First founded in 2009, the Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) program exists to provide fishing opportunities at no charge to those military children separated from their parents by their parents’ military duties.
The fishing trips came to a halt last April when Texas’ non-essential businesses were shut down due to COVID-19, and, even after such restrictions were relaxed, families were guarded about their children spending time outside their own homes.
Things are looking brighter for SKIFF in 2021. Thus far, the program has treated two local families to all-expenses paid, professionally-guided fishing trips this calendar year with several more children scheduled, and all of this in advance of the public school summer break when SKIFF gets most of its requests.
The requirements for children to qualify for a free SKIFF trip are simple. A child should be 5 years of age or older, and be separated from his or her parent due to that parent’s military duty obligations.
Many incorrectly assume this means a parent must be on a lengthy overseas deployment, but that is not the case. Parents participating in field training exercises, temporary duty assignments, military schooling, National Training Center or Joint Readiness Training Center rotations and the like all qualify.
Further, the program is also open to children in Gold Star families, as well as to the children of disabled veterans whose disabilities prevent them from taking their own children fishing.
SKIFF program fishing trips are conducted by boat year-round on both Belton and Stillhouse Hollow lakes. All fishing equipment and safety equipment is provided. Kids need only arrive with appropriate clothing, sun protection and snacks and drinks. Those aged 17 and older must also possess a valid fishing license.
SKIFF’s most recent trip recipients were Willow and Athena Tripp of Fort Hood. The girls were accompanied by their mother, Ashley Patton.
The girls’ father, Sgt. Brian Tripp, is currently away from Fort Hood attending short-term training at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Tripp, who has served for nine years, serves soldiers by providing communications connectivity to remote locations.
Patton is herself a veteran, having served as an Army combat medic. She and Tripp met while on active duty.
Patton heard of the SKIFF program through a posting on the Fort Hood Area Events Facebook page.
On Thursday, as a mild, wet cold front made its way into Central Texas, Patton arrived at Belton Lake around 4:30 p.m. after picking her girls up from school.
As the primary guide for the SKIFF program, I was present to welcome the family, provide them with a safety briefing, adjust the equipment to the girls’ statures and help them be successful.
We began the trip fishing for sunfish with poles to which fixed lengths of fishing line were attached. We targeted small fish in shallow water with this simple approach, and then layered in more complexity as the trip continued.
By the end of the girls’ afternoon on the water, they were reading sonar, using custom-made Maindelle’s All-Purpose Lures to fish vertically for white bass in water well over 30 feet deep, and they did an amazing job at luring, hooking and landing fish after fish.
In just over three hours, the sisters landed 62 fish, including 24 sunfish, and 38 white bass.
The funding for the SKIFF program is generated by the Austin Fly Fishers, a fly-fishing club based in Austin. The Austin Fly Fishers have attracted other organizations to contribute to SKIFF’s cause, including the Sun City chapter of Women Helping Others, the Sun City Rod and Gun Club and the McBride Foundation.
Arranging for a SKIFF trip is as simple as making a phone call to 254-368-7411. Trips may be coordinated after school on weekdays or on Saturday mornings.
Since inception, SKIFF has provided trips for 491 children, and those children have landed 12,480 fish, an average of over 25 fish caught per child.
Credit: Source link
