I’m fishing all evenings this week as my mornings have been dedicated to assisting at our church’s Vacation Bible School.  This evening I had the pleasure of fishing one-on-one with Kenyon Sims.

Kenyon had never stepped aboard a boat nor caught a fish before our trip together this evening.  He made up for lost time, catching 46 fish tonight!

I first met Kenyon through his grandmother, Rosemary Jenkins, while my wife and I were manning a booth at an end-of-school-year expo hosted by one of our local elementary schools.  The school invited those who offered kid-focused summer programs to advertise at the event, and Kenyon’s grandma signed him up for a fishing trip on the spot. Today I also met his mom, Courtney Jenkins, as she dropped him off at the boat ramp.

We started off in search of white bass, hoping to find schools that were suspended which we could downrig for, or schools that were bottom-oriented that we could vertical jig for.

We found suspended white bass willing to bite in 3 distinct areas this evening, but, only at sunset did we find any holding tightly to the bottom in a situation where working a slab would be effective.  We therefore downrigged for the entire trip save the last 20 minutes or so.  We were rigged up with a tandem rig and a 3-arm umbrella rig, each equipped with Pet Spoons

Kenyon was like a sponge absorbing all the new input coming his way, and was able to duplicate what I showed him right away, which enabled him to be very successful.  At one area we fished, the action got hot and we boated fish #14, 15, 16, and 17 in rapid succession.  Feeling pretty confident at this point in his ability to rig the line and to fight the fish, Kenyon exclaimed, “I’m on a roll now!”.  I just affirmed that and we kept the teamwork going.

In the last 20 minutes of the trip, we found some congregated, bottom-hugging white bass positioned on a ledge and used 3/4 oz. white TNT180 slabs to provoke these fish into biting.  We landed our last 3 fish of the night using this tactic and then headed on in to meet mom on time.

For our efforts tonight we landed 46 fish including 43 white bass, 1 channel catfish, 1 largemouth bass, and 1 freshwater drum.  I enjoyed fishing with Kenyon — he’s a very articulate, personable and respectful young man, now with a new interest in the outdoors (and 2 jealous siblings who, I suspect, may be coming out before long!).

 

TALLY = 46 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:30pm

End Time:  8:30pm

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  93F

Water Surface Temp:  86.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  ENE11, shifting and fading to SE5-6

Sky Conditions:  Hazy skies with 10% cloud cover.

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1419 Downrigging for white bass

**Area  910/1133/914 Downrigging for white bass

**Area 863 Downrigging and smoking slabs for white bass

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

With my mornings all this week dedicated to my church’s Vacation Bible School, all of my fishing is in the evenings this week.  This evening I took out two elementary-aged kids, Baylie Savage of Midland, TX, and Ryan Nicholson of Killeen, TX.  Mr. Al Nicholson, Ryan’s dad, accompanied us.

Baylie caught the first fish of her life tonight on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

Ryan and his dad, Al, with one of the many white bass we caught on downriggers tonight.

We were fortunate to essentially drive from the boat ramp directly to a large, suspended school of white bass feeding on shad in 24-31 feet of water over a deeper bottom.  We rigged up two downriggers, one with a tandem rig and the other with a 3-arm umbrella rig, and caught white bass until the novelty wore off, all on Pet Spoons.

We then went up into shallow hydrilla beds and put some icing on the cake with some sunfish caught on poles equipped with slipfloats using maggots for bait.

As the sunfish bite died as we approached sunset, we took one last shot at suspended whites, hooking 2 and landing 1 in the closing minutes of the trip.

Baylie had never caught a fish before in her life, but put that to rest in a big way.  As we downrigged through a large school of white bass using the umbrella rig, white bass took 2 of the 3 lures and Baylie was successful in bringing them both over the side, catching not just her first fish, but her first and second fish, both at the same time.

Ryan, at age 7, is already an old salt.  On his first trip with me he landed the (still-standing) Junior Angler lake record crappie.  He, too, did very well this evening, catching half of the 24 fish we landed.

Our catch today consisted of 16 white bass, 1 freshwater drum, 1 channel catfish, and 6 sunfish (greens and bluegills).

TALLY = 24 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30pm

End Time:  8:45pm

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  93F

Water Surface Temp:  84.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE6-8

Sky Conditions:  Fair skies.

