The following blog entry appears in the form of a report to those who support the Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (S.K.I.F.F.) program …

Mason started things off right this morning. Our first fish boated was this 5.25 pound largemouth. Its belly was unusually distended, making me think it had just eaten a sizeable sunfish, drum, or gizzard shad.

Not to be outdone, big brother Tyler boated an outsized white bass today — it measured 14.75 inches.

20 February 2012

Dear Friends of S.K.I.F.F.,

Today was Presidents’ Day and the local schools were on holiday. This coincided with good weather and so I made some arrangements and fished this morning with Tyler and Mason Chapman, the sons of Captain Micah and Mrs. Jamie Chapman. Captain Chapman is a U.S. Army Infantry officer currently serving in Kuwait on the operations staff of his unit as part of the 1st Cavalry Division as he awaits company command. This is his 3rd deployment.

Also joining me today were Kyle and Marty Wall, a father and son videography crew who are supporting SKIFF with their filming talents.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect today as we had nearly 2 feet of fresh water come into the reservoir following the much needed rains this past Saturday. The upper 1/3 of the lake is muddy and thus a no-go for white bass, so, we began our search for fish today in clear water.

Things got off to a slow start as the winds were very light.

We did see some herring gulls looking “fishy” in that they refused to leave a particular patch of water near Area 242, but, as much as they circled and looked interested, rarely did one dive down to the water to indicate the presence of bait driven there by gamefish below. We did pick up our first fish of the day at this location — the 5.25 pound largemouth shown in the photo above — on a 3/8 oz. white TNT180 slab.

Next, we headed for deeper water and began sweeping with sonar over some deep (35-45′) breaklines and rises. We located fish at two distinct locations — at Area 1041, and between Area 873 and Area 1042. The action here started very tentatively with only a single drum and a single white bass boated while the wind was still light. By 9:30, the wind was sustained at 8+ and a grey overcast sky was firmly in place … things were about to get fishy!

Over the course of the next two hours the fishing improved and stayed consistent. The boys managed a total of 34 fish caught today, including 1 largemouth, 2 drum, and 31 white bass. This winter fishing can be productive, but it is also demanding. Your technique must be dead on. Even with biting fish as a reward for good technique, good technique is hard for younger kids to maintain for long spells. So, understanding that, I’ve learned to punctuate the time with “transitions”, such as having a snack, taking photos of the catch, checking on the fish in the livewell, checking on the sonar and reporting back to me what is going on … then we return to jigging afresh and try to maintain focus in bursts.

Our film crew did a great job today. I look forward to showing you some of their work at an upcoming Austin Fly Fishers meeting later this year.

In the meantime, thank you all for your support, and let all of us anglers give thanks to the Lord for the much needed rain we received this past weekend.

Sincerely,

–Bob Maindelle

_________________________________

TALLY = 34 FISH all caught and released

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Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp: 43F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 54.8F.

Wind: Winds were S3 at trip’s start, building to S9.

Skies: Skies were 100% greyed over the entire trip.

Following a 4.5 hour trip this morning, I returned to waters at approximately 2:45p with a party of 4 … Andy M. and his son Trent from north Austin, and Andy’s brother-in-law, Coby D., and Coby’s daughter Brynn, in for a visit from Atlanta, Georgia.

(L to R) Brynne, Coby, Trent, and Andy… everybody caught fish today and plenty of them. We boated a grand total of 114 fish, most of which were white bass measuring right around 11 to 11.5 inches. Very few went smaller, and perhaps 10-15 exceeded 12 inches.

All but our young lady guest had extensive prior freshwater fishing experience, and all were quite capable with spinning gear. This alone would increase their potential as the day unfolded.

Keying off of this morning’s success, we began this afternoon’s hunt in deeper water (35-45 feet). It seems the stability this deep water offers during this time of flux with an elevation increase underway is preferred by the fish. I located very few fish today in less than 32 feet of water.

