Last Weeks Missing Report: Meet Joe Fisherman, MS, PHD

(MS, PHD = More of the Same, Piled Higher & Deeper)!!

Quick report highlighting Trout catches with Capt. Doug working shell in SAB taking solid Trout to 21" late week working PCS with our guests. No shortage of Redfish & Drum still ranging the back country and the fishing as well as the catching has just been funtastic!

Behind the scenes of late I've been a little "electronic peripherally" challenged you might say. It seems when the schedule is tight Mr. Murphy likes to come for a visit. I was nursing a camera on its last legs for months and finally ran over it with the airboat trailer just to find that she was still working, THEN it finally gave up the ghost after I got another half dozen pics out of her! Then my Blackberry decided to take a vacation and just when you think that 5 year old battery in the truck just won't ever die, well, it died as I went to put the boat on the trailer coming off a trip!Special thanks to the "Pit Crew" and manager Mr. Griffith at AutoZone in Port Lavaca. I radioed that I was coming in hot and they had the new battery strapped in my truck and I was torching the tires to get back to the lodge in preperation of guests arriving later that day "in no time".

I've been often qouted as saying "being a successful fishing guide has less to do with prowess on the water or knowing where the fish are as much as it has to do with being able to overcome all the obstacles that try to keep you from catching them"! That's where a little streak of "Seadrift McGuyver-ism along with a healthy dose of black & yellow and Alabama Chrome always comes in handy.

Lots of fun though with folks of all ages of late. The big week for the kiddos draws to a close and we wish them the best on the last leg before the big break. We hope you had a great time outdoors with the family over the break and hope to see you when you get a chance!

Capt. Kris Kelley
President/CEO
Castaway Lodge, Inc.
109 W. Austin
Seadrift, TX 77983
1-888-618-4868 Office
361-648-3474 Cell
www.seadriftbayfishing.com

Portfolio Additions: Daily Reads & Plays

Angler's choice would be the report for the late week. Gorgeous weather has dominated the past few days since the rough weather of early week. A lot of fishermen hit the water over the weekend and it looked like all venues were paying dividends with decent catches of both Trout and Redfish showing at the boards. Cool weather and sunshine surely made for an enjoyable experience for everyone partaking regardless of what went in the fish boxes. 

Light winds certainly are of benefit to all given increasing angler traffic. When everyone gets the bug, big winds and hard weather can certainly have way too many folks piled up in what limited protected waters are available. Light winds can open up the broader bays and open structure to probing runs and uncluttered fishing enjoyment. Shallow and deep reefs in the open waters of the big bays give up some nice catches as waters green up and bait starts looking for protection on available structure. 

Trips here over the last week have been nothing short of awesome and we look forward to more great fishing moving into April transitions. 

Daily Reads & Plays

Big winds early might have open waters gutted which is pretty much an immediate default to shallow bays and grass. Conditions can vary wildly during the day or over the course of days especially heading towards late Spring and Summer. This can require multiple "Reads & Plays" in a given day with structure shifts and timing strikes. Winds that put you on grass early can have you heading for open waters mid-morning as things settle out a bit; winds back down; and, big tides start greening things up. Besides reading winds and water conditions, having a good handle on "water levels" regardless of tides will help with depth focuses and shifts on structure contours. 

Water Levels More of a Focus than Tides

Folks ask me all the time about the "tides". Tides to me are less important than recognizing water levels in the bays. This is extremely important when focusing on extreme shallows and back country marsh but it's also a strong consideration when working open waters and deeper structure. I describe water levels as more constant conditions that have seasonal timing. Explaining "water levels" isn't real easy. High water means the bathtub is filled to the brim and overflowing onto the floor. The high and low tides within this condition will move the level in the bathtub a few inches below the rim to over the rim and spilling more on the floor. Medium or average water levels are best described as Spring flood tides subside and we have more or less a "summer time" water level. This would be the bathtub half full with the tides moving the water level in the tub up a few inches and down a few inches. Low water levels as you can now imagine would have the tub at about a quarter full with the tides emptying it or raising it slightly above a quater full. 

Why the discertation on water levels, they are important considerations on various structure plays and can help rule out a few things or gain focus on things more rapidly. Low water typically doesn't play well for shorelines or shallow grass bays. Low water will keep you distant from reef crests and focusing on deeper tapers. Medium or average water levels can offer the most stability in a fishing pattern with success built on success day after day. It plays well on shallow grass bays and back lakes, mid bay structure, deep reefs and even shorelines. High water levels, as the name implies, means there are lots of places for the fish to scatter. Recognizing that fish move shallower as their environment gets deeper finds the focus shifting to locations that are often unfishably shallow. This push shallower and retreat deeper plays out day in and day out given shifting water levels and seasonal water level changes. Medium water levels that may have fish stacked 20 yards off a shoreline will find you retreating and walking on the bank in high water as the fish push right up to the edge of the grass. More often than not, you will find me discussing water levels in my fishing reports rather than a tide occurence on a given day. 

