Castaway Lodge Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley

Water levels in the bays creeped up gradually with elevated winds from the South jamming it through the passes. Focusing on protected back lakes and shallow bays made for more solid action on Trout and Redfish with a few Black Drum frequenting the shallows. Fishing through the Easter Holiday saw little boat traffic on the water as we entertained guests from S. Texas taking advantage of the long weekend.

I've been fishing with Mark S. from Houston for better than 10 years, all the way back to the days when he was at Enron. The last few years, I've had the pleasure of fishing with him and his kids. This year, his wife joined them on the water. She said "when they came back from the last trip they were on cloud 9. So this year, I decided to come with them". That was a great idea and a brutal introduction to drag burning Redfish and Black Drum. The kids started out showing her how it's done right off the bat. Despite having a family of five on the boat, the well trained youngsters kept their composure working fish to hand with their mother managing to catch the biggest Redfish of the day.

Capt. Doug took advantage of a mid-day incomming tide to pull off the Redfish action and focus on Trout. With no break in the winds and working angles over shell that offered some protection and managed to find a decent bite to 20" on PCS ending up with a little better than half limits.

Over the Holiday, Tim and Ricki joined us from the Hill Country for two days in the back lakes. We managed full limits of Redfish along with a flats burning oversized fish and a few Black Drum to 20".

Below The Dry Line, I guess we're all looking for some rain and just about anything to start breaking the wind pattern. It's probably a little early to start referencing the 2009 Drought Fishing Playbook but I've already dusted it off. We hope you had a great Easter.

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

Castaway Lodge Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley

It's interesting that we continue pressing toward Summer with no sign of a Spring tide anywhere. After making some small gains on water level (about 3") that ignited the fishing, we lost all ground as water levels returned to the low side mid-week. Elevated winds turning E and ENE late week helped to drive some water toward the back lakes while draining other venues uncomfortably shallow. Taking advantage of the water push and keying on Redfish, we led our guests to full limits of Redfish and a smattering of Black Drum working mud pockets in winds pushing over 20 knots mid-to late week. Capt. Doug indicated that getting on the fish and staying with them by making small "micro-moves" was the ticket for him. Black Drum pretty much fled the back marsh lakes as water levels came down while the Redfish stayed put foraging on finfish and crabs.

Trout Scene

Drift fishing took on a whole new meaning as Capt. Doug tried to work some open water in search of Trout. "That wind was howling but I thought what the heck, let's check it out. I threw the drift sock over but we were darn near on plane drifting perpendicular to the wind. On the first couple of casts one of the guys landed a solid Trout. Our speed kept increasing to the point you just couldn't reel line in fast enough. When I pulled my drift sock in it was shredded and totally trashed".

That's life on the water this time of year and sure enough we'll be heading for calmer waters in coming weeks.

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

Castaway Lodge Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley

"Winds Make Redfish Top Priority"

What a difference three inches of water can make in the shallow back marsh environs! Without the water rise, things were looking pretty bleak with scalded flats scorched by winds and slicked off by big mats of grass beds that should be submerged. Limits were obtainable but it got down to pretty much a super shallow white knuckle endeavor with hard to approach and spooky fish. Add 3" of water and everything looked alot different on Sunday with the Mike L. party from Austin aboard our Air Ranger airboat. I suspected things were going to be much improved but had no idea we would experience the aggressive and wide ranging bite that we did. Mixed schools of Redfish and Black Drum were on the prowl. While limits of Redfish came to hand the guests also picked up their legal limit of Black Drum in the 18 to 23" size range and managed another 5 Reds which were released.

Late Week Look At Trout

Despite the wind, conditions on Friday weren't that bad but the bite was pretty weak drifting over available shell pads. Working artificial and live shrimp yielded half limits for Jerry S. and son Ryan. The best production came off soft plastic paddle tails with live shrimp not producing much at all. The tide has been inbound early and this kept the water fishable. Saturday didn't start off so well as break light found us smack in the middle of a tide change with torn up and gutted water through mid-morning. That made for the Trout Quest essentially the "fish of a thousand casts" with only sporadic success coming as the tide came in mid-day.

Wade Fishing

The wind has made it dificult limiting options to fishable waters. Fishing with guest Syd T., Capt. James E. was able to locate trout and redfish pushed against a windward shore. Our guests only wanted a few fish to take home so most of the day was catch and release. James said they managed 20 trout to 22" and 10 redfish to 27". The fish were located on mud and grass and soft plastics was the bait that worked. The 5 trout that were kept all had eggs and the spawn cycle is in full swing. The more fish that spawn the more fish we have for the future, keep what you need and pratice catch and release.

Drought Breaker?

How about that chance of rain this morning? A 40% chance here in Seadrift did elevate to 100% certainty as the wet stuff fell for about one minute. I hope you've got puddles in your yard! Come see us.

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

Castaway Lodge Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley

"Winds Make Redfish Top Priority"

What a difference three inches of water can make in the shallow back marsh environs! Without the water rise, things were looking pretty bleak with scalded flats scorched by winds and slicked off by big mats of grass beds that should be submerged. Limits were obtainable but it got down to pretty much a super shallow white knuckle endeavor with hard to approach and spooky fish. Add 3" of water and everything looked alot different on Sunday with the Mike L. party from Austin aboard our Air Ranger airboat. I suspected things were going to be much improved but had no idea we would experience the aggressive and wide ranging bite that we did. Mixed schools of Redfish and Black Drum were on the prowl. While limits of Redfish came to hand the guests also picked up their legal limit of Black Drum in the 18 to 23" size range and managed another 5 Reds which were released.

Late Week Look At Trout

Despite the wind, conditions on Friday weren't that bad but the bite was pretty weak drifting over available shell pads. Working artificial and live shrimp yielded half limits for Jerry S. and son Ryan. The best production came off soft plastic paddle tails with live shrimp not producing much at all. The tide has been inbound early and this kept the water fishable. Saturday didn't start off so well as break light found us smack in the middle of a tide change with torn up and gutted water through mid-morning. That made for the Trout Quest essentially the "fish of a thousand casts" with only sporadic success coming as the tide came in mid-day.

Wade Fishing

The wind has made it dificult limiting options to fishable waters. Fishing with guest Syd T., Capt. James E. was able to locate trout and redfish pushed against a windward shore. Our guests only wanted a few fish to take home so most of the day was catch and release. James said they managed 20 trout to 22" and 10 redfish to 27". The fish were located on mud and grass and soft plastics was the bait that worked. The 5 trout that were kept all had eggs and the spawn cycle is in full swing. The more fish that spawn the more fish we have for the future, keep what you need and pratice catch and release.

Drought Breaker?

How about that chance of rain this morning? A 40% chance here in Seadrift did elevate to 100% certainty as the wet stuff fell for about one minute. I hope you've got puddles in your yard! Come see us.

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