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  912/913/914 Downrigging for white bass

**Area   1256/1416/1418 sunfish

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning I fished with Aaron Chevalier and his brother-in-law, Zach Bias.  Aaron was accompanied by his girlfriend, Jasmine Gallaher, and Zach was accompanied by his girlfriend, Kait Osborne.  Aaron and Kait are originally from central Texas, Zach got here as soon as he could from the Midland area in west Texas, and Jasmine is from the Pacific Northwest.

L to R: Zach Bias, Kait Osborne, Jasmine Gallaher, and Aaron Chevalier with 4 of the 101 fish taken today via a combination of downrigging and vertical jigging.

Brothers-in-law Zach and Aaron taking some time away from their studies.

Aaron is a biology graduate student at the University of Washington working in the field of protein engineering (think flu vaccines and the like), Jasmine is a Registered Nurse, Zach is a full-time student and “manny” (think man-nanny), and Kait is working on her EMT credentials.  Aaron coordinated the trip and did a great job of selling the girls on the idea that a cold, rainy fishing trip would be “fun”.  That feat was made so much more difficult by the fact that his own girlfriend was not a morning person.  But, somehow, the man succeeded, and, at 6:30am Aaron and crew came marching down the ramp ready to slay ’em.

We had a surprisingly successful trip today given the north wind conditions and the instability in our weather of late.  Jasmine said a number of times how ironic it was to come to Texas for a visit in July only to leave record Seattle heat behind and encounter abundant rain, grey skies, and an ambient temperature around 71F within an hour of noon.  It’s like she never left Seattle.

At exactly 7:05am we encountered our first school of white bass, tightly congregated and suspended at 26-32 feet over a deeper bottom.  We ran twin downriggers today, each equipped with a 3-arm umbrella rig outfitted with Pet Spoons selected to match the size of forage the fish are now feeding on.  From that time until we had boated our 99th fish around 10:50am, we never went more than a few minutes without catching a fish, and, many times over, boated doubles and triples.

Our success was enhanced by the fact that Aaron was already familiar with how downriggers worked from his experience in trolling for various species of salmon on Puget Sound, and Zach learned quickly how to rig up, so, we kept baits in the water continuously, rarely having a break in the trolling regimen.

On 3 separate occasions we halted our downrigging and, using i-Pilot technology, hovered over especially thick schools of fish to vertically jig for those fish using white, 3/4 oz. TNT slabs, also selected to imitate the forage size.  This allowed multiple fish to be taken in a very short period of time and piled onto the fish count.

As the fish were winding down, we wanted to break the 100-fish-day mark.  Zach had mentioned at the beginning of the trip about wanting to introduce his nephew to fishing.  I told him we’d save some time at trip’s end to do a little “demo” on what I’d suggest for this occasion.  As we pulled back up to the boat ramp at the close of the trip with 99 fish boated, I whipped out the old sunfish slip-float rig and showed Zach how to use it.  He was like a kid in a candy store after seeing how effective this technique was and seeing a way to simply offer his nephew a good first exposure to angling.  Zach brought in fish numbers 100 and 101 to seal the deal!

We boated exactly 101 fish today including 98 white bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 2 sunfish.  To his credit, Aaron listened to my suggestion that we fish Stillhouse even though his preference was for Belton.  Over the past week, even with some experienced anglers on board, the fishery has just been crawling along on Belton whereas Stillhouse’s fishery has really taken off.  He didn’t try to “guide the guide” and was handsomely rewarded for that good call.

TALLY = 101 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30am

End Time:  11:05am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  71F

Water Surface Temp:  83.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:  N7-9

Sky Conditions:  100% heavy grey skies and spitting drizzle the entire trip

Other: GT=45

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 863-882 White bass on downriggers and via smoking slabs

**Area 910/912/918 White bass on downriggers and via smoking slabs

**Area 239  Sunfish

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning I conducted the 13th SKIFF trip of the 2014 season by welcoming aboard Michael and Alton Simpson.  SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S.  All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date.

A combination of downrigging and vertical jigging put 28 white bass like these in the boat for Michael and Alton Simpson this morning.  The pair also landed over 2 dozen sunfish.

The Simpson Family, with a surprise appearance by dad!

