Redfish have been holding tight to grass and working the edges when feeding. The back marsh lakes on Matagorda are in much better shape this Fall compared to last Fall. The ravages of the drought during the summer of 2009 changed the landscape last Fall. With abundant freshwater inflows this year, things are very much approaching "the familiar". Emergent grasses and regrowth is present in many of the back potholes and I'm seeing a lot of Crabs scooting around on the bottom. That's a big relief I can tell you, the health of the back marsh seems to have rebounded nicely. When you add the right ingredients, the fish will come.
We've had some minor fluctuations on water level with the latest fronts and winds from the E and ENE. This direction tends to "clear out" upper bays and Shoalwater and Dewberry Bays were emptied with large stretches of gin clear and fishless water. The back lakes being on the "semi windward" side held more in the realm of "off color" and the fish responded with solid action and an aggressive attitude. With some of the lakes not experienciing grass regrowth, even if fish are present you can pretty much rule out any action. I've seen this time and again after the lessons learned last Fall. During the Fall of 2009, hyper salinity had killed off a lot of grass in the lakes. I quickly learned "no grass, no fish". Even if fish were present they just wouldn't seem to feed. That was pretty much when I learned the gravity of the situation.
Redfish have been concentrated all the way to the dunes lately with them pushing closer to bay ingress/egress Sunday. A small water rise from Saturday to Sunday seemed to have pulled them feeding into the flow and moving closer to the open bays. Once I got a handle on where they had concentrated, it was lights out. Working broken potholes and mud pockets, small patches of emergent grasses, etc. has produced the best results with a variety of baits.
I hope you are getting out and enjoying some of this awesome weather, can you believe it, Fall is here! Best wishes in your travels and stay safe out there.
Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge, Inc.
1-888-618-4868