We located fish on 5 distinct areas this evening …

Area 1005 sat in 42 feet of water and produced our first 44 fish for us. These fish were heavily congregated and were in that traditional feeding posture just 6-9 inches off bottom. These fish readily struck our 3/4 oz. slabs fished with a simple jigging technique. Eventually, these fish lost all interest. They still clearly showed on bottom on sonar, but they were now totally disinterested.

Next, Area 935 produced only 4 fish for us, despite seeing a school of 30-40 fish showing on the leeward side of the feature as we idled through and marked the are with a buoy.

Next, we fished Area 1042. This area produced well for us this morning, and the fish were in the exact same place where we’d encountered them in the morning. I noted that as we caught our first few fish, many fish rose up off the bottom by 2-3 feet and then stayed there for quite some time. Seeing this, I had my party switch over to an “easing” tactic. That did the trick and kept our strings stretched for a solid 35 minutes, taking our count up to 96 fish. Eventually these fish moved on.

We moved to just west of Area 259/260 and found the only fish of the day situated in less than 32 feet of water. We found smallish white bass here holding tight to the bottom in 25-26 feet of water. We put a total of 8 fish in the boat, too a break to take photos before the light failed, then went right back to catching fish again, in all putting an additional 6 fish in the boat, taking our tally up to 110 fish.

As the shadows got long and the air began to cool, we headed back towards the boatramp, making one final stop at just north of Area 679-785. We saw fish here at the 30 foot level, but, they were mostly suspended. We broke out our “easing” tactic again on these fish and wound up boating our final 4 fish here before calling it a day and taking a brisk ride back to the boatramp.

TALLY = 114 FISH all caught and released

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Start Time: 2:45p

End Time: 6:25p

Air Temp: 60F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 54.9F.

Wind: Winds were SSW15, slowly tapering to SSW9.

Skies: Skies were fair and 30% cloudy.

I fished this morning on Stillhouse Hollow with Mark K. Mark recently moved to this area from Florida as an electrical contractor working on the Darnall Army Hospital expansion project on Ft. Hood.

We caught fish from start to finish today, all on slabs both jigged and “eased”. Mark grips a pair of 13.50 inch fish taken on slabs today.

This morning’s weather had a fishy feel to it — cool, damp, grey, and cloudy. An occluded front to our SE has been responsible for the balmy conditions these past few days, but, as it moves east, things will no doubt get dicey soon. I wanted to get on the water before the weather began to deteriorate.

Based on below average success fishing early in the morning yesterday, we delayed this morning’s start to 8am. This worked well as we immediately got onto fish and the fish were ready to feed … no tentative takers this morning as I had encountered early on yesterday.

I really enjoyed Mark’s company. He’s a likeable, fit, well-spoken fellow in his early 40’s. Most of Mark’s prior fishing experience came through shallow water angling in Florida, as well as during one conventional tackle bonefish trip to the Bahamas. He was already familiar with spinning tackle and the basics of hooksetting, playing fish, etc. So, without much coaching required, we just focused on putting fish in the boat.

Over the course of our trip we fished only 3 distinct areas and found the situation similar at each. The white bass were in a feeding posture, just inches off the bottom, and were heavily congregated. As we first got our slabs down (we used 3/8 and 3/4 oz. in both white and chartreuse today without any appreciable difference in success) the fish would strike as we worked them in a straightforward jigging technique. After we boated a few fish, they would then get more and more reluctant, responding well to an easing tactic. Eventually, even though lots of fish continued to show on sonar, they would become much less enthused about even the easing tactic. Ultimately, despite fish still being present, they’d just stop hitting, thus sending us looking for a “fresh” population fish, where this cycle would repeat itself.

We fished this way at Area 074, Area 1017, and Area 402 catching equally well at each and putting together a nice bag of 48 white bass and a single drum. We culled our fish to keep just the chunkiest two for an end of trip photo. The fish Mark is holding in the photo both went 13.50 inches.

TALLY = 49 FISH all caught and released

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Start Time: 8:00a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp: 50F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 56.6F.

Wind: Winds were N6.

Skies: Skies were grey and 100% cloudy the entire trip.

In advance of several trips this upcoming long weekend, I got out and scouted around a bit this morning with very good results on Stillhouse.

