Sandbox Warriors Say "Haji Don't Fish"!

“Warrior Spotlight”

With the Tails and Tunes Tournament next weekend, it was only fitting that I would find myself welcoming some Wounded Warriors fresh from Iraq to the lodge on Saturday. I welcomed Army Capt. Roger G.; Major Jeff P and friend Jason for some badly needed R & R. Roger had it the toughest when his transport convoy was hit first by and IED and then RPG rounds. A chunk of frag from a Humvee hit him square in the head and it was “lights out”. Jeff is recouping from a spinal fracture.

Stories From The Sand Box

Jeff said “in the sand box I had it pretty easy covering the country by air”. He said “Roger was on the ground and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone”. Jeff was tasked with a number of disciplines. I learned that on arrival “in country” Jeff said you will have diarrhea from the moment you step foot in Iraq until you depart. Studying the reason for this, it was discovered that a large percentage of the dust is comprised of human and animal feces. Stuff like that never makes the news.

I never really thought about it, but Roger mentioned that in convoys, there is no stopping except for mechanical breakdown. Cab temperatures inside the vehicles reach 160 degrees. He said you go to the restroom in a bag and become an expert in giving yourself IV’s. They would make their treks with IV’s hanging inside the vehicles pulling 24 to 36 hour shifts (under tension). “If we had to stop, it would invite trouble and trouble always came calling”.

Thanks From A Greatful Nation

The boys were a little beat up but in great spirits. Jason had been Roger’s lifelong friend and it was heartwarming to see the two “bowed-up” on home waters.

I was humbled by the opportunity and in awe of their service to our Country. Roger was an avid fisherman before Iraq got in the way. Needless to say, I kicked it in “high gear” searching for a trip that they wouldn’t forget. Herds of Black Drum and Redfish to 30” welcomed them with a day “they have never experienced and won’t soon forget”. I couldn’t help having feelings of great pride as American muscle (our American Airboats Air Ranger airboat manufactured by an owner who is a disabled Vietnam Vet, Mr. Stan Floyd) met a great American fishery with some true American Heroes.

Tails N Tunes Tournament
(POC, April 29/30)
www.tailsandtunes.com

I’m proud to have two boats taking part in the Wounded Warrior fund raising tournament Tails and Tunes held in Port O’Connor next weekend. Castaway Lodge Won will be in the bait division headed by Capt. Steve Boldt, Capt. James Cunningham, Capt. Chris Cady, and Capt. Brad Graham. Castaway Lodge Allstars in the lure division will be headed by myself and Capt. Doug Russell along with our sponsors from Pesado Construction Mr. Shane Hutson and guest. This is a great event supporting our wounded veterans, join us, we’ll see you there!

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge, Inc.
1-888-618-4868 Office
361-785-2587 Local
361-648-3474 Cell

 

There's A New "Dog" In Town

As We Speak

Activity in the back marsh environs and mud/grass in general has escalated with the arrival of herds of Black Drum in the Pony Class from 15 to 24”. As water levels have reached a typical Spring Flood tide, the silver bruisers have made their way into the memories of our guests. I’m also seeing some Redfish pushing outside of the slot in the low 30” range. This is all about water levels and the bountiful bait concentrations in that area.

There’s A New “Dog” In Town

The lodge welcomed Tommy Barker, a legend in Texas Law Enforcement and Bonding for a weeks long run at the back country bounty. I knew I recognized him but couldn’t place Tommy. You may remember when “Dog The Bounty Hunter” got popular, there was a story out of Midland/Odessa about a bonding company that said “We Don’t Need No Dog In Texas”. It made national news and I remembered catching the story. Well, that was Tommy and it pretty much established him as a “media darling” in that field. What a fascinating fellow with a supporting cast of family equally distinguished. The stories of “real world” bonding and law enforcement were simply mesmerizing. It was truly a pleasure fishing with this group.

Pre-Dawn Shock & Awe

We started the trip off with the worst fishing I’ve experienced this Spring. On Sunday, I was sitting on top of a huge push of water coming off the heels of a Saturday cold front. With rain, thunder, and lightning pre-dawn, I was concerned about the “shock and awe” effect on the skinny water fish. Winds diminished quite a bit and I was really struggling to find anything of interest (it happens, sometimes severe weather will dump the flats and the fish will head for deeper water especially after thunder and lightning). Visibility was tough and there just wasn’t much shallow on the flats. It was the worst day I’ve seen this Spring; 30 gallons of fuel; about a half dozen fish spotted; 3 fish landed; absolutely brutal. There were plenty of should-a-could-a-woulda’s. By the time I figured out that I wasn’t going to “see” any fish, it was too late. Lesson learned, I should have been “spot” fishing “blind” and taken my chances. Hind sight is 20/20.

