WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Columbus Day, October 9, I conducted the season’s seventh SKIFF trip, treating Miss Aaliyah Smith (age 9) to both her first-ever fishing trip, and her first-ever boat ride.

Aaliyah‘s uncle, Daniel, is her father figure with whom she resides. Daniel Roybal is a Staff Sergeant (E-6) in the US Army, serving with the 2–12 Cavalry “Thunderhorse” unit on Fort Cavazos. He is currently separated from his family on assignment at a truck driver training course. SSG Roybal has been in the military for 10 years.

Aaliyah was accompanied by Daniel’s wife, Dyana Roybal — Aaliyah’s aunt.

ABOUT SKIFF: This fishing trip, like all SKIFF trips, was provided to this military family at no charge. This program began in May of 2009. It is funded by the donations and fundraising efforts of the Austin Fly Fishers and other organizations they have partnered with, namely The McBride Foundation and Subaru. S.K.I.F.F. provides the children of military personnel separated from their families due to duty commitments with the opportunity to go fishing. SKIFF trips are also provided, free of charge, to Gold Star families who have lost their service member while he or she was on active duty. In mid-2019, SKIFF also began providing trips to dependents whose parents are bona fide disabled veterans. I coordinate and conduct these 3.5 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, just outside the gates of Fort Cavazos in Bell County, TX, year ’round. Call or text 254.368.7411.

Here is how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are Oct. 12 (AM and PM), 23, & 24




PHOTO CAPTION: Smallmouth bass like this one, as well as largemouth bass and hybrid stripers were mixed in on this morning’s topwater feeding. The Cork Rig with a streamer selected to match the forage produced well.




PHOTO CAPTION: Triple!! These three white bass all hit Aaliyah’s three-armed umbrella rig simultaneously right around 10:30A as we were wrapping us, allowing us to end the trip on a positive note!






PHOTO CAPTION: We took the majority of our catch — 32 white bass and 2 drum — by smoking the MAL Heavy Lure (with white tail) upwards off the bottom aided by Garmin LiveScope.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 09 October 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

Despite it being both Columbus Day and the first day of a weeklong fall break for the nearby Killeen Independent School District, the lake had very light traffic this morning. We fished a full 3.5 hours from 7 AM through 10:30 AM and only saw a handful of other boat, all of which kept a courteous distance from us.

From around 7:20 and until right at 9:00, a light topwater bite took place. The gamefish were schooled together in small wolf packs and were herding shad to the surface and feeding on them briefly here, there, and everywhere over about a half-mile span.

It was interesting to note that of the 16 fish we landed during this time, half were other than white bass. Our catch included three largemouth bass, one smallmouth bass, and four short hybrid stripers, along with 8 legal white bass. All of these fish were taken on a Cork Rig with a streamer selected to match the size of the forage.

As the sun brightened and the wind speed stayed low, the topwater action tapered to an end by 9A. Having taken a temperature reading at 5 foot intervals to the bottom in 50 feet this morning, I saw that these past several days with air temperatures less than the lake’s surface temperature had a significant cooling effect on the temperature profile. Noting where the thermal break was this morning at 35 feet, I took a look on a few bottom features where the bottom was at that 35-foot depth or just a bit shallower.

The very first location I searched was loaded down with white bass. Aaliyah and I stood side-by-side on the starboard gunwale and smoked MAL Heavy Lures with white tails from the bottom upwards through these fish which were in a 5 foot thick band in the lowest part of the water column.

We took our fish count from 16 up to 50 in just under an hour’s time. Were it not for Aaliyah‘s hand and wrist getting tired, we would likely have stayed on those fish through the end of the trip.

Instead, I wrapped up the trip by introducing her to downrigging. We moved to another location and looked in the same favorable depth band and found another, albeit, much more sparsely organized, group of fish to downrig for.

We used a single, three1armed umbrella rig equipped with #13 Pet Spoons with prismatic silver tape, and yellow tails, and used the downrigger on bottom-tracking to keep the baits about 3 feet off of bottom, regardless of the bottom’s contour.

We picked up a single white bass, continued trolling, and as we did, spotted a large group of whites holding tight to the bottom, as viewed on the portside side-imaging.

I waypointed these fish, and then U-turned to go back over them with the downrigger. This resulted in a triple– – Aaliyah caught three fish simultaneously on one rod. It was now right at 10:30 and we decided to end then on that positive note.

Our tally for the morning was 54 fish all caught and released. That count included three largemouth bass, one smallmouth bass, four hybrid striped bass, two freshwater drum, and 44 white bass of which 43 were of legal size.

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released.

Find the Cork Rig & MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: As of ~6P on Friday, 06 Oct., the air temp. dropped below the surface temp. of Lake Belton, and then stayed below the water temp. until around noon today, Monday, 09 Oct. — that is the longest cooling spell we’ll have had to date and has gotten things moving along toward turnover!!

Shown below is the water temperature profile this morning (09 Oct.) versus last Monday (02 Oct.):




WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Elevation: 18.77 feet low, 47 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 76.6F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SW0-4 all morning

Sky Condition: Clear, post-frontal “bluebird” skies

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 24% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0220G thru BHYD07 – 16 fish sight-casting with Cork Rigs

Area 1290 – 34 fish smoking MAL Heavies



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

I have always heard of turnover, can you describe the process and the timing of when it happens as well as how it affects fishing? Thanks for taking that girl fishing that will be a memory of a lifetime for her.

Awesome post and fish. Good job to all!