All but the fish taken around sunrise today were taken in deep water, some in as much as 46 feet. Here you see a tightly grouped school of white bass. These fish were holding just off to the side of a shallower hump.

These fish were among the most aggressive of all the fish I found today. When white bass appear 6-9 inches off of the bottom in a linear formation, they are “hot to trot”!

These fish were the deepest I found today. Most were suspended, although there were a few bottom-huggers here, too. I used a smoking tactic to convince these suspended fish to strike.

As always on scouting days, the object is not to catch a bunch of fish, but to find areas where fish can be caught so I can return their with clients and make them successful.

I launched this morning right around (obscured) sunrise and decided to fish shallow early. I found a few tentative terns working over an expansive area, mostly searching and occasionally feeding. I honed in on one trough-like area between Areas 055 and 995 that the birds seemed drawn to and did find a lot of bait there, with a few gamefish sprinked in. These fish were suspended and moving in 12-16 feet of water and were finicky. I caught my first on flatlining with a Rip Shad 200 as I probed the area. Once I marked fish I worked with a 3/8 oz. chartreuse slab to put 4 more fish in the boat before continuing my search.

My search put me in deeper waters today as follows, enjoying solid success at each area …

Area 074 – caught 5 and moved

Area 1034 – caught 5 and moved

Area 1030 – caught 10 and moved

Area 948 – caught 5 and moved

Area 935 – caught 5 and moved

Area 1036 – caught 20 and moved (used a slow “smoking” technique on the last 10 as an experiment)

Area 1038 – caught 5 and wrapped up

Having a solid handful of areas where the fish demonstrate recent activity is a confidence builder and helps me keep my clients on fish for the majority of the time spent on the water — this is especially important when kids or youth are aboard.

TALLY = 60 FISH all caught and released

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Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 1:15p

Air Temp: 53F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 56.6F.

Wind: Winds were NW6.

Skies: Skies were grey and 100% cloudy the entire trip.

The following blog entry appears in the form of a report to those who support the S.K.I.F.F. program …

Boston caught a mixed bag of 11 fish this morning, including 8 white bass, 1 crappie, 1 drum, and 1 largemouth bass.

11 February 2012

Dear Friends of S.K.I.F.F.,

Today I fished with Boston Dillree, the 7 year old son of Staff Sergeant Dismas and Dr. Amy Dillree of Harker Heights, TX. SSG Dillree is currently stationed at Camp Marmal in Afghanistan where he works in Army Aviation as a technical inspector and crew chief. This is his (catch this!!) 7th deployment in 9 years. Dr. Amy Dillree is a PhD and operates “Behavior for Life, Inc.” which serves children affected by autism and the families they come from.

This trip was a bit different in that Boston has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a high-functioning form of Autism. Meeting new people and entering new environments can be overwhelming to Boston, so, to “grease the skids” a bit, I stopped over to meet him in his own surroundings at home after fishing this past Thursday evening. His mom and I agreed that putting Boston in my boat (a new environment) with me (a new person) could be a bit too much for him. That initial meeting, which included him touring my boat and me getting a look at his Lego collection, went very well and took the edge off of things. Amy told me Boston had really been missing his dad (to the point of tears) lately and this would be a good time for our trip. I knew once I put a date on the calendar, we’d have to make it happen or risk significant further disappointment! So, we nailed down today as our date, but, little did we know what surprises the weatherman had in store for us.

I picked Boston up at 7:40 and we were on the water by 8:00. It was 34F and a brisk N. wind was already up to 11mph and building.

We did a bit of flatline trolling with Reefrunner Ripshads in order to cover water and keep Boston’s hands warm until the sun’s radiation could be felt a bit more. We picked up a white bass, then a crappie, then a largemouth, all around Area 700. This let him explore the boat, ask a bunch of questions and catch fish all at the same time and worked out well. Boston has an i-Pad and does a good bit of research on it. He filled me in on quite a number of Guinness Book world records. Somehow we got on the topic of Valentine’s Day when he asked me if I had any plans with my wife. I told him Miss Rebecca and I were planning to go eat Chinese food that day. He volunteered that he’d be giving “Emily” a Valentine’s Day Card (along with all the other girls and boys in his 2nd Grade class).