Quick Rebound

Monday was another story, winds increased behind the cold front and were clicking near 20 knots. Still buried in water with overcast conditions, I made a decision to “fish blind” right off the bat and encountered a strong bite in best guess locations. We were limited out before noon with Redfish centered in the mid-slot and there was no sign of Black Drum in the mix. In talking with the group I mentioned “now you have a frame of reference, from worst to best”.

Bet On Black….and Red
(Tuesday/Wednesday recap)

As water levels receded a bit from Sunday’s deluge, mid week saw the arrival of herds of solid slot Black Drum mixing with Redfish. Tuesday saw the Redfish bite diminish somewhat as Black Drum eased into the area dominated by Redfish. We managed limits of Drum but just couldn’t get a lot of traction on the Reds, landing 5 solid slot Reds for the effort. Archie and Judy S. from Georgetown managed full-limits of Redfish on Wednesday but couldn’t come up with any action on Black Drum. Capt. Steve Boldt took the Barker boys for a change of scenery Trout fishing landing a ton of throwbacks and around 10 keepers to 18”. Steve had them dialed in on Tuesday taking limits in short order. As winds went slick Wednesday, the solid Trout headed for different pastures but a good time was had by all.

Thursday found gulf moisture returning to coastal waters as clouds and winds ramped up. It turned out to be one of those special days in the protected back country environs of Matagorda Island. With water dumping out, schools of Black Drum and Redfish were on the prowl in 8 to 12” of water over mud/grass. Working mud pockets, Tommy B. and guests finished a 5 day stay at The Lodge with their largest catch, 12 Redfish, 1 Oversized pushing 30.75”, and 15 Black Drum from 16” to 20”.

Lodge News

Our new 24 Haynie Cat Daddy will be coming out of the mold tomorrow and heading for decks and interior finish. The new Mercury 225 Pro XS has made it’s way to Chris’s Marine in Aransas Pass along with my 6’ Power Pole and Bob’s Machine Shop 6” Lightweight Jackplate. All will be there waiting on rigging end of next week.

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge, Inc.
1-888-618-4868 Office
361-785-2587 Local
361-648-3474 Cell
www.seadriftbayfishing.com

 

Another Milestone, Spring Benchmarks

Castaway Lodge, Inc.
www.seadriftbayfishing.com
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On The Island

We reached a milestone in the back lakes this Spring with the first arrival of slot “Pony Drum” there on Saturday. I haven’t seen them at all thus far even on a few stretches of outside beaches I might travel. This is a sure sign we are heading for stabilized water levels and warming temperatures. I’d say they are probably running about 3 weeks to a month on the late side. Seeing these flat burning bruisers hump up and churn clear waters into brown put a big smile on my face like meeting an old friend.

Black Drum are fast movers, they will push into the shallows on rising water and remain until the first sign of a water drop. When that happens, they will completely abandoned the shallows for outside beaches or possibly the depths of deeper back lakes. Mixing Redfish action with the unrelenting pull of slot Drum makes for an awesome day.

On The Chain & Upper SAB

Capt. Steve Boldt reported explosive Redfish action along with a few Trout with our guests from Southwest Airlines wade fishing artificial lures Friday. Gusting East wind knocked the Trout bite down pretty good according to Steve. On Tuesday, he had located solid Trout action with Gulp Shrimp under a MidCoast Products Inticer over shell flats reefs in SAB. That was all for naught as the latest cold front thrashed the waters. “After a number of pretty good grinds on Trout, I could tell it just wasn’t happening. Pretty confident upper bay Redfish would be in a feeding frenzy called for a quick regroup. Sure enough, with water falling out of the upper Delta marshes, we intercepted numerous Redfish pushing the upper end of the slot with full limits coming in short order. That was a day saver to say the least”.

Back To The Back Country
(Thursday-Saturday)
As North winds raged on Thursday, I saw Matagorda Island flood as higher water levels in the bay made a big push into the marsh for the first time since late winter. Fishing a rising water pattern there on a gusting north wind is a specialty. It’s a pattern that hasn’t really had a chance to emerge this spring due to lower water levels. As the Island flooded Thursday, my second look at a stretch of extreme shallows found the fish playing a familiar game. What had been a barren stretch of lakes came alive with fish pushing shallower and foraging.