Michael (age 13) and Alton (age 10) are the oldest of the 4 sons of U.S. Army Captain Michael Simpson Sr. and Mrs. Miranda Simpson (a U.S. Army veteran).  CPT Simpson is currently assigned as the company commander of H Company (a Forward Support Company), 3-8 Cavalry.  Combat companies must regularly go to “gunnery” to qualify on the weapons systems they go to battle with (tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, etc.) and CPT Simpson’s company had been pulled away from home supporting such an effort in the training area surrounding Ft. Hood.  We scheduled this trip during his field time, but, when a water main broke on Fort Hood, troops were called in from the field early.  So, the boys had a nice surprise waiting for them when their dad was at the boat ramp waiting on them to see them and their catch of the day as our trip concluded this morning!

We fished in a constant drizzle today under grey, rain-cooled skies.  The north winds of yesterday really turned the fish off, so, the fish were overdue for a feed this morning as the winds returned from the south.

I wanted to provided some instant results, especially for Alton who is younger, so, we went up shallow and hit the hydrilla beds for sunfish right at (obscured) sunrise and fished them for about an hour, putting exactly 20 sunfish in the boat, including bluegill, longears, and green sunfish.

Afterward, I headed to deep, open water to search for white bass.  We found a loosely schooled concentration of fish on a breakline and downrigged with a pair of 3-armed umbrella rigs set at 22-26 feet deep.  On our first pass, Michael hooked a triple and Alton a double — 5 fish came in the boat in just a matter of seconds and the boys were really excited!  We continued catching fish on pass after pass, putting a total of 28 white bass in the boat for our efforts.  At one point I identified a more coalesced school of white bass near bottom and buoyed them so as to hover over top of them and work slabs through them.  This produced 7 of these 28 white bass in short order before that school dispersed.

By request from Alton, we closed the trip at yet another hydrilla bed fishing for sunfish once again before heading in to meet the rest of the family as our trip came to a close.

As we got ready to go from one area to another, Alton, who had been snacking regularly (actually, continuously) during the trip just out of the blue held out a pistachio and offered it to me.  Since he had already eaten several oatmeal cream cookies, several bags of pistachios, several bags of fruit chews, and at least one bottle of Gatorade, I thought it curious that he would only now offer me one pistachio.  So, being a bit suspicious, I asked if it had dropped on the deck or if anything was wrong with it.  Alton said it was “okay”.  Under his breath, as if to warm me, Michael said, “I wouldn’t trust him.”  I accepted the gift-pistachio anyway and found it both nutritious and delicious.

For our efforts today we boated 57 fish.

TALLY = 57 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15am

End Time:  10:30am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  74F

Water Surface Temp:  84.6

Wind Speed & Direction:  S7-9

Sky Conditions:  100% heavy grey skies and spitting drizzle the entire trip

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area   231 Sunfish on slipfloats

**Area  882/866/863 White bass on downriggers and via smoking slabs

**Area 200 Sunfish on slipfloats

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This evening I fished with Ben Lowry and his 16-year-old son, Dawson, of Belton on Belton Lake.

Ben Lowry and his son, Dawson, came out tonight for a “Belton Lake Tutorial” — more interested in what it takes to catch fish than in actually catching them.  We covered a number of productive summertime tactics in our time on the water.

Ben is pain management doctor at Scott & White and Dawson is a high school student at Belton High School involved in football, baseball, and competitive cheer.  Ben has been a boat owner for about a year and a half and has fished Belton Lake, but with limited success, and with most of that success coming via flatline trolling with crankbaits.  Ben’s intent tonight was to get an exposure to the techniques required to become more proficient at fishing Belton.  For that reason, we intentionally divided the trip up into live bait fishing, downrigging, vertical jigging, and topwater fishing.

Belton typically fishes much better in the mornings in the summer, and, although this trip was initially scheduled for the morning, Ben’s work demands required we move it to the afternoon.  The afternoon bite tends to be shorter and less intense than the morning bite, and wind, high sun intensity, and heat can all play a negative role, as well.  Regardless, we took lemons and made lemonade and got on a few fish with the various techniques we tried.

We spent most of our time and had most of our success on live bait.  We made 5 stops and found fish at the first and the last of these stops.  Most of the action and sonar returns were at between 24-32 feet, and a majority of the time we had our baits at 26-29 feet over deeper bottoms.  We landed a number of keeper hybrid, short hybrid, and largemouth bass and then stopped live bait fishing in order to have enough time to do some downrigging and then look for some sunset white bass.

