CLIENTS: This morning I welcomed Mrs. Heather Haines and two of her three children aboard — 5 year old Thaddeus, and 3 year old Teagan. The kids’ father, U.S. Army Captain Harrison Haines is a field artillery officer currently deployed to South Korea. This trip was provided at no charge via the SKIFF program. This was the 21st such trip provided to military families this year. Mrs. Haines learned of the SKIFF program through her friend, Trinity Howard, whose kids got to fish earlier this week.



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. 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. In mid-2019, SKIFF began providing trips to 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.



DATE: Thursday, 03 October 2024 (AM)



NEXT OPEN DATES: Next open dates: 11 & 12 Oct. (AMs and PMs)








PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Thaddeus, Heather, and Teagan Haines with some whopper 10″ white bass the kids caught all by themselves on this Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip.



WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton



SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

As Heather and I compared notes, we agreed the kids were unlikely to make the normal 3.5 hours SKIFF trips are planned for, given the kids’ ages. So, I planned to introduce the kids to several things briefly before the novelty wore off altogether.

First came sunfishing with telescoping bream rods at two distinct locations with a nice boat ride inserted between the two. That yielded 27 fish.

Next, we fed the ducks. Then, we broke out the snacks while pulled up on the shoreline.

Then came a round of downrigging for singles, doubles, and triples using Pet Spoons behind 3-armed umbrella rigs. That yielded 18 fish.

We closed out the trip around the 2.5 hour mark after Spot-Locking atop an active group of fish we came upon while downrigging. We worked MAL Originals with chartreuse tails on light spinning gear very successfully. That effort netted another 27 fish.

Thaddeus caught on quickly to just about everything, while Teagan seemed more taken with peripheral issues, especially using my bait net to “help” return caught fish to the water.

Heather told me that Thaddeus was up most every hour of the night before this trip asking her if it was time to go yet!!!

The kids landed a total of 72 fish for their efforts.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ



LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used bait under floats for sunfish, downrigged #12 Pet Spoons, & smoked MAL Originals vertically this morning. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/



TALLY: 72 fish caught and released, including 27 sunfish, 3 short hybrid, and 42 white bass.



OBSERVATIONS:

1) The number of bottom-oriented schools of white bass now found in deep water AND showing a willingness to remain stationary long enough to allow for presentations to be made for substantial lengths of time have increased sharply; these fish are there to stay, likely until the water temps drop below 60F.



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Saturday, September 28…

0 feet 79.1F
5 feet 81.2F
10 feet 81.9F
15 feet 81.9F
20 feet 81.9F
25 feet 81.9F
30 feet 81.7F
35 feet 81.5F
40 feet 81.3F
45 feet 81.3F
50 feet 81.1F
55 feet 80.7F
60 feet 80.1F


WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:55A

End Time: 10:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 1.48′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow; .02′ fall in last 24 hours (w/ inflow from Proctor)

Water Surface Temp: 81.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW3-7

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a light blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 0% illumination.

GT = N/A



Wx SNAPSHOT:






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 499 & B0289G – sunfish on slipfloats for 27 fish
Area vic B0022C – downrigging for 18 fish with #12 Pets
Area 791 – smoking MAL Originals for 27 fish



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

Another AWESOME POST! God Bless Capt. Haines and his family! Again Awesome post.

Totally amazing what you do Bob. Every post of the outings with veteran's families puts a smile on my face.
Thank you so much for sharing....

Thank you Captain Harrison Haines for your service and Mrs. Heather Haines, you are an amazing wife / mother....