Impact Fire Services fishing with Castaway Lodge in March.
Friday (Anglers Choice)
Water levels surged late week with an east wind that sent things into “overdrive” on the feeding scale. We had strong and aggressive strikes followed by gut wrenching; rib tweaking runs; burning drags and high fives. We welcomed Gary L. and son Mike along with Lance S. and his dad David from Backwater Waterfowl & Retrievers from LaGrange. It’s always great to be tapped on the shoulder by your peers to “make it happen Capin” and you couldn’t ask for better sportsmen and anglers. Friday was just a classic “smoke pole” taking full limits of Redfish centered over the middle slot along with fast action on some heavy Black Drum pushing 24”.
Saturday (Fishing Defensive with Dividends)
All the while I’m thinking Saturday’s cold front was going to be brutal “and it was”. Sustained 33 knots made for challenging conditions that the Castaway Team met head on with enthusiasm. Everything was well off pace with by sonar SMS text alert pinging like a bad scene from a World War II Submarine movie. “Struggling” was the word from alot of peers and we were definitely fishing defensively but got off on the right foot with some “solids” in the middle slot. Odds on weather like that is somebody is going to get their head kicked in and sure enough the fish God’s targeted Capt. James C. that day with a pretty smooth “water haul”. Props to him though, he pushed through with attitude until the clients beer went dry and they pulled the plug. Capt. Doug had a little better luck with Charles O and son. Doug hauled a lot of water before chipping away at Redfish in the middle and upper slot. Unfortunately, a heartbreaker late in the day left the boys one fish short on their limit. Way to stay out of the crosshairs Doug, fine job and the Oates Clan was ecstatic.
I managed to keep a defensive posture with a few aggressive moves that took us deep in the heavy end of the slot with multiple oversize fish taking center stage. Mud burning Black Drum that had made such an impression days before had vanished leaving nothing but Redfish. The Impact Services crew stayed with it and we had a great time beating Mother Nature at her game.
Sunday (Post Frontal Lack Luster)
A post frontal slick-off early had me nervous before we ever hit the water and that tingling on the back of my neck was a pretty good indicator of what was in store. While finding fish was easy and the concentrations were astounding (at one point a half acre of mixed Black Drum and Redfish decided to bolt turning the back lake to mud) the feed was definitely the last thing on the minds of the fish. This is a classic scene I’ve seen played out year over year. The bigs winds of the norther that flooded the island had waned overnight sending water pouring out of the back country. That’s probably the peak feeding frenzy and it left us with a bunch of “fat and sassy” fish that needed force feeding and that barely worked. Hook-pulls, two dozen misses, and countless other heartaches kept us just short of limits today on Redfish from all ends of the slot. Capt. James C. pushed it to the limits trying to regain his footing after hauling water on Saturday’s big winds to find half limits to the max end of the 28” slot. James is hard to keep down for long and hats off old friend!
Monday
We’ll see what tomorrow brings but I can tell you “I’ve got them zeroed in” and they can’t stay closed mouth for too long! The lodge welcomes Jim M. and family in this evening.
Trout Scene
Capt. James E. came off a nagging cold only to hit the water in his new 24 Haynie Cat catch and releasing Trout in the 24” range over mud/shell on soft plastics and paddle tails. We are offering a 10% discount on wade fishing trips through the end of April during weekdays Monday – Thursday. Promo Code: (Wadefish)
Have a great early week and come see us when you get a chance!
Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868
www.seadriftbayfishing.com