Since Ben does not have downriggers on his boat, I didn’t spend much time on this technique, but walked both he and Dawson through the entire setup process.  We trolled a very short distance, picked up one short hybrid and one white bass, one of which pulled the fishing line out of the release clip, with the other requiring a manual trip.  So, this was a well-rounded, successful exposure to that technique in a short span of time.

We were now within 20 minutes of sunset, and it was clear that the winds were not going to subside sufficiently to allow for spotting topwater action.  So, we ran to some more wind-protected areas looking for white bass and hybrid churning the surface, but found none.  I still explained the setup of the topwater “Cork Rig” that I favor for such scenarios and, once we spotted some bottom-hugging white bass where we’d hoped to find some topwater, I demonstrated the “easing” technique used with slab spoons for such scenarios.

We ended the trip using a pole to catch small sunfish as I demonstrated how to capture these as a hot-weather alternative to shad.  Fortunately, despite the late hour, two green sunfish cooperated so the demonstration could be completed.  By now it was dark, so we cranked up and headed back in with 8 fish caught on bait and 2 on the downriggers — pretty slow as compared to the past several morning trips with catches of 72 fish yesterday, 47 fish on Monday, and 36 fish on Saturday.  But, that, in an of itself is a lesson about timing and the distinctions between AM and PM fishing on Belton.

 

TALLY = 10 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:55pm

End Time:  9:30 pm

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  94F

Water Surface Temp:  83.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE13-15

Sky Conditions:  10% clouds on a fair sky

Other: GT=30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1408/833 – bait for 1 legal hybrid, 1 short hybrid, 1 largemouth

**Area  151/152- bait for 2 legal hybrid, 1 short hybrid

**Area 084 – downrig for 1 short hybrid, 1 white bass

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning I fished with Mr. Doug Stephen and his son, Doug Jr.  Doug contacted me some time ago and requested a trip to celebrate his son’s 15th birthday, and today was the day we made that happen.

Doug Stephen treated his oldest son, Doug Jr., to a fishing trip for his 15th birthday.

The Stephen family (mom, dad, and four kids aged 4, 10, 15, and 17) is from Temple, TX.  Doug works as a correctional officer at the state prison in Gatesville.  He and Doug Jr. work together in the children’s ministry of Canyon Creek Baptist Church.

Today turned out just right as the weather was good and both fellows had solid casting skills which allowed us to capitalize on all of the topwater action we encountered today.  As they have for the past two weeks, white bass and smaller hybrid striped bass fed hard on topwater for the first 30 minutes of light up shallow.  Shortly after that bite died, a deep, open water surface bite materialized, allowing us another 40+ minutes of solid catching as we pursued these fish with the trolling motor on high, using long, accurate casts so as to keep our distance from these schools and not spook them.

Around 7:30a when the topwater bite was over for good, we shifted to live baits fished at 24-29 feet deep over deeper water and drew a limit of 5 fish, each 18+ inches long into our baits and into our net.  This bite lasted about an hour and then dropped off.

We probed the depths with downriggers set at 24-27 feet deep after seeing scattered fish on sonar, landing a white bass and a largemouth.  The better news was that as I watched sonar as we downrigged, I spotted additional large hybrid loosely grouped at 23-29 feet deep over deeper water.  This led me to put away the downriggers and get our livebaits back down in front of these fish.  In the closing 35 minutes of our trip we landed a second legal limit of five 18+” hybrids.  By 10:25 all had come to a crawl and we headed to the dock.

TALLY = 47 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:00 am

End Time:  10:25 am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  72F

Water Surface Temp:  82.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW7-10

Sky Conditions:  Fair & cloudless

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1271-302 Low light topwater

**Area  300 – began a 1,500 foot chase of loosely connected schools of white bass and hybrid headed generally SSW

**Area 1400 5 hybrid on live bait

**Vicinity of Area 508-1408 downrigging to probe for fish

**Area 1408 5 hybrid on live bait

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning I met 14 year old Andrew Sonnier of Manvel, TX, at the boatramp on Belton for our second trip together.  Each year his family has a tradition of vacationing over the 4th of July weekend at a bed and breakfast near Arrowhead Point on Lake Belton.  We first fished together in 2012.

Andrew Sonnier of Manvel, TX, with a nice 4th of July weekend hybrid striped bass taken on live bait at Belton Lake.

