SKIFF

Soldier’s Kids Involved in Fishing

by Bob Maindelle

With the Austin Fly Fishers’ recent transition to a quarterly newsletter, this update provides you with a snapshot of those SKIFF trips conducted since the April update.

PAYNE FAMILY: On June 20th, Neveah and Katherine Payne stepped aboard for a morning of multi-species fishing on Stillhouse Hollow. The girls were accompanied by their father, U.S. Army Signal Corps veteran Thomas Payne, while their mother, U.S. Army Corporal Fayth Payne is deployed to eastern Europe.

The girls landed 54 fish, including bluegill, longear, and redear sunfish taken on bait below floats, and white bass taken on downrigged Pet Spoons and MAL Lures worked vertically.

SMITH FAMILY: On July 6th, I fished with Alex and Corbin Smith, accompanied by their mom, Janea Smith. The boys’ father, a

U.S. Army veteran who served in the military intelligence branch, passed away unexpectedly in January of this year at the age of 47.

We began our trip around 6:25AM. We downrigged to find fish and then used MAL Heavies vertically & horizontally to take advantage of what we’d found until the fish finally gave up around 10:25. During this time, we found a total of three large, fishable schools of fish to park over and present to.

By the time four hours had come and gone, my crew landed 74 fish including 72 white bass and 2 largemouth bass.

WHITACRE FAMILY: On July 25th, I fished with Natalie, Lilly, and Evan Whitacre, accompanied by their mom, Melinda Whitacre. The kids’ father, U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Whitacre is currently in the midst of a deployment to southwest Asia with his Patriot Missile unit. CW2 Whitacre has served

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