writing, 12 October 2011, we’ve conducted exactly 51 fishing trips for 104 children. Those children have landed 2,459 fish, an average of over 23 fish per child. Standing behind those 104 children were U.S. Army and Air Force troops serving in harm’s way. By our actions we let them know we cared about them as we cared for their children – to let them know that their service is noticed and is important and is not forgotten. Standing behind those 104 child
ren were the non-deployed spouses who were suddenly left as single parents to take on the job of two people for a time as the needs of the nation required their loved ones’ attention. We provided a respite, however brief, for these spouses – 4 or 5 hours to decompress, to go shopping unaccompanied, to escape the 24/7 fray of childrearing for just a bit. These are the impacts SKIFF has brought about. In closing, I share here the words of Army Lieutenant Colonel Jeffery Pearce, who, when he wrote these words, was serving in the 89th Military Police Brigade in Baghdad, Iraq …

24 March 2010

Brother Bob,

I wanted to take just a moment to send a very heartfelt thanks to you and the Austin Fly Fishing Club for taking my daughter, Ashley, and her friend, Danielle, out fishing recently at Stillhouse Lake.

As you know, Danielle’s father and I are both deployed to Baghdad, Iraq for a year and miss our daughters immensely. I am so very grateful that you would take time out of your busy schedule to be a Father figure to the girls. They both went on and on about what great time they had fishing with you; I wished I could have been there to see their faces as you guys reeled in fish after fish that day! I am incredibly proud to call you my friend for the time you sacrifice from your own family to stand in a Soldier’s place in supporting our own Children while we are gone. I am genuinely grateful Bob; thank you.

I know that the support you receive from the Austin Fly Fishing Club makes this all possible, so would you please express my sincere appreciation to them as well? I know that there are many, many grateful Children AND Soldier-Parents whose lives are touched through their generous support. The life lessons that come with this wonderful display of generosity will not be forgotten and will be shared with as many Soldiers as I can talk to about it! I am truly thrilled that an organization would dedicate its precious resources towards the support of our Soldiers’ Children. This special program touches our Army’s Families in so many ways. The Army believes that when we recruit the Soldier, we recruit the Family. Your efforts help to ensure that our Families remain “Army Strong” and that, in turn, aids us in our efforts to retain Soldiers and their Families. Ashley still beams when she talks about her fishing trip and how much she enjoyed it. I know that she and every other child that has been graced with this wonderful opportunity will be forever grateful to you.

My hat is off to the Austin Fly Fishing Club; you are all Heros to me.

On behalf of all Soldier-Parents; thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I sincerely hope your organization receives the many blessings you so richly deserve!

Very Respectfully,

Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Pearce

JEFFREY W. PEARCE

LTC, MP

XO, 89th MP Brigade

A few of you have e-mailed and asked if I’d fallen off the face of the planet. After all, I hadn’t posted a local fishing report in at least 3 days!

One of nine false albacore landed in a morning’s fishing off of Montauk, New York.

Paul Dixon and I with a false albacore in hand and a mountain of water coming in behind us. We experienced 8 foot seas less than a 1/2 mile off the beach.

Here the Atlantic Ocean slams into North America at Montauk Point Lighthouse shrouded in fog.

Well, I didn’t fall of the planet, but I did venture to the end of the continent … to Montauk, NY, to be exact, on the extreme eastern end of Long Island.

Each fall loads of baitfish (rainfish and bunker, mainly) exit Long Island Sound headed south down the East Coast as the Sound’s waters begin to cool.

These smaller fish are intercepted at Montauk by southward-migrating schools of striped bass, bluefish, and false albacore.

If you’re lucky and the wind, weather, and tides allow, the fishing can be spectacular.

I linked up with local guide Paul Dixon and, despite heavy seas caused by a stiff east wind the day before and fog during the first 90 minutes of our trip, we got onto some nice fish.

In all I hooked 11 false albacore, also called “little tunny” and landed 9, with other “blowups” that didn’t result in hookups.

Paul had me using a “Deadly Dick” slender jigging spoon for distance work and a white Sluggo topwater soft plastic bass lure for close-in work.

False albacore are in the tuna family and are very hard fighters. We boated fish in the 7 pound class using medium-heavy weight freshwater spinning gear spooled with braid and a fluorocarbon leader. Average fight duration was an honest 3.0 to 3.75 minutes with numerous drag stripping runs after an initial long run on the hookup.

If you like “destination fishing”, you need to time this for mid-September to mid-October and do it!!

Ka’ni holds two of our 59 fish caught this evening. The white bass on the right was the first fish Ka’ni ever caught, and the white bass on the left, measuring 14 3/8 inches, is currently the largest fish he’s ever caught!

