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Castaway Lodge Fishing Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley

For the first time we had a client suffer a major medical problem while fishing earlier in the week. Capt. James was fishing with some guests and things were going really well. James said "we were catching a few Trout and everything was going well". One of the guest said "James I need to break out the lunches, where is that sandwhich"? James grabbed the lunch bag and handed the guest his sandwhich and some chips. "He was eating his sandwhich and we were talking when his speech started to slur". James said "when I saw the sandwhich hit the floor of the boat, I knew there was a big problem". The guest had a history of medical problems dating back to an explosion at a local chemical plant. The friends knew the history and knew that this was serious. The good thing about fishing on 50 plus MPH class bay boats became obvious. James said "when the sandwhich hit the floor, I fired up and racked her back for the ramp". In short order ambulance service arrived and rushed our fallen angler to the ER. It was an apparent stroke and not the "heat stroke variety". When I got off the water I followed up and talked to one of the friends. He said "he's asking for his Copenhagen so we're thinking he'll be ok". We wish him the best and a speedy and full recovery.

We all think we're well prepared to face a medical emergency if one arrises while on a fishing trip. You just don't know, however, what you will confront until it occurs. I've got to thank James for his actions and professionalism, you won't find any better waterman that's for sure.

Going Tropical, Yea....No.

So much for TS Don, I made the call Thursday with our guests to "stay on course" for the coming Friday and Saturday fishing schedule. After checking the progress of the storm and seeing it shift Southward along with it being lop-sided made the decision easier. My feelings were pretty jaded, "this drought is so bad that a little tropical storm is going to get shredded by our dome of High Pressure". Sure enough, Don disentegrated as it approached land. Friday, as the storm approached, winds and classic looking feeder bands started coming ashore. Fishing with long time guests from Travis Medical, we focused on Trout early taking half limits before things got bumpy and then shifting gears toward Redfish managing a couple for the effort.

Whenever you "make a tough call" like "we're fishing" when a weather event is approaching, it can be risky. If everything turns out well, you made the right call. What we don't want to do is pen our guests in the corner and push a bad weather position and then have truly horrible fishing. Trust is the name of the game and our guests took my advice and the fishing was pretty good on Saturday. Capt. James and I both managed full limits of Redfish and a few Trout. The big water was pretty bumpy, Trout were scattered, and the bays were pretty off color from the gusty winds as TS Don came inland.

Rain Gauge

On the bright side, we did pick up 3" of rain. Don't get excited, because in this drought we've got a new rain gauge. Three inches of rain is now classified as "two drops, three inches apart"!

We hope you have a great week and that your fishing is "catching". Come see us!

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