Guests of Castaway Lodge alligator hunting with Capt.’s Jake, Kevin and Cory.

Funny, I had a client call in a couple of weeks ago and ask me “what do we do if it’s raining”? I chuckled and replied, “If it’s raining, we’re going to dance in it while we catch fish”! Of course, on that trip, the rain wasn’t an issue. On Sunday, however, I had fishing duties while all other guides were working on alligator/Teal hunts. I got my wish let me tell ya, and dancing we did, with Redfish to 26”. We got on a few early despite slick wind conditions working with bait over mud/shell. We bumped and struck out, bumped and hit a solid 26, and then I went shallower burning up some fish over mud. We went to working on them but still didn’t hardly have a breath of wind but managed to catch 3 on a grind. Then a pretty good squall came at us with some wind. I said, “Hang on boy, it’s going to get busy”. I expected the bite to escalate quickly but that didn’t happen as quick as I thought it would. About 30 minutes into the driving “horizontal wind and rain” they popped off and it was a calf scramble from one end of the boat to the other. One of the youngsters on the boat was so glad to see that 12th fish hit the box, he was very much “done with fishing in the rain”!

Teal/Fish Combination

Capt. Jake and Kevin managed to knock out full limits for the Steve C. 12 man group visiting for a Teal/Fish combination. Capt’s. James; James E; and Capt. Doug dialed in on Redfish in SAB with some success. Capt. James C. managed 9 of his 12 Reds with Capt. James E. and Capt. Doug running into a slower bite with lots of undersized and lots of folks thrashing the water Saturday.

Gator Hunting

Saturday: What had been a sluggish feed on the part of the big lizards since the kick off of the season on 9/10 turned into a “feeding frenzy” as the full moon waned late week. Doug and Katie F. from SA managed to pull their 6 and 8’ gators Friday with Cory and that was just the beginning. Two groups of father/sons Tanner K. and Victor S. both had a great hunt with their youngsters and Cory. They both had their first experience with alligators in the 6’ size range and all got their gator. Kyle S. was looking for a 7’ and Cory put him on it. Trophy hunter Lonny A. didn’t make it with his son but decided to bring his new bride with him. He was looking in the 10’ size range and came across an 11’3” beast with Capt. Kevin. He opted for the bruiser and let me tell you, it was impressive.

Sunday: We welcomed Donnie G. and guest Tommy H. in looking for lizards in the 7 and 8’ size range. Capt. Kevin had their number Sunday and both got their lizards. We also welcomed David and Tara P. in for a hunt looking for a solid gator and Cory made short work of it in area full of gators but had been slow in taking the baits.

TV Shows

We had a delay in the arrival of KNG, the hosts of Killin N Grillin (Pursuit Channel #608) ran into delays with another outfitter on “less than productive” alligator hunting and will be arriving this evening instead. We’ll be lighting up the gun barrels with Capt. Jake in the morning and hopefully Capt. James C. will smoke some drags mid-day in this weather.

Stay tuned and come see us when you get a chance!

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

Guests of Castaway Lodge Steve C. taking full Teal limits with Capt. Jake.

Bronson Ulrich (left) at the Port O’Connor Jetties. Fish had over 100 spots. Released to fight another day.

Jessica Staff Neal from San Antonio (right) with the 42 inch, 39 pound, redfish she caught on live shrimp. It took Jessica approximately 30 minutes to land the fish using light tackle.
She was fishing with her dad, Darrell Staff and husband Ryan Neal on September 17th.

Chet C. with customers in the Air Conditioning business; day-1: Capt. Jason of Bay Flats Lodge; heaviest 3 trout, 2 reds using top waters on leeward shore of Matagorda Island Sept. 17, 2011.

Team Bay Flats guide Jason Wagenfehr stated “It didn’t matter what size, shape or color top water you used on Saturday, the reds smoked them.” We lost count on how many blow ups we experienced. It was an epic day for top water action. The first two hours were the best. Keying in on stained water on leeward shores of Maty, and finding nervous schools of finger mullet worked well. Best action was in front of drains in waist to chest deep water. Later in the day pumpkin chartreuse TTK 1/8 oz heads in the middle to lower water column worked for catching trout.