As we got going well before sunrise this morning I was hoping to encounter topwater feeding white bass and hybrid stripers.  I knew our “window” of opportunity would be short, as the skies were cloudless this morning, and the rays of the direct sun usually kill whatever strong topwater feed is occurring.

We did find about 15 minutes’ worth of action and used Cork Rigs to capitalize on what we found, but, when all was said and done we’d only bagged 13 fish before being forced to change tactics as the sun drove the fish away from the surface.

Over the next 90 minutes we searched for and spotted multiple schools of “popcorn” topwater feeding fish.  By “popcorn” I mean white bass and hybrid striper that force bait to the surface for just a few seconds at a time, but do that over and over again in the same general vicinity.  Typically, if you see this kind of action and wait a bit once you arrive at the scene, at least a few fish will present themselves close enough to be cast to.  We picked up another half dozen fish throwing Cork Rigs at these fish.

Next, we did a bit of downrigging in the same general vicinity of the “popcorn” action, assuming that the fish and bait were still present, even though neither was willing to show themselves under the ever-brightening sun.  We picked up another 8 fish on the downriggers using a 3-arm umbrella and a tandem rig, both rigged up with Pet Spoons.

Finally, once a bit of wind developed, I felt the time was right to give live bait fishing for hybrid a try.  Wind and hybrid fishing success are very closely tied.   Rarely do I have excellent results without some wind blowing.  A 13-14 mph wind with cloud cover is just right, but, today we had to settle for 6-7 mph and bright skies.  We used sonar to locate suspended hybrid stripers hanging around 29-34 feet over a 45+ foot bottom along a breakline.  We used my i-Pilot trolling motor to hover over the fish and present our baits on downlines hanging vertically.  The results came quickly, allowing us to boat 10 keeper hybrid, 1 short hybrid, and one 2.25 pound channel catfish all in about a 75 minute window.  All of the keeper hybrid went right at 3.50 to 3.75 pounds and looked really healthy.

I really enjoy fishing with young men like Andrew — he is very enthusiastic about the sport, and is also very teachable.  He listened more than he spoke and followed directions well which served to increase his success.  He was also very hands-on and willing to try things himself so he could do these things himself when not with guide and fishing on his own.

 

TALLY = 36 Fish

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:05 am

End Time:  10:15 am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  Rain-cooled 68F from showers the previous night

Water Surface Temp:  83.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE 3-6

Sky Conditions:  Grey thin cloud bank in the eastern sky at dawn, followed by clear, bright skies, with a thin layer of clouds causing some obscuration of the sun in the last hour on the water.

Other: N/A

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  084 Low light topwater

**Area  972 & 1407 “popcorn” topwater under sunny skies

**Vicinity of Area 1074-509 downrigging for schooled white bass

**Area 1406 hybrid on live bait

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning I fished the twelfth SKIFF trip of the 2014 season, welcoming aboard 5 young ladies from 3 different families, and ranging in age from 5 to 11  .  SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S.  All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date.

L to R Front Row: Valerie Ousley (11), Erinn Sewell (6), Rayanna Walters (11), Rayna Klutse (8), and Victoria Klutse (5)

Valerie was the first of our lady anglers to land a large hybrid this morning.

Erinn boated 3 at a time on her umbrella rig equipped with Pet Spoons.

And little Victoria came up with a big hybrid right near the end of our trip.

 

Mrs. Brandy Klutse (who is 9 months pregnant and still got up at 0-dark thirty to make this happen) coordinated this trip for the 3 families in her capacity as the Family Readiness Group (FRG) leader for the company her husband, Captain Raymond Klutse, commands — C Company of the 2-5 Cavalry.   Brandy’s two children participating today were 8-year-old Rayna Klutse, and 5-year-old Victoria Klutse.  Also attending were two daughters of Private First Class and Mrs. Sewell, Erinn Sewell (age 6) and Rayanna Walters (age 11); as well as Valerie Ousley the daughter of Staff Sergeant and Mrs. Robert Ousley.  All three soldiers are in the same unit and have been serving in Germany for the last 2+ months.  They are due to return in July.

I have never fished a SKIFF trip (or any children’s trip) with 5 children aboard before, but wanted to honor Mrs. Klutse’s efforts at providing opportunities for the families she ministers to.   So, I recruited my mother, Charlotte Maindelle, to be my First Mate and run crowd control with all the moving parts aboard my boat today.

