March Madness – Capt. Stephen Boriske

Time flies when you are having fun and that’s what has been going on in the middle Texas coast! February is typically our slowest month of the year when it comes to customers booking trips at Bay Flats Lodge for many reasons but I think the main one is cold and rainy weather and the uncertainty it brings with it. Then the secondary reason has to do with this month being like a Tuesday of the work week. February seems to me to be the get-it-done month because the holidays are long gone and tax season is right around the corner and fishing fever with Spring Break coming up will distract your attention so all the pressure to get your work done falls on this one month of the year. Thus we saw a lag this past month which will give way to a frenzy of fishing requests from March on through the year, in fact as I look at my bookings things are filling up fast!

Those who can put all that work aside and join us in February though have been rewarded this year because we have somehow dodged the frozen temperatures that we typically get. Instead we have enjoyed milder cool fronts with less rain than we have been getting during the second half of 2018 which has allowed us more days on the water and less weather cancellations. The fish have been strong too and our guests are bringing home the meat with most outings showing boxes of Black Drum and Redfish limits with occasional solid numbers of Speckled Trout! Overall the past six months have been milder than winters I remember with fewer frozen toes and blistered faces on the books.

We are excited that March has arrived and that fish are already showing Springlike enthusiasm on the bite and in the box. The waters are in good shape and with the warming from the sun and extending hours of daylight, soon Winter will be a faint memory. This week I will enjoy a visit from returning guests for a two day wade fishing trip with lures and I couldn’t be more excited to get out on the water. Since we are fortunate to run trips most every day of the week March through January these past few weeks have given me a much needed break. March ‘madness’ to borrow a term from the cagers is upon us and with the warming trend, the increasing tides, more daylight and a reset button on my body with rest, it’s time to get out there and do work!

Capt. Stephen Boriskie, Bay Flats Lodge, Seadrift, Texas, 888-677-4868