When the birds that led us to this area left, we went in search of fish with sonar. I’d scouted several areas this past Monday and Thursday hoping we’d be able to make this trip happen today, but the building wind prevented us from accessing these open water areas. We found fish without having to do a whole lot of sonar work at Area 069. Boston really did well at mimicking the technique necessary for tempting the fish today … we used an “easing” tactic with jigging spoons to get our bait in front of fish holding in loose, small schools about 4-9 feet off bottom. The combination of a good graphite rod and sensitive braided line made the “take” of the white bass able to be readily felt. Boston got the hang of this and stuck with his technique really well allowing him to boat 7 white bass here, all around 11 inches.

After things settled down in this area, we went looking for more fish. We found a congregation of fish at Area 074 around 9:30am and fished over them for about an hour. These fish were in about 26 feet of water and were very tight to the bottom. At the time we got on this area, the winds were really ramping up to what would be their highest velocity of the day — around 16mph. Also, the skies were beginning to clear from the fair appearance they’d had up to this point. This indicates that the pressure was rising and, as they often do, the fish really locked up. Despite jigging right in and among these schooled fish, we managed only to hook 3 and boat 1. By 11:00 or so, the cold was beginning to soak in to Boston. I knew this because he was telling me in great detail about all the places he was currently experiencing “goose bumps”!!

We tried a bit of downrigging without success in a more sheltered area and then headed back in where my sun-warmed Ford F-150 cab greeted us in the parking lot.

Thank you all very, very much for giving to SKIFF and for your fundraising efforts, donations of time, gear, and more. Supporting our soldiers and their families is an honor and I thank you for equipping me to meet their needs!

Sincerely,

–Bob Maindelle

_________________________________

TALLY = 11 FISH all caught and released

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Start Time: 8:00a

End Time: 11:40a

Air Temp: 34F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 55.3F.

Wind: Winds were N11 at trip’s start, building to N16.

Skies: Skies were fair at sunrise, then going bluebird by trip’s end.

In advance of a forthcoming challenge this weekend, I did a little pre-trip scouting this evening.

Here’s where I found fish today on a deep break, as shown on colored sonar. That entire yellow-green mass along the bottom is a densely packed school of fish.

And here is what that same bunch of fish looked like on Lowrance DownScan Imaging.

And … here’s what one of those schoolmates looked like in person!! Note that my slab “matches the hatch” by nearly perfectly imitating the size of the bait these fish were feeding on. That freshly regurgitated shad was thrown up by this white bass just as I boated it.

I’m to take a 10 year-old young man with special needs out this weekend and the conditions are going to be difficult due to stiff north winds and cold front conditions. I scouted several areas Monday and put two more on the “milk run” list today…

The goal of this evening’s trip was not to catch as many fish as I could, but to locate as many fish holding areas as I could. Fish are really not that hard to catch, but, finding them can be a “needle in a haystack” proposition some days.

Today I located fish on Area 935 in about 35 feet of water at around 5pm. I quickly boated 15 fish and left them still very active to find more fish. I next found fish on Area 786 in about 21 feet of water at around 6pm. I boated an additional 14 fish here until they quit biting at dark, around 6:40. These fish were not nearly as densely schooled and, with the failing light, were biting much more tentatively.

TALLY = 29 FISH all caught and released

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Start Time: 3:30p

End Time: 6:40p

Air Temp: 58F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 56.4F.

Wind: Winds were SE7.

Skies: Skies were grey and about 90% cloudy the entire trip.

This morning I fished fished solo on Stillhouse as it’s been a while since I put my finger on the pulse of things here.

The fish were sluggish early on this morning, and an “eased” 3/8 oz. slab did best (two rightmost lures are 3/8 oz). By late morning as the fish became more active color and size seemed much less important as fish hit 3/4 oz and 3/8 oz. slabs equally well.