Consideration of these factors and recognizing or at least benchmarking your water levels will be a great help in your fishing. We hope that these daily reads and plays that have been proved with way too many days on the water will be a great addition to your fishing portfolio. 

We hope you had a great weekend! Here comes Monday, let's gett'em! Come see us when you get a chance.

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868 
www.seadriftbayfishing.com

Bowed-Up Beatdown, Trout to 22", Reds & Drum OTC

(Off The Chart)

Backbreaking Rib Buster (Takes on a whole new meaning)

Outstanding catches early in February are mere pale memories relative to the push of fish we're experiencing here in March. With the schedule slammed to the wall it's non-stop lid poppers working the back shallows for flats burners. Capt. Doug went deep for Trout and Capt. James E. and I went shallow on Saturday in miserable conditions with wind and rain (warmer relative to Friday's chilling rainfest though). Capt. Doug picked up a solid box of Trout to 22" working shell in SAB with PCS. Capt. James struggled on the fringe shallows with poor visibility but managed some solid Redfish pushing the upper slot.

Trout are breaking out strong between fronts over shell and we're just on the tip of that pattern. Black Drum are stacked so thick in the back marsh they've actually brought limits of Redfish to a halt. Physically impossible is the term I would use regarding catching a limit of Redfish at present. Herds of Black Drum are sitting on top of Redfish feeding grounds and dominating the scenery. The clients have been unable to withstand the non-stop barrage of 17-24" rib bruisers taking them near exhaustion. That's making for a lot of smiles as you can imagine. I've never seen anything quite like it at present and that's a lot of years in the back marsh talking. 

We you hope you start the week off with a bang, come see us when you get a chance!

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868 
www.seadriftbayfishing.com

Mud Pocket Payday, Trout Horizons

(Wade Fishing Special Offer Below)

Friday (Anglers Choice)

Water levels surged late week with an east wind that sent things into "overdrive" on the feeding scale. We had strong and aggresive strikes followed by gut wrenching; rib tweaking runs; burning drags and high fives. We welcomed Gary L. and son Mike along with Lance S. and his dad David from Backwater Waterfowl & Retrieversfrom LaGrange. It's always great to be tapped on the shoulder by your peers to "make it happen Capin" and you couldn't ask for better sportsmen and anglers. Friday was just a classic "smoke pole" taking full limits of Redfish centered over the middle slot along with fast action on some heavy Black Drum pushing 24". 

Saturday (Fishing Defensive with Dividends)

All the while I'm thinking Saturday's cold front was going to be brutal "and it was". Sustained 33 knots made for challenging conditions that the Castaway Team met head on with enthusiasm. Everything was well off pace with my sonar SMS text alert pinging like a bad scene from a World War II Submarine movie. "Struggling" was the word from alot of peers and we were definately fishing defensively but got off on the right foot with some "solids" in the middle slot. Odds on weather like that is somebody is going to get their head kicked in and sure enough the fish God's targeted Capt. James C. that day with a pretty smooth "water haul". Props to him though, he pushed through with attitude until the clients beer went dry and they pulled the plug. Capt. Doug had a little better luck with Charles O and son. Doug hauled a lot of water before chipping away at Redfish in the middle and upper slot. Unfortunately, a heartbreaker late in the day left the boys one fish short on their limit. Way to stay out of the crosshairs Doug, fine job and the Oates Clan was ecstatic.

I managed to keep a defensive posture with a few aggressive moves that took us deep in the heavy end of the slot with multiple oversize fish taking center stage. Mud burning Black Drum that had made such an impression days before had vanished leaving nothing but Redfish. The Impact Services crew stayed with it and we had a great time beating Mother Nature at her game. 

Sunday (Post Frontal Lack Luster)

A post frontal slick-off early had me nervous before we ever hit the water and that tingling on the back of my neck was a pretty good indicator of what was in store. While finding fish was easy and the concentrations were astounding (at one point a half acre of mixed Black Drum and Redfish decided to bolt turning the back lake to mud) the feed was definately the last thing on the minds of the fish. This is a classic scene I've seen played out year over year. The bigs winds of the norther that flooded the island had waned overnight sending water pouring out of the back country. That's probably the peak feeding frenzy and it left us with a bunch of "fat and sassy" fish that needed force feeding and that barely worked. Hook-pulls, two dozen misses, and countless other heartaches kept us just short of limits today on Redfish from all ends of the slot. Capt. James C. pushed it to the limits trying to regain his footing after hauling water on Saturday's big winds to find half limits to the max end of the 28" slot. James is hard to keep down for long and hats off old friend!

Monday

We'll see what tomorrow brings but I can tell you "I've got them zeroed in" and they can't stay closed mouth for too long! The lodge welcomes Jim M. and family in this evening. 

Trouth Scene

Capt. James E. came off a nagging cold only to hit the water in his new 24 Haynie Cat catch and releasing Trout in the 24" range over mud/shell on soft plastics and paddle tails. We are offering a 10% discount on wade fishing trips through the end of April during weekdays Monday - Thursday. Promo Code: (Wadefish)

Have a great early week and come see us when you get a chance!

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868 
www.seadriftbayfishing.com