This evening I had the opportunity to take a young man from Killeen, TX, out fishing. His name is Ka’ni Wesley and he is a 10 year old 5th Grader. I got to know Ka’ni this past summer when he came to our church’s Vacation Bible School.

Ka’ni asked the Lord to be his Savior during that time so I’d hoped to spend some one-on-one time with him to help him grow in his faith. I found out later that he doesn’t have a dad in his life, so then I really knew I needed to make it a point to have some “guy time” with him.

Well, today was the day. We met at Stillhouse Hollow at 4:00pm and fished until just shy of 8:00pm. The weather was a bit turbulent with SW winds at 8-10 and gusts 2-3 mph higher with grey clouds and light rain showers in the the area.

As we got to talking, he told me he’d never been out fishing before. My plan was to start off with the very basics by fishing for sunfish near what is left of this lake’s hydrilla now that we are 16 feet below full pool due to drought.

As we headed toward the area I had in mind, I checked an area that had been producing well for white bass lately. I count it a blessing from the Lord that, in trying to create a memorable time for Ka’ni, we found a huge concentration of white bass right on top of a mid-lake hump at Area 762 in about 30 feet of water. Sonar just lit up like a Christmas tree literally minutes into the trip, and I knew it was going to be good — offering Ka’ni some instant success to bolster his confidence!

Ka’ni and I had done some practice casting near the boat ramp, so, he already knew how to hold a spinning rod, how to manipulate the bail, close it, and begin a retrieve. We put all these tasks into practice and in no time, he had me down 3 fish to zero as I coached and took fish off the hook and just watched him just having a blast with a huge smile on his face.

That first area produced exactly 25 legal white bass for us before the school moved on.

To add some variety to the mix, we did then head on to fish for sunfish in the shallows, and Ka’ni did well at that, too. We caught a mix of bluegill sunfish and green sunfish at Area HB002 using slipfloats and maggots, and added 13 fish to our tally before the itch for bigger fish returned and we headed back out to deepwater to find some more jigging action.

Right around 6:00pm after doing a bit of searching with sonar, we found fish right on top of Area 232, and it was game-on once again. This time we bagged 17 more white bass before weather began to deteriorate and I spotted lightning in the distance to the NE of us, over the Belton area. I quickly got us off the open water and hunkered down in a protected cove. We took lemons and made lemonade here by breaking out the sunfish gear again and putting a final 4 sunfish in the boat before dark fell early on this cloudy, grey evening.

TALLY = 59 FISH, all caught and released

Start Time: 4:00p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp: 90F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~81.7F

Wind: Winds were SSW8-10 with occasional higher gusts.

Nate G. of Fort Hood is a great young multi-species angler — very talented for his age!

I had the pleasure of fishing this evening with Nate G. today, son of Specialist and Mrs. Leonard Dedinas. SPC Dedinas is currently serving at COB Adder in Iraq as an Apache helicopter mechanic.

It is routine for me to ask children’s parents about their children’s experience level in advance of each trip I take that includes children, just so I know what techniques may and may not be options given the weather and fish activity, etc.

Nate’s mom told me that Nate had done “a lot” of fishing in Florida, that he could use most any kind of fishing tackle, that he had caught quite a few fish, and that he was really excited to be going fishing with me. She was absolutely right on all accounts!!

This 8 year old young man can cast long and accurately, baits his own hook, takes his own fish off the hook, picks up on and imitates successful presentation nuances very quickly, and he can flat catch fish … 41 of them on this day … more than he’d ever caught on any previous trip.

We began our day over some hydrilla focusing on sunfish and did very well there using slipfloats and maggots. After 25 fish in about as many casts, I knew I wasn’t dealing with your “average” kid here!!

We picked our weather, and as we experienced a bit of a decrease in wind and increase in grey cloud cover, we headed out searching for largemouth and white bass feeding high in the water column, and we found both.

At Area 916 and 661, we found bottom-hugging white bass beneath smaller numbers of more aggressive fish feeding on very small shad in the top 8 feet of the water column. A white TNT 180 (for cloudy conditions versus silver for sunny conditions) did the trick in 3/4 oz. today. I sat back, watched sonar, and kept Nate on the fish as he reeled in one after the other — 16 in all — before the skies got stormy and brought a quick end to the action as the sun set early behind a bank of thick clouds to the west, but it was fun while it lasted.

Nate was all for catch-and-release, but not before making sure mom saw some hard proof of his labors. He fished two white bass out of the livewell as we approached the dock at the end of the trip and grinned from ear to ear as he held them up for her and his little sister to see.