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know I’m a proponent of “staying in touch” with fish and bait movement by getting on the water very regularly, even if only for short periods of time. I use the term “getting on the water” instead of “fishing” because many times I’ll simply run sonar to check areas out without ever wetting a line.

Today was one of those days when such efforts paid off. Here’s how…

Since Stillhouse has now dropped 17-18 feet below full pool, some areas I’d normally be fishing this time of year are literally out of the water. I’ve had to relook at the lake in its currently reduced configuration and find areas that exist now (depth-wise and topography-wise) that are similar in construct to the areas I have been accustomed to fishing in years with normal water levels. This has involved a lot of detailed map reading and then on-the-water verification once potential areas are identified.

What happened today was very unique. As I went to check out an area, I found bird activity over top of it, which is a strong indicator of fish action beneath, especially when no loons or cormorants are present. As I searched with sonar I found fish where I’d hoped they’d be, but, I also found nearby, connected areas pointed out by the bird action which, upon inspection with sonar, proved to be bottom features not shown on the electronic topo maps, and which were attractive to fish.

Rarely do I find fish under birds and not place a waypoint on my chartplotter only so I can return there later and check it out. Some of my most reliable fishing areas were first discovered by watching sonar while following winter bird action.

So, for 3.5 hours invested, I came away with 7 distinct new areas to revisit in this winter season, and in the future should low lake conditions persist or return. The action occurred as follows:

Area 1025, caught 5 fish and moved to the next visible bird action.

Area 1026, caught 5 fish and moved to the next visible bird action.

Area 1027, caught 5 fish and moved to the next visible bird action.

Area 1028, caught 5 fish and moved to the next visible bird action.

Area 1029, caught 5 fish and moved to the next visible bird action.

Area 1030, caught 12 fish and moved.

Area 74, caught 5 fish.

All fish were taken on TNT 180 slabs. I changed up today using a white 3/4 oz. slab, a 3/8 oz. chartreuse slab, and a 3/8 oz. silver slab.

TALLY = 42 FISH all caught and released

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Start Time: 8:30a

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp: 38F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 56.4F.

Wind: Winds were NNE4-5.

Skies: Skies were grey the entire trip.

This morning I fished (and froze my butt off!) with father and son Larry and Tony H., both from Louisville, KY, as a stiff cold front pushed its way into Central Texas.

Tony went “hardhats to helmets” transitioning from a carpenter in the private sector to now serving in the U.S. Army Cavalry at Ft. Hood. He’s served two combat tours in five years.

Proud papa Larry had to come check on his boy-turned-soldier and decided to spend some father and son time aboard my boat to do it.

This was a “spur of the moment” sort of trip. Larry came to Fort Hood to visit his son and had but a one day window to get in some fishing. When we spoke by phone the day before our trip, I told him the forecast was for poor fishing weather due to the arrival of the cold front overnight following a nice 5 day warming trend.

Larry said he’d fished plenty of trips without landing a thing, and if our trip turned out that way, he’d just be glad for the time spent outdoors with his son and learning a thing or two about our lakes and the fish in them. I told him I could work with a fellow with that kind of attitude!

We struggled through 3 fishless hours until finally, around 10:30, things began to change. Up until this time the skies had been dark and the temperatures slowly and steadily falling. But, at this time, the cloud cover thinned so that the skies brightened, although no direct sun shone. Also, the temperatures halted their decline and began to rise ever so slightly.

As all this came together, we were on Area 1024 and, after watching sonar and seeing some fish beginning to coalesce along bottom, we ran twin downriggers set within 6 inches of bottom. In less than 5 minutes with the riggers down we had a double hookup on white bass. I got a buoy in the water right on top of the fish we marked and immediately after getting the two hooked fish in the boat we brought the riggers in and began vertical jigging very meticulously over the school we’d just downrigged through. Over the next 90+ minutes we worked and worked over this area and scrubbed exactly 21 white bass and 1 short hybrid off this area using both 3/4 oz. white TNT 180’s and 3/8 oz. chartreuse TNT 180’s.

