Castaway Lodge Capt. James Eastep putting his guest on topwater trout to 26”, with 24 caught and released.

This week has seen a big run of “big runs” with limits of Redfish pushing outside the slot to 31.5” along with action on broad shouldered schools of Black Drum. Elevated water levels made for some strong concentrations of fish prior to the waxing of the moon. With some strong winds, our emphasis has been on protected back country shallows.

On the Trout scene, Capt. Jake checked a nice box of Trout with Kyle W. and guests taking advantage of a lull in mid-bay winds to work shell reefs in SAB with PCS on Saturday. Capt. James E. checked a whopper Trout and had solid action over shell wade fishing lures with guests Wednesday. James had an awesome day on Trout to 26” catching and releasing 24 keepers. He said the topwater bite was “going off” as water temperatures have warmed.

With tides falling out much of the day and a full moon, the bite definitely changed up from last week. Hesitant, spooky fish made for some challenges but nothing that couldn’t be overcome with some extra effort. Capt. Doug managed to stay hot on solid Redfish working potholes along with Capt. Jake and I. Find a lull in the Redfish action and Black Drum picked up the slack. The under rated bruisers topped off heavy Redfish stringers with sore wrists and big smiles.

Black Drum over shallow flats are fast movers. Redfish will stick to an area despite wide ranging water levels but Black Drum will vacate an area if spooked by falling water. Super skinny water Redfish can be hard to approach and even harder to catch. Finding the right balance between fish concentrations and water depths are keys to success. Barren stretches of back lakes mud flats with sparse emergent grasses and similar pockets along outer lake shorelines are where you’ll find alot of the Redfish and Drum presently. Kicking mud stirs and humped up torpedo vees cutting through the water are a tell tale sign that there looking the structure over for a quick meal.

Bait camps are presently coming flush with live shrimp and a variety of mullet and crab are pretty readily available. I’m expecting a pretty good push of water after the full moon dissipates and that should set the stage for some awesome fishing as we head into the latter part of March heading for April.
– Capt. Kris Kelley  1-888-618-4868