CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, January 16, I conducted the first Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip of calendar year 2025. Joining me were three boys: Ethan Kivioja (age 14), and brothers Caleb (age 13) and Jack (age 9) Fitzgerald.

Ethan’s dad, Kyle Kivioja is a fellow U.S. Military Academy (West Point) graduate and is a commissioned officer in U.S. Army Aviation, and Lieutenant Colonel Chad Fitzgerald is a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Artillery; he has served for 20 years.

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. Just call or text 254.368.7411 to set one up.



DATE: Thursday, 16 January 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 18, 20-24 January (AM)






PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Ethan Kivioja, and Jack & Caleb Fitzgerald with a sampling of the white bass they landed fishing both vertically and horizontally on Stillhouse Hollow.








PHOTO CAPTION: Caleb Fitzgerald landed this 5.50-pound Stillhouse Hollow largemouth bass on a white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab worked with a “slow-smoking” tactic.



WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

There was a solid, shallow water feed (under 25′) in the first hour of light this morning. The shallower white bass go, the more they tend to spread horizontally, so, I trained up the boys quickly on how to cast with spinning gear and work a jighead and grub back to the boat slowly. The learning curve was steep, and we definitely did not reap the full potential here, but, they all broke the ice, landed a few fish, and were primed for more by the time the fish pushed out deeper.

We followed the fish out to as much as 51 feet this morning. As the bite moved deeper, the fish coalesced more and more. I therefore switched everyone over to working white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs vertically using a “slow-smoking” tactic (see video link on how to do this).

Once the boys caught on to the basics, I layered in use of the Garmin LiveScope to have each of them more precisely present their slabs to individual fish. Once they all grasped this concept, it was “off to the races”. By the time we wrapped up, the boys landed a total of 91 white bass and one 5.5-pound largemouth bass.

The thumper helped draw and hold the fish, and the Garmin LiveScope helped single out active fish to present baits to.

RESULTS: 92 fish, all caught and released



TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”:



TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO SNAP-JIG:



LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used curltail grubs and jigheads and the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to catch our fish this morning. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/



OBSERVATIONS:

1) Generally, despite a ~8 degree F. temperature drop in a short, 9-day span, the white bass were using the same locations as before the cold snap, but were much less enthusiastic. Fishing more slowly and intentionally was, and will continue to be, necessary.

2) Birds helped identify two of the three locations at which we caught fish this morning.

3) More small fish are beginning to show up in our catch, indicating the very first signs of the spring upstream spawning migration.



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Tuesday, 14 Jan. …

0 feet 52.9F
5 feet 52.9F
10 feet 52.9F
15 feet 52.9F
20 feet 52.9F
25 feet 52.9F
30 feet 52.6F
35 feet 52.5F
40 feet52.2F
45 feet 52.0F
50 feet 51.9F
55 feet 51.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 30F

Elevation: 2.57′ low (with a 0.02′ fall in the last 24 hours) with a 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 51.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Shifting from SW4-8 all morning.

Sky Condition: 60% high, thin, white clouds on a light blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 92% illumination.

GT = NA




AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1960 – 9 fish on slow-rolled jighead/grub combo

Area 779 – 48 fish on slow-smoked white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area SH0339G – 35 on slow-smoked white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs



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

Boy, those are solid fish Bob.

Yes, the mature males and females are beginning to show their milt/egg weight. Add to that a recently gulped small sunfish or large shad, and they get pretty beefy!

Better get 'em while they're hot (literally)! Next week we face another deep freeze.

Great post as always. Good times and nice fish.

Looks like a great initial SKIFF 2025...

Thank you Kyle Kivioja and Chad Fitzgerald for your service...

Those are fat sandbass Bob, very nice. 👍

Bob, thanks for telling us about SKIFF. I would like to help take these kids fishing. Is there a way I can get connected and get vetted?

Sent PM.