TALLY = 41 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 4:00p

End Time: 8:00p

Air Temp: 90F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~82.0F

Wind: Winds were ENE at 4-8 due to some instability.

Skies: Skies were grey and mostly cloudy.

Dick (left, a.k.a. Mr. Snickers) and Claude (right, a.k.a. Mr. Grumpy) show off a set of healthy white bass taken with slabs out of ~37 feet of water.

Caution: Some of the following MAY be exaggerated for humorous purposes …

With the excellent fishing we’ve been experiencing lately spurred on by the season’s first drop in water temperature, I wanted to get long-time friends and co-workers in ministry Dick Chapin and Claude Carson out on the water to experience this fishing first hand.

We met around 6:45a, not because that was the best time to meet, but because, Dick and Claude are grumpy old men (G.O.M.) who think that if on time is good, than earlier is better. Let me explain … I have been fishing 3 to 4 half-day trips a week all summer, and with the stable weather we’ve enjoyed, the fish are readily patterned. I know when they’ll start feeding and when they’ll stop. So, I asked the two of them to meet me around 6:50 – leaving us plenty of time to do all we need to do and be on our first fishing area by sunrise. The grumpy old men informed me they’d be there at 6:45, so, when I arrived at 6:20 to prepare, there the G.O.M. were, no doubt already grumpy that I wasn’t there sooner!!

Well, I thought it’d be best to assess the G.O.M.’s casting abilities before heading out after the fish, so, I armed each with a spinning rod, made sure the handles were on the correct side, and we did some practice casting. Well, Claude got a tangle, cut his line, and sent my lure to Davy Jones’ locker because, in typical G.O.M. fashion, he did not listen when I suggested that he close the bail by hand instead of using the spinning reel’s handle. So, as I fixed his spinning reel, he evidently got grumpy about how long it was taking me and (intentionally?) spilled his sweet tea so as to make my just-cleaned boat deck nice and sticky. Now while all this was going on, Dick, also in classic G.O.M. fashion, snickered loudly enough to be overheard by Claude, which made Claude even grumpier. When I finally got everything retied, I looked over and noted that Claude was taking off his cowboy boots and his socks. Dick asked him if he thought that was a courteous thing to do, and Claude shrugged the comment off. Not one to be shrugged off, Dick said, “Hmmm, I thought we were going to use artificial lures, Claude, but there you are prepping the stink bait.” Dick then snickered at his own joke, and Claude got even grumpier.

So, with that, Mr. Grumpy, Mr. Snickers, and I were now sufficiently mentally prepared to go catch some fish!! I found out that G.O.M. require a certain level of grumpiness to exist so as to function normally, and we were evidently now at this level. As we got to our first area, the fish were just starting to pop bait on the surface. I explained that we’d need to make a cast beyond the fish, reel the baits through the fish while pointing our rods at the fish, and reel with a moderate retrieve. I did this and caught a fish. Dick did this and caught a fish. Claude pointed his rod up at around 11 o’clock and did not catch a fish — now he was even grumpier. He claimed at this point that he was cursed. And so the trip went … for 4 more hours!!! But, what’s 4 hours in the big scheme of things?? I’ve known these fellows for well over a decade and it’s always been like this … in fact, you’d know somethings wrong if they weren’t fussing at one another!!

Note: None of the following has been exaggerated…

Now to be honest, neither Dick nor Claude are grumpy, but they are both old and they are both men, so, two outta three ain’t bad, especially in a fish story, which, after all, this is.

Actually, we had a great trip and did get to chuckle and poke at one another good-naturedly now and then. Once again today, Area 910 provided the first topwater action I spotted anywhere, and there were abundant quantities of gamefish and bait here, however, the winds were nearly slack at sunrise and that always means a less intense feed until winds increase. We did all boat a few largemouth from out of the visible schools of fish feeding in the area, all on swimbaits. When it became apparent that today’s topwater bite was going to be a soft one due to light winds, we went searching for bottom-hugging white bass instead.

We found four distinct, large populations of white bass from between 35 and 48 feet of water, at Areas 912, 913, 914, and 915. Each group was holding at or less than 3 feet off the bottom. We worked shad-imitating slabs through these fish in sizes roughly approximating the size of the bait we saw being chased and being regurgitated by the fish we were landing — about 2.25 to 3.5 inches.

We boated a total of 106 fish today, including 8 largemouth bass and 98 white bass.

TALLY = 106 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp: 76F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~81.5F

Wind: Winds were light and variable, finally picking up from the WNW by around 7mph.

Skies: Skies were fair and cloudless.