Well our 2nd annual Castaway Classic Fishing Tournament and BBQ Cook-Off was a huge hit again this year. We’ve come a long way in a year baby!  In October last year we formed our 501 C(3) to formalize our charitable giving and to date we’ve now raised right at $15,000 for local youth initiatives.  With 19 teams in the fishing tounament, we lost a couple of entries over last years event which had 22 teams.  However, the field tightened up big time with regard to “seriousness and talent”.  Chris Taylor with Team Shoalwater said “this field is packed with talent”!  That was great news and sure enough it was a nail biter to the end as reports coming in was lots of fish pushing the 28” line. 

The BBQ Cook-Off picked up a couple of new entries this year with some great local defenders of last years title including Capt. Terry Spoonemore; Bryan Lynn; and the Morales family.

From old local salts to young run and guns, we had some great competition and wonderful support from local folks chipping in for our live auction.  We also had many of our great local businesses sponsoring the event again this year.  We reached out to the community and some of our amazing clients stepped up with Facebook donations; and when the chips were down, came through with some amazing live auction items.  Thank you all so very much for your generosity.

Classic Redfish Tournament

This years finish in the fishing tournament went to some local old salts headed up by Butch Hodges, Ricky Carter, and Buzzy Dillon (pictured above) on team “Drunken Seamen”; 2nd place to Chance Deckard & Allegiance Crane; with 3rd Place going to Chris Taylor & Team Shoalwater. Capt. James Cunningham with Clark Constructors Team won Big Redfish; and Capt. Chris Cady with Team Castaway won 2nd Place Big Redfish.

Classic BBQ Cook-Off

The BBQ Cook-Off saw tough competition as well with the Morales family’s Team Crafted Que taking top Chicken & Ribs with Yoli Duenez out of Bloomington Team “Ain’t Nothin But A Chicken Wing” took top Brisket. Chef’s choice and the calcutta went to team Crafted Que. Bryan Lynn’s No Name Cookers took Chef’s Choice with a Blackened Redfish topped with shrimp and a cajun cream sauce
Capt. Kris Kelley, Castaway Lodge 361-0482-0570

After graduation from high school Clayton traveled to the Rio Grande Valley to take a week long course to get his captain’s license and he passed all the courses it requires to attain it. Special thanks to our friends in Port Isabel for the support, Butch Mock and Alfonso and Betty Camacho. It takes a village and we are appreciative. Twiggy and Bob

“Beaming with pride for my lil’ guy Clayton Robert Wadley’s banded pin tail from Canada while duck hunting with his dad Quintin and school friend Mike Loughrey.”
Twiggy Wadley

The past couple of weeks have been hot and cold on the catches for me.  It has all been driven by the weather which is no secret this time of year.  Days of blowing cold rain and wind followed calm warm sunshine has been the norm of late.  Texas weather is usually like this in February with some years being much colder and others being unusually pleasant.  The fish respond to these changes by yo-yoing from shallow hard sand to deeper soft mud bottoms in order to roll with the water temperature changes and survive it day by day.

Wade fishing with lures has been the ticket to success more days than not.  Catches of solid Speckled Trout have almost been a given while Redfish have made an appearance too.  I have personally caught more redfish lately that were a bit less in length than the legal minimum of 20” and I have enjoyed the battle these though young fish have provided.  The other thing about the wading has also been the variety of lures the fish have been preferring.  Whereas a month ago I could only do well on slow sinking soft plugs, the fish have been preferring other baits, almost any that you throw at them.  The topwater bite has been very good as well as both soft plastics with paddle tails and those with straighter tails.  The difference in the two is dramatic under the water as you will see the paddle tails are more straight swimming lures with a greater vibration from the tail which is in contrast to the straight tails that dart erratically from side to side and up and down while being tugged along.  It’s been fun to experiment with the different types of lures that I have in my wade box and it’s satisfying to have the fish respond well to all of them.  Makes that purchase of THE LURE you gotta have seem like the best idea in a long time!

As we turn to the middle of this month more of our trips are beginning to be ones where we are in the boat and using bait.  Those trips have been successful too and they will get more and more fun as the weather continues to warm towards Spring.  Soon we will change over from dead shrimp and crabs to live shrimp under popping corks and cut mullet it will go wide open.  By the time Spring Break rolls around we should be in the middle of some of the best action of the year.  Speckled trout and redfish will hold strong in the foreseeable future. The question is will you be a part of the action.

The groundhog was right I believe and it will be an early Spring!  Signs have been there for a couple of weeks and it’s time to make that transition out of the winter blues and into a warm state of mind down here on the middle coast of Texas.  See ya soon I hope!

Capt Stephen Boriskie,Bay Flats Lodge, 888-677-4868