At no time today did we see any fish-related bird activity. We did observe birds feeding right after the (obscured) sunrise, but these were feeding on shad at or on the surface of their own volition, not shad forced there by gamefish beneath.

By 1:15 the fish had slowed back down and we were all wind-whipped and ready for lunch. When I suggested Schoepf’s BBQ, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Tony. He just had to have some of that, and quickly, too!! So, we packed it in and headed back to civilization.

Honestly, I was very pleased to have boated 22 fish given today’s adverse conditions. About the only thing that could have made this weather situation worse would have been precipitation accompanying it and perhaps a more easterly direction to the wind. Great job today grinding it out with me fellows!

TALLY = 22 FISH all caught and released

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Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 1:15p

Air Temp: 51F at trip’s start and falling through 10:30a, then stabilizing.

Water Surface Temp: 56.4F.

Wind: Winds were NNW13-15.

Skies: Skies were grey the entire trip.

Today I held off fishing until the afternoon as the forecast called for dead calm and foggy conditions through noon. The calm and fog did happen and lingered until around 2pm.

Eric and I had to work for ’em tonight, not giving up until the fish absolutely quit well beyond the sunset obscured by clouds.

At 2:15 I met Eric M. of Belton at the ramp. Eric has fished with me twice before on the occasions of his 16th and 17th birthdays, courtesy of his grandma, Sandra. Today he was back at it a few days in advance of his 18th birthday.

After we greeted one another, I asked him straight away, “So, what are you planning to do with your life?” It was beyond encouraging to hear the young man rattle off exactly what he intended to do and why he intended to do. Eric’s plans are to graduate high school (he’s all but got that one in the bag), then attend college for at least 2 years, then begin applying to get into a police academy to begin a career in law enforcement. He’s already worked his way into tagging along on “courtesy patrols” so he can be familiar with lingo, operations, expectations and more. I wish we had more young men thinking ahead like this.

As for the fishing … we had to work for every fish we caught today, but, we finally put together a fair catch.

After launching at 2:15, the first significant winds of the day came up at 2:45 and blew for about 30 minutes before dying back down. During this time we found fish right on top of Area 930 and vertically jigged for them resulting in 8 caught fish and about 6 more missed as Eric got “warmed up”.

After this brief spurt, we went fishless for nearly 2 hours as the winds just puffed, and any birdlife we found rested on the water’s surface.

As dusk approached, we hit Area 163 and almost as soon as we arrived the few birds we saw there began to take wing and search. 5 birds turned to 10, then 10 turned to 40 and all of the sudden it was game-on for about the last hour of light.

We vertically jigged and “eased” with 3/8 oz. TNT slabs. We found silver outperformed white in the clear water here. In all we boated 16 more fish in this area.

When all was said and done we’d boated 2 dozen fish for our efforts. As we returned to the ramp under the cover of darkness, some rain began to fall stinging our faces pretty good, but at the same time giving us hope that this Spring will see the end of the drought.

TALLY = 24 FISH all caught and released

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Start Time: 2:15

End Time: 6:40p

Air Temp: 65F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 57.0F.

Wind: Winds were SE2-3 building to SE6-7.

Skies: Skies were grey following the clearing of fog that lasted until 2:00p.

The following blog entry appears in the form of a report to those who support the S.K.I.F.F. program …

Jacob B. of Harker Heights with our best fish of the trip, a nice 3.25 pound hybrid taken on a vertically worked TNT 180 slab in 32 feet of water.

This is a sonar screen shot of what lurked beneath us as the wind picked up and the grey clouds moved in — literally hundred of hybrid striped bass — and our downrigger ball sitting pretty at 22′ deep right in the middle of the action!!

Jacob and Hannah with a brother-sister double brought in the boat just seconds apart from out of a large, suspended school of hybrid.

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…

Monday, 30 Jan. 2012

Dear Austin Fly Fishers and Friends of SKIFF,

This morning’s adventure began around 8am as I arrived at the Bretthorst home in Harker Heights, TX, to pick up Jacob (5th Grade) and Hannah (2nd Grade), the two oldest childen of Major John and Mrs. Rachel Bretthorst.

