Free Fishing for Deployed Soldiers’ Kids — 58 Fish

CLIENTS: On Friday afternoon, November 21, I fished the season’s 12th SKIFF trip, welcoming Michael (age 11) and Zoey (age 8) Gilman aboard.

The children’s father, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Michael Gilman is a field artilleryman with 14 years of military service. He is currently deployed to eastern Europe for several months. With four even younger children at home to care for, Mrs. Jessica Gilman left Michael and Zoey in my care for their 3.5 hour adventure, then returned to pick them up just after sunset.

ABOUT SKIFF:  SKIFF trips have been provided to military families at no charge since May of 2009.  SKIFF is funded by donations from Austin Fly Fishers, The McBride Foundation, Austin Subaru, and VFW Post 4008 in Belton, TX.  S.K.I.F.F. provides kids of military members separated from their families by duty commitments with the opportunity to fish.  SKIFF trips are also provided to Gold Star families who have lost their service member, and kids of bona fide disabled veterans.  I conduct these 3.5 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir year ’round.  Call or text 254.368.7411 to make your reservation.

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Monday, 01 December 2025 (AM or PM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Michael Gilman hoists a 4.125 pound largemouth bass which chased his MAL Dense lure almost 20 feet from off bottom before striking it. That’s his sister, Zoey, who caught two bass of her own on this trip.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Michael and Zoey Gilman were treated to a free fishing trip via the SKIFF program. The Austin Fly Fishers, the McBride Foundation (part of the Austin Woods and Waters Club), VFW Post 4008, and Austin Subaru all make this program possible.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

I was a little concerned about our chances this afternoon because bright, sunny, calm conditions awaited us. Seeing this developing, I put sunfishing gear and live bait in the boat as a hedge against the tough conditions. As we started out, I found an area mixed with rock and shallow hydrilla and put the kids to work targeting sunfish in under 4 feet of water. The kids did very well landing 11 sunfish, including longears and bluegill. As we focused on sunfish, a very light ripple developed – – just enough to make me think we’d be out of hot water concerning pursuit of white bass. We stowed the sunfishing gear, retooled with white bass gear and headed for the deepest, clearest water we could find. I have felt for many years that deep, clear water is a good hedge against tough weather conditions.

 We had no problems this afternoon finding fish, although, as has been the case during this lengthy two week warm-up since our last significant cold front, the fish we found would eagerly respond for just a few moments, but then would settle right back down. This required that we moved around quite a bit. I noted the fish were not in as many places in the afternoon as they have been in the mornings.

The kids did as well as could be expected given their ages, and, by 4:30 (about an hour before sunset) they had put together a catch of 33 fish (hence, 22 white bass).

As the sun began to go down, the light level dropped off, and the temperature began to cool, the white bass made a final move up into shallow water. We were positioned just right to intercept them with the boat sitting in about 26 feet of water. The fish really put on a show for the kids, allowing them a final 25 fish landed in our final 30 minutes on the water.

All of those fish came on MAL Dense lures worked vertically as we saw aggressive schools of both suspended and bottom-oriented white bass move beneath the boat via Garmin LiveScope.

The kids grand total today came to 58 fish including 11 sunfish, 3 largemouth bass, and 44 white bass, all of which were legal fish.

RESULTS: 58 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH THE MAL LURE WITH A SAWTOOTH METHOD:

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON FISHING AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY USING THE “SMOKING” TACTIC:

OBSERVATIONS:

-White bass are falling into typical autumn patterns, but multi-day warmups between cold fronts tends to mute the impact of falling water temperatures.

-Gulls have shown and are just beginning to figure out where to be and when to be there as far as picking up dead/crippled bait killed or maimed by gamefish.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: Temperature profile measured on Stillhouse around 6:30A on Saturday, 15 November…

0 feet 68.6F
5 feet 68.6F
10 feet 68.6F
15 feet 68.6F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.6F
30 feet 68.6F
35 feet 68.4F
40 feet 68.2F
45 feet 67.4F
50 feet 66.6F
55 feet 66.4F
60 feet 66.0F
65 feet 66.0F

Compare to temps taken on Stillhouse Hollow around 7:10AM, Saturday, 25 October…

0 feet 76.8F
5 feet 77.0F
10 feet 77.0F
15 feet 77.0F
20 feet 77.0F
25 feet 77.0F
30 feet 77.0F
35 feet 77.6F
40 feet 77.0F
45 feet 76.8F
50 feet 76.8F
55 feet 76.8F
60 feet 76.8F
65 feet 76.7F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 1:50P

End Time: 5:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: Stillhouse is 0.88′ low with no change in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 1 CFS.

Water Surface Temp: 70.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm at trip’s start, then going NW3-5 after 2:30P

Sky Condition: Post-frontal clearing with bright, blue skies

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 2% illumination.

GT = NA

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle