On the back lakes beat, Redfish tightened up schooling mid-week for rediculous action on bruisers to 29.5”. Working mud pockets in a foot of water proved to be a great idea with full limits dominating the boards. Black Drum have been sluggish over the back lake environs and I don’t see them getting real comfortable centering up until we get a little higher water levels on the scene. Regardless, we did manage some solid catches along with our Redfish with some hefty “jail break” add ons in the 18 to 23” range. Our guests are continually impressed with battling the striped bruisers and inch for inch they will challenge any Redfish you might run into.
Last Spring I witnessed more alligators coming into the salty back lake environs than I had ever seen “cumulatively” in my career. Evidently they were migrating from the freshwater ponds on Matagorda Island feeding on Mullet and other baitfish in the area. Alligators are a freshwater reptile so seeing them actively feeding in saltwater lakes and marshes is something I’ve seen occassionally. To date this Spring, I hadn’t seen any signs of them reappearing until Friday. I ran into a 9’ alligator at the far West end of Power Lake. I don’t know if this is the beginning of another unusual presence of them in the back lakes but it makes you wonder?
Trout seem to be everywhere at present with popping cork/shrimp or artificial being the go to for boat fishermen. Drifting shell and mud/shell has been producing decent catches but limits haven’t been hitting the boards lately. Capt. James Eastep is waiting for the fish to center up on sand/grass and thinks April will be the month. With a Spring Tide yet to appear, you can just about bet when it shows up things are going to break loose. Trout action picked up for us late week and emergent grass growth has exploded during the past week and bait concentrations are blossoming throughout. Schools of shad running with the tide over shell led our guests to solid catches of Trout to 22” lately working live shrimp; soft plastics; and, topwater while wading and drift fishing.
Getting that big Full Moon behind us has made all the difference in the fishing and the catching of late. I didn’t ever get the full scoop on that full moon but heard that it was the largest in a couple hundred years or something to that effect. I’ve never paid much attention to “one” negative as it applies to fishing. A Full Moon phase in and of itself hasn’t ever appeared to be an insurmountable “negative”. However, when you add a number of adverse conditions and pile them all up on one particular day or stretch of days you can bet it’s gonna get tough out there. Take a Full Moon with a 30 knot wind, low water, and poor tidal action. You could say that combination of conditions is a 1+1 = Negative 10. Over the years, the best offense during these “dog days” has been to find a small bite and work it into the ground. That requires a much less aggressive approach on the water and setting aside the “run and gun” play book for a bit. The key, however, is locating something to work with, a bite of some kind, somewhere. When it absolutely plays out. Searching for greener pastures in conditions of this nature will often lead you down a dead end road.
As it applied to fishing during the last Full Moon, it was very interesting to see the fish scattered and in absolute shutdown mode early. One particular night during the moon phase, heavy overcast set in overnight and the action the next day was off the charts early. This could have been a coincidence, but it sure made you think that the clouds blocking the moonlight had made for less foraging overnight. As we got the moon behind us, action returned to pre-moon normal with strong action early and very aggressive feeding.
Capt. Kris Kelley Castaway Lodge 1-888-618-4868 www.seadriftbayfishing.com