The fish were a bit more sluggish today, as we had more direct sunlight and less wind.  They got going around 8am and fed moderately well until 10:30, with a noticeable spike from 8:15 to 9:00.  With so many kids aboard, casting just was not a safe option, although there were plenty of surface feeding white bass to cast to were we able to cast.  Instead, I stuck with a combination of flatline trolling and downrigging.  I used tandem rigs on the flatlines and 3-arm umbrella rigs on the downriggers, all equipped with Pet Spoons.

We “sorted” the girls by height and place them in a rotation from tallest to shortest, giving each girl a chance to catch fish in that order so that by the end of the trip, each girl was able to catch roughly the same number of fish.  As it turned out, everyone got several turns on the reel, with an average of 7 fish caught per girl.  We had several large, 3 pound class hybrid stripers crash our baits and landed every one that struck.  We also had a number of “doubles” and even one “triple”, where the girls boated 2 & 3 fish at a time on the same rod at the same time.

When younger (under 7 years old) kids come aboard, I always fill the livewell with water and keep the first few legal fish in the livewell.  These younger kids find this entertaining, often returning to the livewell to “check” on the fish, name the fish, and even feed the fish.  All three of those things happened today.  How do I know this?  Well, there was about a half a pound of pretzels in my livewell discovered during post-trip cleanup!

This was a very enjoyable trip for these girls and the mothers were all very, very thankful for the opportunity this SKIFF trip afforded their daughters.

TALLY = 35 FISH

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00am

End Time: 11:15am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Water Surface Temp: 80.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: S10-13

Sky Conditions: 50% cloudy

Other: N/A

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1403 downrigging 12-18 feet down

**Vicinity of Area 1401 to 1402 downrigging 22-24 feet just above trees along breakline

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning I fished the eleventh SKIFF trip of the 2014 season with Tommie Clark and his two children, Tommy (age 8) and Alissa (age 10).  SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S.  All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date.

Tommie and Alissa pose with Alissa first hybrid striper of the day — a nice 3 pound class fish taken on live bait.

And not to be outdone my his sister, Tommy landed his own hybrid striped bass just minutes after Alissa’s slid into the net.

Tommie’s wife, Takako, is deployed on a 9 month assignment.  She is a US Army Specialist and currently serves as a combat medic in Kosovo.  Tommie is a US Air Force veteran, having served as an officer in the USAF’s signal branch (radios, telephones, satellites, computers, etc.).

Near the end of the school year, Skipcha Elementary School in Harker Heights, TX, hosted an end-of-year event by inviting all manner of kid-oriented business, programs, and activities to the school to set up booths allowing the kids that attend there and their parents to peruse summer activities.  My wife, Rebecca, and I set up such a booth to promote the SKIFF program.  I met the Clark family at that event when the kids came by to try casting to the “Backyard Bass” I had set out as casting targets in order to try to win a prize.  I explained how SKIFF worked and Tommie chose a date for his kids on the spot.

As we got going this morning the winds were already high, above 14 mph, before sunrise. This made spotting the top water feeding fish I was hoping to start the day with very difficult to find. We did spot one school and made a successful downrigging pass through them, picking up one hybrid striper. With the winds only increasing and whitecaps becoming more prevalent, making top water action even more difficult to spot, I decided to change plans.

We headed to a semi-protected area and fished specifically for hybrid striped bass using live baits. This produced 8 large hybrid. When the hybrid bass bite slowed down we then went searching for some late-morning topwater action, again in a semi-protected area. As we arrived, several blue herons were feeding over open water on the surface feeding fish, thus giving us a clue as to where the fish were located. For about 30 minutes we were able to hover in one spot casting to white bass and small hybrid striper that were popping shad on the surface. After this bite settled down, we finished up the trip by downrigging for white bass and small hybrid striper using umbrella rigs. This produced numerous doubles and triples, allowing us to take our fish count up to a grand total of 51 for the day.

 

TALLY = 51 FISH

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30am

End Time: 10:20am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Water Surface Temp: 80.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: S15-17

Sky Conditions: 80% cloudy

Other: N/A

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 967 topwater at first light

**Vicinity of Area 1400 – large hybrid stripers on live bait

**Vicinity of 847/1097 fish on top in schools, then in lower 1/3 of water column (downrigged)

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com