Our guests from Schlumberger had their hands full with Redfish pushing the upper boundaries of the slot. As the north winds let up over night, water momentum drained the bays again and waters receded from the back marsh. Broken schools of foraging Redfish retreated to deeper swales and depressions setting the stage for a special day with Jerry S and guest. Working concentrations of fish in pools got the day started. Mid-day, Redfish slowly eased onto shallow flats foraging along grass lines. Pinpoint casting to deeper mud pockets in the pools and larger edges of grass lines on the flats yielded limits to 26.5”.

For us and everyone I talked to, Saturday proved to be somewhat of a challenge. With Carlos Cantu and family it didn’t take long to figure out we were in “lock down” mode. At one point we were casting to fish pretty much shoulder to shoulder covering a 30 yard area that would not feed. Time and again we witnessed mixed concentrations of Black Drum and Redfish with lockjaw. We managed to limit out on fish to 26” along with three Drum but it took every ounce of experience I had and some luck to get it done. Days like this are characterized by a lot of misses and hook pulls.

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge, Inc.
109 W. Austin
Seadrift, TX 77983
1-888-618-4868 Office
361-785-4487 Fax
361-648-3474 Cell
 

Good Friday, Better Fishing!

Nagging Low Water

We continue to experience a dearth of water and on Good Friday I witness the single largest water drop in the back lakes that I’ve ever witnessed. It’s funny, when the water really dumps out you often thing “man, I’ve never seen it that low”. Chances are you have but, each time the images are somewhat shocking. In talking to an Oysterman the other day, he said “I’ve been on this water for 47 years and I’m telling you I’ve never seen it this low”. I’ve seen years without a Spring Tide and nagging low water all summer. One way or the other, we’ll make the best of it. It is getting late in the day for a big “Spring” push of water but there’s still hope.

That’s A New One On Me

I ran into what felt like pretty reasonable low water levels early on Friday and the tide chart indicated we were on an incoming tide. I factored in the delay from the reading in POC and expected to gain water all day. Well, as sometimes happens, the opposite was occurring. Around 1:30 we were making a run and I noticed that the entire stretch of lakes farthest back and bordering Matagorda Island were “bone dry”. I’m not talking about skinny or sheet water, I’m talking about bone dry and scary looking even for someone in a dry land running airboat like our Air Ranger. I can assure you that I have never seen that before, not on the Island.

Good Friday, Better Fishing

Well whatever was going on with the falling tide was surely good for fishing. With Mark S. and family aboard, we made quick work of solid Redfish from the lower slot to 28.25”. The fish were feeding with “intent to kill” and that made for a lot of excitement on their family day out. Working leeward grass lines produced one of the first “emerging bites” I’ve seen this Spring. I’ve seen a lot of deteriorating bites this Spring but few emerging ones.

The cutest young ladies, Anna 15, Margaret 11, and their brother John 13 did the lions share of the catching with dad Mark enjoying every minute of it. Little Margaret had injured her wrist in a soccer game, reeling hand, and of course was wearing them out. She struggled at first handing the rod off to her dad. After that one, she sucked it up and fought them all herself. Mark said we’re heading to our relatives that live North of New Orleans and we’re having Redfish on the half shell “Cajun style”. Enjoy!

 

Letting The Yeti Out Of The Bag!

We are very pleased to announce our association with Yeti Coolers and would like to welcome them to our Sponsor Spotlight. We’d like thank the owner, Mr. Ryan C. for getting behind us here at Castaway Lodge and making that happen! I’m very excited about this association and I can tell you Yeti will be right at home with “the best of the best” sponsors here at The Lodge!

On another note, Pure Fishing has asked us to emphasize “their family” labels rather than “Pure Fishing” itself. So, you will see Pure Fishing has been removed and we will slowly be adding their powerful brands that we’ve come to rely on to the Sponsor Spotlight. It won’t be a shocker to see Penn reels or Berkley line and baits added I’m sure.

Power Pole, JL Marine Systems, Inc.

Special thanks to Lenny G. for getting my new pole on the way to Chris’s Marine.

Bob’s Machine Shop

Special thanks to Mr. Steve P. and his staff, at Bob’s Machine Shop, for doing such great work on these high performance plates. They just shipped out my new 6” Lightweight to Chris’s Marine.

Haynie Boats & Mercury Marine

These components will find their way onto a 24 Haynie Cat Daddy with a Mercury 225 Pro XS in coming weeks. I can’t wait to get her on the water!

Castaway Rods

Special thanks for getting the HP3 Series SCH8-X rods to us quickly! So far, they have been a life changer on the flats.

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge, Inc.
109 W. Austin
Seadrift, TX 77983
1-888-618-4868 Office
361-785-4487 Fax
361-648-3474 Cell