Had to Convince the Fishermen Before Convincing the Fish – 42 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, August 5, I conducted the eleventh SKIFF trip of the 2026 season. Joining me were the sons of U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 (Retired) Steven Partridge and his wife, Polina. Chief Partridge is a disabled veteran who served as a fixed-wing aviator. Gregory (age 10) and Henry (age 9) were initially a bit reluctant to come out with me after their mom signed them up, but after seeing some photos of other kids catching fish and after speaking with the boys by phone and addressing some of their concerns the day before, they were a “full go” for this morning!
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, The Great Place Spouses’ Club, The Great Place Thrift Store, 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. We’ve provided trips for over 660 children, and those kids have landed over 18,000 fish.
TODAY’S DATE: 05 August 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING BEFORE PUBLIC SCHOOL RESTARTS: 13 Aug. 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Greg and Henry Partridge display 4 of the 17 white bass we worked up from the depths using downriggers and Pet Spoons this morning as roving schools chased tiny shad in open water.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Greg and Henry did their best to detect the light bite of these bottom-dwelling catfish and wrangled two into the boat as our finale this morning.
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Prior to stepping aboard, neither brother had ever landed a fish before, so, we started with the fundamentals and worked our way up from there to a very successful, multi-species adventure.
We began the morning before sunrise up in shallow water pursuing sunfish with bream poles using slipfloats to suspend live bait just off bottom near rocks, wood, and weeds. Our first shot at sunfish yielded two First Fish Awards and 10 sunfish.
Next, we swung by an area in the 20-foot range, dropped some chum to draw in catfish for later in the morning, and continued on to the 30-45′ range to search out white bass now occupied with feasting on the plentiful (but very small) young-of-the-year shad found at those depths. Using a pair of downriggers, each rigged with a 3-armed umbrella rig and #12 Pet Spoons, we used side-imaging to locate and return to roaming schools of fish and catch them. The boys landed a total of 17 white bass including a triple, three doubles, and 8 singles over a ~90 minute span.
Once the white bass action appeared to be letting up, we made one more quick run up shallow and put the boys’ sunfish skills back to the test. They landed 13 more sunfish in short order.
With about 45 minutes remaining until we promised the boys’ mom we’d be back at the dock, we returned to the chum we’d put out earlier and gave catfishing a try. 9 to 10 year old is typically my cutoff for attempting catfishing because bite detection and reflexive hooksetting are very important. Although the boys missed more strikes than the connected with, we still managed to get two nice channel cats in the boat before cranking up and heading in for 10:15AM.
In all, the boys landed 2 catfish, 17 white bass, and 23 sunfish, all on their very first fishing trip!
RESULTS: 42 fish, all caught and released
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
SEE THE “SMOKING TACTIC” TUTORIAL HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
OBSERVATIONS:
-Once the SSW wind began to ripple the surface, some light, widespread topwater action by smaller, schoolie-sized largemouth could be seen in the latter half of the morning in several areas.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: This data was obtained around 6:20AM on August 3, 2026…
0 feet 86.8F
5 feet 87.5F
10 feet 87.6F
15 feet 87.6F
20 feet 87.6F
25 feet 86.8F
30 feet 86.1F
35 feet 85.3F
40 feet 84.7F
45 feet 82.9F
50 feet 78.4F
55 feet 74.0F
60 feet 72.3F
65 feet 71.3F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:45A
End Time: 10:15A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F
Elevation – Stillhouse fell to 0.24′ high, with a 0.07′ loss in the last 24 hours. Flow rate was 201 CFS
Water Surface Temp: 86.8F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SSW 3-8 all morning
Sky Condition: White, cloudless sky under the influence of dry, high pressure with some haze from forest fires in the Pacific NW.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 55% illumination
GT = N/A
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 334 – 10 sunfish on bait and slipfloats
Area vic 909 to SH0300G – 17 white bass on downrigged #12 Pet Spoons
Area 231 – 13 sunfish on bait and slipfloats
Area AUGCAT01 – 2 channel cats on punchbait
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: https://www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle