Kat Torres and her 28” Trout caught with Castaway Lodge in April.

Whistle while you work took on a whole new meaning Saturday as winds blazed with the passing cool front. What gorgeous weather despite the wind. The crisp north cooled things down a bit and that’s welcome for sure. Capt. Chris Cady started things off this morning by roasting the Redfish with Greg G. and guests while Capt. James took a look at Trout angles. I was working on the island in the back marsh and ran into fish coming in out of the bay pushing shallow. These fish were massive and very bleached out from the deep waters. North wind patterns weren’t evolving fast enough and sometimes my expectation doesn’t exactly chime with the schedule of the fish. Before it was over with, classic patterns evolved yielding our best bite to 31.5” working cuts through islands where the water was being forced through.

I blew through the lake where only the day before we had a memorable catch with Tom T. and guests. We were in a meltdown with solid Redfish action and I was taking a picture when Kat set the hook. About that time Dakota had a fish on and then Kat’s dad James set the hook. We had three fish on and Capt. Chris and I were working with the anglers and jockeying everyone to keep the lines straight. We boated Dakota’s fish and then James fish, all solid Reds. Capt. Chris and I were dealing with them when I looked up as Kat’s fish approached the boat and that’s when I saw big lavender colored sides with a bunch of spots hit the sunlight……BIG TROUT I yelled. Capt. Chris Cady said oh my God that fish is pushing 30”. As he was about to pass out we eased the big girl along side and I snatched her out of the water with the lip grips. We took a quick measurement and promptly took a picture and Tommy and Kat both agreed to set her free. It was fun watching her swim off unharmed to be caught another day. It just goes to show, you never know when it will be your lucky day.

Big Weather Calls

Fishing the Texas Coast with the Capt’s. of Castaway Lodge finds little room for a lack of nerve, or fear of a drop of rain or big winds. I’ll never forget when long time client Lynn K. of Austin questioned our nerve on one of his first trips with us. Winds were banging out of the North early in the Spring with a huge bull tide pushed in the bay. He looked at me as we were getting ready to hop on the boat and depart the ramp and asked “are you serious”? We were heading out to work soft plastics drift fishing on my bay boat and that’s exactly what we did. We had some really nice success fishing the back reaches and protected waters with solid Trout and Redfish leaving no doubt about the “call”.

Guests ask me frequently “when is the best time for fishing”? My answer is always “when you can get away”! We seldom have the luxury of picking tides or weather conditions so we have to learn to fish it all with success not failure. That’s not to say that every result on a “weather call” is as good or as solid as we would like but I would say without hesitation that more often than not fishing is more successful than less successful. I would also say that better weather can at times increase the odds for difficulties rather than be a predictor of success.

Tough weather for “home gamers” and non-professionals is not for the inexperienced. While we can run our water on any wind and any weather, that ability comes only with way too much time and experience on the water, serious equipment, and the know how to use it. It’s not uncommon to hear the heart wrenching stories of recreational boaters and anglers meeting disaster on weather that is either beyond their ability or gets that way unexpectedly.

Tomorrow we welcome Jim K. and a 7 boat trip, it looks like another great day on the water is in store.

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