This, the First Fishing Trip of His Life – 35 Fish

CLIENTS: This afternoon, Tuesday, September 1, I conducted the 15th SKIFF trip of the 2026 season treating five-year-old Oliver O’Neal to his very first fishing trip. Helping me help Oliver be successful was Oliver‘s grandfather, Troy O’Neal, with whom Oliver resides.

Troy served in both the US Army and in the US Navy and retired from the Army as a sergeant after 20 years of service, serving both as a heavy equipment operator in engineer units, and as a medic.

At age 5, Oliver attends a full day of school in the Killeen ISD, so, our trip was scheduled between the end of school and this young man’s 8:30 PM bedtime.

ABOUT SKIFF:  Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (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.  SKIFF 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: 01 September 2026 (PM)


NEXT OPEN MORNING DATES: 16, 17, 29, 30 Sep. 2026

NEXT OPEN AFTERNOON DATES: 16, 17, 29, 30 Sep. 2026

PHOTO CAPTION: Oliver O’Neal, age 5, joined me for the very first fishing trip of his life. His grandfather, Troy O’Neal, helped me help Oliver be successful. In two hours, Oliver landed 35 fish including white bass and sunfish.

PHOTO CAPTION: We started Oliver out with the basics, catching sunfish, then, toward the end of the trip, moved up to “big game”, targeting white bass.

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

We met up at 4:45 PM and wrapped up at about 6:45 PM, when it was clear to Troy and I that Oliver‘s attention span had been stretched to the limit. We spent the first hour and a half of this trip up in shallow water in pursuit of sunfish. After Oliver landed the first fish of his life – a bluegill, thus earning a TPWD “First Fish Award“, he went on to land 29 additional sunfish for a total of 30 fish landed, including bluegill and longear sunfish.

In our final 30 minutes on the water, we retooled and pursued “big game“ by downrigging with Pet Spoons for white bass. Although it was a little early for the white bass to get as active as they typically do right before sunset, there were still enough suspended schools in at least a neutral mood to produce five fish for us, all coming as singles. Once we had landed those five fish, we took one final excursion driving by the lake Belton waterfall before calling it a good day right at 6:45 PM.

Oliver landed 35 fish on this, the first fishing trip of his life.

RESULTS: 35 fish, all caught and released

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

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

SEE THE “SMOKING TACTIC” TUTORIAL HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

OBSERVATIONS:
-We had a bit of a weather anomaly tonight with thin, grey cloud cover, temps in the mid-90s, and an easterly wind, all thanks to Tropical Storm Edouard which made landfall on the TX-LA border today and was slowly moving up I-45 toward the DFW area.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Taken on Lake Belton on 26 Aug. 2026, approx. 6:15AM ..

Taken on Lake Belton on 19 Aug. 2026, approx. 6:05AM …

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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