Sister Act – 60 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, July 20, I finished the sixth Soldiers Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip of the 2026 season. Joining me were the children of retired Sergeant First Class Michael Bouie, a disabled veteran with 23 years of service primarily in the logistics field of the U. S. Army.
Aboard the boat with me was Mrs. Lueiretta Bouie and their three kids, sisters Islyn, age 16, Michaya, age, 15, and Laila, age 10.
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: 20 July 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 30-31 July, 3-6 August 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Laila, Michaya, and Islyn Bouie cashed in on the summer sunfish bite this morning while other species were hard to come by. Of the 60 fish landed, 58 were panfish taken up shallow.
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
While all three of the girls had prior fishing experience, I was still concerned about keeping Laila‘s interest for the 3.5 hour duration of this trip. As I typically do on trips involving elementary age students, I tried to mix it up this morning to keep us from doing one thing for any length of time.
We started off downrigging. I was hoping to find white bass which had moved up into shallow water around sunset the night before to feed on shad, but that did not happen this morning. We picked up a small largemouth bass and then left the downrigging behind. Next, I planned to go up shallow to target sunfish, but not before baiting out an area to come back to later for catfish. As we were doing this, I spotted a big school of white bass on sonar and we were able to pick off just one of them before the school moved on for good.
We continued on with our plans for sunfishing. The kids landed 43 fish up shallow, including green sunfish, bluegill sunfish, and spottails.
Next, we are headed back to the area we’ve baited for catfish, got two good pull downs on the slip floats, but they did not result in any additional fish boated. We moved on and baited a second area for catfish and targeted sunfish once again while that bait was doing its work. The kids took our tally up to 60, again, including green sunfish, bluegill sunfish, and spottails. It was during this event that Laila reached her limit.
We made just a quick, final attempt at catfish since I’d already buoyed and baited an area, we did not fish that very long and we did not get any hits during that time.
We wrapped up a little after 10 AM with exactly 60 fish landed.
RESULTS: 60 fish, all caught and released
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS:
-Not a lick of topwater action seen nor heard all morning.
-Rising water from several days of rain last week has plateaued. Belton hit 1.12′ above full pool today.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 14 July 2026, approx. 6:05AM …
0 feet 86.1F
5 feet 86.5F
10 feet 86.5F
15 feet 86.5F
20 feet 86.5F
25 feet 86.5F
30 feet 85.0F
35 feet 83.8F
40 feet 78.2F
45 feet72.2F
50 feet 70.7F
55 feet 69.2F
60 feet 67.4F
Taken on Lake Belton on 07 July 2026, approx. 6:20AM (Note thermocline forming between 35-40 feet!!)
0 feet 87.9F
5 feet 88.2F
10 feet 88.2F
15 feet 88.1F
20 feet 85.6F
25 feet 85.0F
30 feet 84.3F
35 feet 83.1F
40 feet 78.2F
45 feet 73.8F
50 feet 71.4F
55 feet 70.2F
60 feet 68.1F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:30A
End Time: 10:05A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F
Elevation – Lake Belton rose 0.02′ up to 1.12′ high since rains began around 11 AM on Tuesday, 14 July. Flow rate was 52 CFS
Water Surface Temp: 86.1F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SW3-6 all morning
Sky Condition: Pale blue, cloudless skies thanks to strong high pressure now firmly in place atop Texas
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 42% illumination
GT = N/A
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area B0289G – 43 panfish on bream rods, bait & slipfloats
Area 166 – 15 panfish on bream rods, bait & slipfloats
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