The Huntress Cindy Henry with her first Alligator. Thanks to Jake, Cody, Kevin and Crew. See ya’ next year! -Capt. Jeff Larson

September was a great start to the 2018/2019 Cast and Blast Season. Crazy weather brought crazy fun whether you were Hunting or Fishing. It pays to have good gear in adverse weather conditions. Yes, I agree that its expensive but that’s why you budget 1 piece at a time. Here’s what I do, when its getting close to pay day, surprise your significant other with something special like a sweet card or some candy. Flowers work too! Then right after the pay check hits the account,….order a piece of Sitka Gear, Aftco or Simms. Then time the incoming bill to date night. Just reassure her that it will be ok and this 1 piece will last a lifetime.

I just got caught ordering a new jacket, a couple dozen decoys and plane tickets back to Africa. See I have been playing this game awhile. All these things cost me a new Leather Couch Sectional….Always been an envelope pusher, if ya know what I mean.
Next time you see me, ask how I got to order another airboat, 2019 Air Ranger fully loaded. Big Shout out to my friends Stan and Faron Floyd for making it a smooth purchase. Everybody knows you need 2 Airboats.
We are still bragging about September. The Last Day of Teal was definitely better than the 1st. 3 blinds filled with Shooters, 102, then 17 Bloody Mary’s at the Trucks for a Toast. This Season, We also got to see some Great Dog work over the Teal Decs. Even the young dogs needed a little help picking up the volume of birds we shot this season. The Retrievers got the Long ones and the Hunters snatched the ones up that fell at our feet.

September Rocked!

We had a great Alligator Season thanks to Captain Jake Huddleston and his crew. He had 100% success rate this season. That equates to too many Alligators around here and not enough tags.

The most memorable Gator Hunt this Season for us was the Husband and Wife Team, Dr. Mark Henry and his Super Excited Super Sweet Wife Cindy Henry.

This was Cindy’s 1st visit here to Texas Middle Coast. She was able to experience our severe weather and torrential down pours. We had a gully washer on opening day of Teal. We soon dried off that afternoon and went Gator Hunting. We packed the boat down with Cindy and a slough of witnesses for her 1st Alligator Hunt.

Oh Wow!

The very first line was down with an area of torn up cattails as wide as the boat. It looked like a Drunken Mad Man that had thrashed around during a Bar Brawl. Since I’ve done this a time or 2, stepping back and watching the show was the best option for me. I was thinking, You-Tube worthy stuff, if this went down like a Nightmare on Elm Street. This would make me an internet sensation if I captured this chaos.

Cameras (Cell Phones) were rolling! Cory and Kevin had the pleasure of putting Huntress Cindy Henry into the Action. The Looky Lou section was packed! Cindy’s Knight, Mark, had her belt loop as the boys pulled up the line slowly and then all of a sudden all hell broke loose. That Big Ol Gator did not like looking at the end of Cindy’s .410 slug gun. Oh it’s a Big ‘Un someone yelled. Dawn and I were looking for an escape route in case that Lizard wanted in with us. Cory’s arms were almost pulled out of their sockets as it THRASHED! Hey this was Swamp People Highlight Clips kinda stuff. Cindy eased over the side of the boat and let the hammer down.

The Huntress let that bore bark and the Gator froze in time. Heck! We all froze in time as well. Then with a Big Exhale the whole crew was cheering for Cindy and her perfect shot she placed, like it saved the day. Great Gator Hunt! Great Memory! Her Gator was right under 9 foot. Big enough for some boots and a nice hand bag. We had Fried Alligator for a few days and donated some to charity.

We are Big Advocates of Hunters Charities that seek out areas to help people in need.

We look forward to next year! Maybe the weather will be a little better for flounder gigging and some fishing.
If your interested in next years Cast and Blast September Rumble in da Mid Coast Marsh you better get with us, ASAP.
Billy has the Saltwater Lodge Calendar so call him at 713-907-4796.

Octobers weather is settling and fishing is Red Hot, serious Reds are everywhere.

We’re Out!

Respoolling Lines, Rigging Decoys and Re-Anchoring (‘cause I lost it at the Jetties).

Captain Jeff Larson 281 217 0399

Saltwater Lodge crew making it happen for Mrs. Cindy Henry. Lots of State Regs to harvest Alligators. Great team work!
-Capt. Jeff Larson

Lately we are catching a variety of fish on live and dead shrimp on our bait trips and soft plastics in almost any variety on our lure trips. This is no surprise as we usher in Fall around the middle Texas coast because that is the norm over the past several years.

