Seadrift Bay Fishing Reports

That's taking the fish to seldom frequented locations in what used to be "ultra shallow" and unfishable locations as they effort to get shallower and shallower. Even crazier, we've been running into a few Trout pushing 23" in the back reaches as well mixing with Redfish and Black Drum.

Capt. James Cunningham indicated that the "set up" is looking good heading into Summer. Capt. Chris Cady hit a home run on the airboat as overcast conditions had him struggling to find the fish with the tides so high. He managed to limit on Redfish but there were no Black Drum to be found.

Capt. James Cunningham reported pulling into some fish less than a mile from the boat ramp normally to shallow to fish. He said "we eased in on them and never moved" taking full limits of Redfish and almost all of their slot fish.

Bayboats found themselves held off fish concentrations that had held in extreme shallows as water levels receeded. It can be tough when you find the fish but you just can't shut down on them because it's too shallow. It's the old "white knuckle routine" knowing you can get to them but you may not be able to leave and that's where we've been lately. Big roaring winds typical of April/May have a

Big winds and building tides pushed us to the far back reaches and protected waters digging into the continued presence of Redfish and spawning "Pony" Drum in the mid-slot. Our guides are actively looking for fish and or the signarture mud boils and cotton top tails darting through the shallows and then positioning and staying with the schools.

That coined the term "Smash and Grab" here years ago as we'd slip into the big wind shifts and load the boat. Solid Redfish from mid-slot on up and an emerging presence of mixing schools of Black Drum have made for lots of smiles and memories of a lifetime.

Strong wind shifts from the North send Redfish and Black Drum on an absolute feeding frenzy and that's where we'll intercept them and go deep into the numbers. Windward shorelines are a go to many times but in winds pushing over 20 knots, not so much. Water color changes become the target and sometimes finding them can be a challenge if everything is shredded.

Schooling Black Drum are starting to mix with Redfish as they head for the spawning grounds of the far back reaches. Tides will push them around and send them probing the shallowest of locales, scurrying to the safer depths of the deeper back lakes on tide fallouts and temperature shifts.

Construction progress has hit a feverish pitch of late as we've gained some major traction heading toward completion. Interior framing is pretty much a wrap and we've got windows and doors being installed at present along with other trades roughing-in.

While bay conditions have been on extreme low water, we're already getting a bounceback with the Southerly wind directions and increasing velocity.