On day-1 Jason’s team with Chet C. took 1st place with 109.25” with their top 3 trout 2 reds. Capt. TJ Christensen guys won 2nd place with 108.25”, and Capt. Nathan crew took 3rd place with 107”. This was a 10-boat 2-day session with Chet’s customers in the AC Supply business.

Operation Cancellation

The lodge is offering a substantial savings due to a last minute cancellation of a large group to arrive either Thursday or Friday Oct. 6 or 7, and fish the next day. This offer is for these dates only; anyone already booked may not switch dates. Please call Angie at 1-888-677-4868 to find out more details.

TTF Gun Dog Dummy Topwaters

Good Day for TTF Gun Dog Baits!!!….Academy Sports + Outdoors will start stocking all 16 TTF Gun Dog Dummy Topwaters this October….Everyone head over to Academy this fall and pick up a Gun Dog…they come trained and ready to Hunt!!!!!

Solunar Forecast & Predictions:  http://www.solunarforecast.com/solunarcalendar.aspx

Testimonial

Chet Couvillon To ALL the great folks at Bay Flats Lodge, THANKS for showing us “a touch of paradise” this weekend. Your staff made us “comfortable” from the time we arrived and you have the “hardest working” fishing guides on the Texas coast! After all, we know a thing or two about comfort and hard working.

1-888-677-4868 Captain Chris Martin www.BayFlatsLodge.com

6th Annual Christopher Ragusin POC GRAND SLAM Memorial Fishing Tournament
October 7th & 8th, 2011
Port O’Connor Community Center Pavilion

Tournament Agenda:

Friday, October 7th

6:00 p.m. Captains’ Meeting & Silent Auction
After the Captains’ Meeting, the Calcutta will be open for anyone who would like to purchase a boat that was not yet bought.

7:00 p.m. Dinner

8:00 p.m. Deadline for Registration

Saturday, October 8th

5:00-6:00 a.m. Pick Up Start Tag at Boat House Bait

3:00-5:00 p.m. Weigh In

6:30 p.m. Awards, Fish Fry, Auction & Music

Schedule can be subject to change.

T-Shirts, Koozies & Meal Tickets will be sold separately to Non-Anglers.

Entry Fees:

$65 per person (max. 4 anglers per boat – $240 Full Boat

Registration Fee Includes: T-Shirt, Meals

Heaviest Grand Slam Stringer (1 trout, 1 red, 1 flounder)

Heaviest Combined Stringer (3 trout & 2 reds)

$200 Optional Calcutta

$20 Big Red; $20 Big Trout; $20 Spot Pot; $20 Big Other

Pay Outs:

Calcutta 100%; Pots 50%; Grand Slam 50/50;

1st 25%; 2nd 15%; 3rd 10%; Combined 50/50;

1st 25%; 2nd 15%; 3rd 10%

In case of a tie: Time Received will be the second deciding factor.

Proceeds will be distributed throughout our community via Scholarships and Donations.

P.O.C. Grand Slam P.O. Box 840 Port O’Connor, TX 77982

Phone: 361-935-8745 amtaylo3@yahoo.com

One angler from each team must be present at the Captains’ Meeting;
TPWD Rules apply; Anglers must have a valid TX Fishing License, and be entered into the Tournament; All decisions are final; Fish will not be reweighed, NO CULLING allowed in weigh line; NO OVERSIZED REDS; One trout over 25” per team; Start Tag must be picked up in Port O’Connor Tournament day; All fish must be caught by rod and reel. Anglers will be held responsible for the disposal of big fish. Weigh In begins at 3:00 p.m. & ends at 5:00 p.m., GPS time. After 5:00 p.m,, your team will be disqualified. No exceptions will be made.