Castaway Lodge Seadrift Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley

Northerly winds have been a game changer of late with solid Trout action dramatically improving over shell reefs in ESB/SAB. Glass Minnows and Shad Balls bursting like fireworks on the surface have pointed to some nice Trout action. Late week we welcomed the 6th Annual Norm Invitational "AbNormal" celebration of the life and mentoring of teacher Norm Stuemke. Students from all over the State gather here once a year with their mentor to celebrate his teaching in a one room school house in Austin, Texas. By airboat in the back marsh, Redfish action has been similarly dramatic with big runs and drag burning action for our guests with abundant limits and catch and release action. Capt. Chris C. has really dialed them in. Capt. James C. has been on a nice run as well working shell. I've been working a variety of tapers and drop offs in bait concentrations and taking Trout to 22". We are all working live bait at present with Capt. James E. being the only plastic hold out at present. He had Tim B. and son aboard today and went straight to work on Reds over sand/grass guts with soft plastics.

We are presently buried in water from the Summer Equinox and the Tropical Storm forecast is for increasing tides on the Texas Gulf Coast. So, it seems, we are going to be "really buried" in water for the forseeable future.

We just finished up a 4 and 5 boat schedule over late week through the weekend and will be working a three boat trip with some of our favorite Veterinarians from all over the State this evening and tomorrow. Then we welcome a mixture of guests through Wednesday.

We hope the weekend was a good one for everybody and that Monday greets you kindly. Come see us when you get a chance!

Like us on Facebook and we promise to "love you back"!

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868
www.seadriftbayfishing.com
Twitter: @Castaway_Lodge
Facebook: Castaway Lodge

Castaway Lodge Seadrift Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley

Northerly winds have been a game changer of late with solid Trout action dramatically improving over shell reefs in ESB/SAB. Glass Minnows and Shad Balls bursting like fireworks on the surface have pointed to some nice Trout action. Late week we welcomed the 6th Annual Norm Invitational "AbNormal" celebration of the life and mentoring of teacher Norm Stuemke. Students from all over the State gather here once a year with their mentor to celebrate his teaching in a one room school house in Austin, Texas. By airboat in the back marsh, Redfish action has been similarly dramatic with big runs and drag burning action for our guests with abundant limits and catch and release action. Capt. Chris C. has really dialed them in. Capt. James C. has been on a nice run as well working shell. I've been working a variety of tapers and drop offs in bait concentrations and taking Trout to 22". We are all working live bait at present with Capt. James E. being the only plastic hold out at present. He had Tim B. and son aboard today and went straight to work on Reds over sand/grass guts with soft plastics.

We are presently buried in water from the Summer Equinox and the Tropical Storm forecast is for increasing tides on the Texas Gulf Coast. So, it seems, we are going to be "really buried" in water for the forseeable future.

We just finished up a 4 and 5 boat schedule over late week through the weekend and will be working a three boat trip with some of our favorite Veterinarians from all over the State this evening and tomorrow. Then we welcome a mixture of guests through Wednesday.

We hope the weekend was a good one for everybody and that Monday greets you kindly. Come see us when you get a chance!

Like us on Facebook and we promise to "love you back"!

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868
www.seadriftbayfishing.com
Twitter: @Castaway_Lodge
Facebook: Castaway Lodge

"Gotta Do What Ya Gotta Do"

Trout to 24" and Redfish to the mid slot have been dominating catches of late. It feels like the bite is on the rebound after getting knocked down over the full moon period of a week ago. Winds and tides have been tricky and the bite continues to be thwarted by lack luster tide movement early. We've been slow playing it early and then striking mid-day on moving water. We've still got a lot of fish on sand/grass but shell Trout dominated the boards yesterday while still decent numbers came of sand/grass for our wade fishermen.

Redfish have and continue to be solidly positioned on very shallow mud/grass flats. Yesterday, it was almost slick early and that sent Capt. Chris C. looking for torpedoes on the run. He doubled down on the biggest concentrations taking full limits by 9:00am with the Susan G. party while airboat fishing the back lakes.

I haven't dialed up the weather for the week yet but I've already heard from two of my guides that it's going to present some challenges with multiple wind directions and velocities. Figuring that one out will be part of "business as usual" for us and I'm sure something should break lose with some consistency in the near term. While boat fishing has definitely been slower than wade fishing, I look for that to change as the Trout finish spawning and pull out to shell in warmer water temperatures. For me, that even can't get here fast enough!

Like us on Facebook and we promise to "love you back"!

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868
www.seadriftbayfishing.com
Twitter: @Castaway_Lodge
Facebook: Castaway Lodge

Castaway Lodge Seadrift Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley

Coming off hot fishing late week, weekend action waned a little for us approaching the Full Moon. Redfish are solidly positioned on mud/grass with Capt. Chris C. taking full limits airboat Redfishing with Jed H. and guests on Friday. Trout are coming off of shell and mud/shell in San Antonio Bay. We're seeing some solid Trout but overall size seems to have fallen off a bit. We are looking for a break in the puffy winds and a little distance between us and the Full Moon phase. I've never considered it a negative "by itself" but, when a Full Moon meets a few other negatives like gutted low tides or howling winds the negatives can start to compound quickly making for a lot of challenges.

The conditions at present aren't "perfect" for those not well versed in various approaches. When Mark S. came down Saturday evening with the kiddos for their annual Spring fling I wasn't sure how the youngsters would fare. We've caught a lot of Redfish together and some of the techniques are similar but conditions are typically much more forgiving. Today's challenges showed that all the "teach-talk" paid off as I could see a lot of what they learned Redfishing playing out on a first go with Live Croaker over "sticky shell". No big homeruns to be had but the youngsters all managed some solid Trout and even their mother Mary jumped in smoking 3 in a row at one point to 18". Not every guest is well suited to the conitions that present themselves but we worked hard helping them out and making another round of memories for the guests of 10 years or so.

Trout just don't catch themselves and no one just shows up and "deserves" a limit. More days than not, they are earned, and typically it requires digging in and doing the work just like anything else that is rewarding. That's part of the popularity of the species no doubt. They can be the "fish on every cast" or "fish of a thousand casts" at times. While we can make it look "too easy", those are the special days for sure. Add sticky conditions; criss-crossing tides and winds; kill-shot-bring-to-bites; big winds; low water; ugly water; and, any number of other factors on a given day and you will have your hands full. That's where we come in.

If Monday finds you off the water, we hope it's a good one. Tomorrow will find us working with some more youngsters as Greg P. and kiddos make a run at the speckled bounty.

"Like" us on Facebook and we promise to "love you back"!

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868
www.seadriftbayfishing.com
Twitter: @Castaway_Lodge
Facebook: Castaway Lodge