WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, March 11th, I conducted the 11th SKIFF program trip of the 2024 season.



This morning also corresponded with the first day of our local school district’s spring break.



Joining me was 10 year old Nathalia Gensaya, daughter of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant (E 6 ) Nichole Gensaya. SSG Gensaya has been an artillerymen for 11 years. He is currently on a temporary duty assignment to recruiting school up in Pennsylvania.

Because SSG Gensaya’s wife does not drive and has a 2 year old at home, a buddy of his, Mr. John Evangelista, picked Nathalia up and dropped her off.



This young lady would go on to land a full limit of 25 white bass, as well as an 8.00 pound largemouth bass, all on the first fishing trip of her life.



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 children of military personnel 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.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 28 Mar., 2 & 4 Apr. (AMs)





PHOTO CAPTION: This largemouth was caught as Nathalia was working her slab vertically amongst a school of white bass. It weighed in at 8.00 pounds on a certified scale. Quite a catch on the first fishing trip of her life!








PHOTO CAPTION: … and did I mention Nathalia also landed a full 25-fish limit of white bass? No wonder she’s smiling like that!!!

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 11 Mar. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

A cold front which moved in about two hours before sunset on Friday cooled the water down over the weekend, knocking the surface temperature back about 4°F, down to 60F.



The shallow water bite was definitely impacted by that cooldown. We found a few fish, but only a few fish, at the areas which last week consistently produced dozens of fish. We went after these shallow water fish using Mal Originals with chartreuse tails fished with a sawtooth method.



We also did some flatline trolling, but, with no current in the old Lampasas River channel to draw fish upstream, there are simply very few fish using the channel.



We invested our final hour into fishing vertically in deeper, clearer water. This produced both the best quality of fish and the most consistent fishing of the morning. We fished only two locations by slow smoking with white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs used in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope to pick up largemouth bass and white bass in 28 feet at our first stop and in 22 feet at our final stop.



I welcomed the company of Mr. Manuel Pena of the Austin Fly Fishers, the original sponsor of this SKIFF program, this morning.



Manuel and I both commented how pleasant of a young lady Nathalia was. She did well in interacting with two grown men she’d never met before, was well-spoken, and quickly learned to cast her spinning gear both accurately and for distance.



When all was said and done, Nathalia brought 28 fish in the boat, including 25 white bass and three largemouth bass, the largest of which was 8.00 lbs. as weighed on a certified scale.

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 28 fish caught and released



OBSERVATIONS: Sandhill cranes were heard migrating north for the first time last night, and the spring’s first bluebonnets began to appear on Friday and Saturday this past weekend.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8:15A

End Time: 12 Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F

Elevation: 17.00 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: < 5 SSE all morning until 11:20, when it picked up to SSE10

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover at 100% gradually clearing to

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 2% illumination.

GT = N/A



Wx SNAPSHOT:






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 1048, SH0284G, 074


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

Wow. Monster.

Always love seeing the kiddos taking part in fishing. Great post and some solid fish.