John is currently deployed as part of a NATO effort in Afghanistan for approximately 11 months. The kids had the day off from school for a teachers’ workshop day and, with the weather forecast looking just right, we decided to try our luck.

I had two other special guests aboard today, as well — Kyle and Marty Wall of Killeen. Kyle is in his early 20’s and is trying to make his way into the videography industry; Marty, Kyle’s dad, was along for technical support as the two experimented with various pieces of equipment and techniques figuring out how best to capture outdoor footage with variables of wind, light, movement, etc. that nature brings their way. We hope to work out a win-win, where Kyle gets quality footage, a good reputation, and a solid portfolio and where SKIFF get some memorable film clips to use in our fundraising and publicity efforts.

We got launched around 8:25 and were blessed to sight and drive right to actively working birds that were preoccupied with feeding upon the shad that gamefish were forcing to the surface from beneath, generally from Area 836 to Area 301. These fish were truly on the move, refusing to stay put for any length of time, just as I had encountered on this past Saturday’s trip. We had a brief on-the-water meeting with Mr. George O. of Belton Lake fame. He’s a retired guide and an excellent hybrid fisherman. I good-naturedly refer to him as “Obi Wan Kenobi” because he’s just a sage, knowledgeable fellow and who has always treated me very kindly and has given me a lot of good advice over the years. Anyway, George told me that it has been his experience over the years that the fish will tend to behave as they were behaving today following a significant lake elevation rise. After last week’s rains we saw a 2+ foot rise on Belton.

So, there we were with birds feeding and fish moving about too quickly to really set up and fish for them for any length of time. We started off with a downrigging approach and drove from bird flock to bird flock with baits staggered and set at depths where we encountered fish on sonar. The fish weren’t too wild about a horizontal approach, which is typical for the winter. So, I did the best I could to get us on top of fish, catch a few with a vertical presentation, knowing we’d have to move frequently to keep up with the fish. This actually worked pretty well as we slowly “smoked” our baits ( TNT 180s in 3/4 oz.) through the active schools of suspended fish. We found a mix of hybrid stripers (~80% of our catch today) ranging from 15 to 20 inches, with occasional white bass thrown in for good measure.

We stuck with this approach, catching fish consistently, until the winds picked up and the skies clouded over completely with grey clouds. Once this happened the birds and fish went into overdrive and we were finally able to use a horizontal approach with our downriggers fishing with both umbrella rigs and single Pets spoons while in the vicinity of Area 844 and in the open water to the NE of there. This allowed us to keep up with the constantly moving fish and upped our success, as well. The kids boated fish after fish, taking our tally up to 28 by the time 11:30 rolled around. At this time the skies brightened a bit and the birds began to slack off and eventually came to rest at the site of their last feed around Area 830.

We were about to pack it up when, just 70 yards away, a flock of birds came off the surface and began another frenzied, albeit brief feed. We hustled over to the action, I hovered the boat atop Area 1023 and we again slowly “smoked” our slabs and ended the day on a great note, adding exactly another dozen fish to our count including a 50/50 mix of white bass (all ~12″) and hybrid (most short).

By 12:15 we were putting the boat on the trailer, and by 12:30, Jacob’s head was doing the “bob and travel” as he fought off sleep in the cab of my truck on our drive home. Rachel was very happy for the kids’ success. She’d just been able to enjoy about 5 hours of time accompanied only by her youngest daughter … I hinted that if she fed Hannah and Jacob a good lunch, they’d probably doze off and give her at least another good hour of the same!!

Thank you for your support so that when opportunity knocks, I know the support is there to be able to offer trips to kids like these as they make do as a family until the time of dad’s return.

Sincerely,

–Bob Maindelle

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TALLY = 40 Fish, all caught and released

Start Time: 8:25a

End Time: 12:15p

Air Temp: 54F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~54.7F

Wind: Winds were due S at 4 at trip’s start, later increasing to ~S9.

Skies: Skies were fair until mid-morning, then a bank of grey clouds moved in on the S. wind keeping the direct sun off the water right up until our departure