We have passed the croaker season up now and the fish have turned their attention to shrimp! We are getting White Shrimp mostly right now from the area bait camps as the shrimpers are working hard in the dark and throughout the day to bring the catches to the table. When it comes to variety I am talking about Speckled Trout, Redfish, Black Drum, Sheepshead, Flounder and just about anything else. You can almost guarantee there will be something biting so this is a very good time to bring the kids or customers or family members that may not do so well catching fish at other tougher times of the year such as February for instance. Lots to catch right now including both undersize and keeper sized fishes that I mentioned and it is really a fun time.

Get the calendar out now and see when you can come down to fish with us at the lodge. We have plenty of guides and dates open to enjoy this bounty of fish using these methods. Sure we are getting our fair share of ‘trash’ fish too like Hard Head Catfish and small bait getters like Pinfish, Croaker and Stingrays! The reason I say ‘trash’ is the old adage of one man’s trash….well you know. The fact is some guests really don’t care that the fish they catch isn’t a keeper or on the list of preferred table fare. All they care about is that we are catching something. Those are often times the anglers who have more fun than others because they are in the action. Now of course this is a small percentage of our clientele but you get what I’m saying. Stop hounding so much on GOTTA CATCH A LIMIT and just enjoy every fish you catch and you may find yourself experiencing a whole new level of enjoyment with your time on the saltwater.

Those, however who are after that hefty stringer have been satisfied as well lately on our guided trips. We are blessed with a solid lineup of experienced professional guides willing to share information with other guides on the Bay Flats team who may be struggling that day. Probably the following day the guy who was on the fish yesterday may be blanked and need the help of the guys he rescued the day before! The point is our philosophy is leave no customers behind! That is if guide one is on ‘em then they feel it best to share with guide two who may not have pin pointed the goods. Get it? Basically we want all our guest to enjoy the bounty of the bay and catch some good fish to take home for dinner or to CPR (catch, photo, release).

Enjoy the Fall as this is the first full week of it and try to find time to bring the family or friends or maybe your top customers or employees. I promise you will enjoy the lodge from the moment of arrival to the larger than life meals to the comfortable bed to lay your sleepy head to the guided fishing trip the next day. Check us out online at bayflatslodge.com and friend us on Facebook to keep up to the minute on the goings on. Maybe your face will be on the next report smiling ear to ear as you raise that bronze Redfish up knowing you just cast your own line, set your own hook and battled your own fish!

Capt Stephen Boriskie Bay Flats Lodge 512-589-1916

Big Wading Surprise!
-Capt. Chris Martin

With October upon us, there are certain factors to take into consideration for those coastal anglers who wish to be proactive in their approach to successful fishing.  Everyone should pay special attention to the fact that each day will be just a little bit shorter than the day before, resulting in a lessened amount of sunlight hours each day.  It is at this time of the year when you might wish to begin transitioning to the presentation of dark-colored lures, and even start experimenting with some of the more common plastic suspending baits like the standard sub-surface Corky, and its cousin the Fat Boy, or even lures like the Badonk-A-Donk SS, MirrOdine, or Catch 2000.

Keep in mind the importance of the imagery of the silhouette of these baits.  These darker, suspending lures tend to imitate a silhouette more symbolic of that of a mullet instead of that of a shrimp.  And the darker the silhouette will mean better reflection of the bait against the sunlight beaming down upon the lure.  The primary bite will start to come during the very early and very late sunlight hours of the day.  With the days shortening, even the most infrequent weekend fisherman should be able to take advantage of these prime-time periods.

Things should cool off a bit in October, but if that doesn’t happen as we might expect it to then the fishing patterns will almost certainly become somewhat similar to that of springtime, where the coolness of the morning will still be outdone by the warmth of the afternoon.  With all of this, and with the anticipation of higher tides this month, anglers should focus their efforts primarily in the areas situated deep within the heart of the back lakes.  The backcountry has given up some handsome late summertime trout at times.

A couple key ingredients to your success will be for you to locate nervous baitfish or diving birds.  Place yourself along shorelines consisting of patches of grass mixed with either shell, sand, or mud, and make special note of any schooling mullet in these areas.  Look tight to the shoreline for redfish, and search for them in some of the more murky water covering the grass and mud.  The trout in these back regions will be found over grass in the more decent green and clear water, but they’ll still prefer some of the sandier bottom structure at times.  You may also wish to begin introducing smaller baits in these secluded lakes during October because it’s important to downsize in an effort to imitate the small silver shad that we should be finding in our bay system right now.  Later on, when wintertime sets in hard, you’ll want to remember to use a larger bait size in order to more closely imitate mullet.  Until next time, tight lines to all!