Castaway Lodge Seadrift Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley
Solid fishermen yield solid results over late week and through the weekend. A variety of approaches served our guests well working mud/grass and shell in ESB/SAB and shallow bays and back lakes. The big bull tides of this Full Moon brought dividends and counteracted some ills with water conditions especially on Sunday.
Late Week
Thursday was a quick and brutal barrage of Trout banging the deck with Steve S. and guest taking full limits by 1030am. Friday we welcomed Jed H. and nephew Clay in for a run at the fish. Night and day was the best description I could come up with. The fish had pulled way off of primary structure and were working out deep and scattered. We struggled to come up with a half dozen working "hot zones" from the day before. Finally, I pulled the plug and took a look at some back up Trout which surprisingly cooperated to 24.5" over mud/grass. We laid it all on the line and dug in like a pit bull to come up one Trout short for the effort. Any lesser fishermen and the day would have ended poorly. We wish Clay the best as he transitions from dorm life to the big time…best wishes!
Saturday's Optimism
We had high hopes for the weekend as we welcomed a bachelor party headed by Hunter W. and the guest of honor Clint along with return guests Impact Fire Safety. Our hopes turned into reality as the right approaches; in the right hands; matched with the right guests; bent the boards. Trout to 23" and solidly centered in the 18" range continued to hang on secondary contours out deeper. Southeasterly wind directions found Capt. Doug on the phone early pulling a half dozen solid Trout on the first half of his drift. That narrowed the focus and we pretty much went deep in the numbers and long on size. Doug put it on them taking limits with Clint and Hunter W. and guest. I managed a solid half limit with really pretty fish before the activities of the previous evening caught up with everyone. Capt. James E. worked a variety of angles including taking some nice Redfish out of back lake mud pockets and grass beds. Capt. James C. dug in on a grass line working scattered fish before they schooled up and broke out with some fast action to 23". Capt. Chris C. found solid action shallow by airboat working grass lines and mud pockets in the upper bays. He said the fish were solid and making some dramatic runs.
Leads to a Sunday Ambush
Sunday tried to surprise us with a big conditions meltdown except Mother Nature forgot that we'd been there and seen that one about 200 times. We hit the water on a slick off first thing after a big wind pop overnight which gutted the bays with off color water. We immediately abandoned strong Trout real estate in search of Redfish and all managed a few while we were looking for some guidance from the wind and water. Sure enough we picked up a little pop out of the North and pushing 15-18 knots. We worked with it for a while with Capt. James C. breaking into a half dozen fish first thing on a slow grind. That wind and direction backed down in velocity and advanced around the compass going East and then Southeast. With the big tide on the charts I new some good water would be pushing for the "hot zones" and we bugged out of the back country and made a bee line. First drift we took Trout to 20". We stayed on them working a stair step approach over oyster shell along streaking water changes and managed solid Trout the entire way. We finally broke to primary structure as the Southeasterly direction ramped up into the middle teens. The bull tide still managed to penetrate dirty water zones leaving us with "all the cards" in our favor. First primary structure drift produced 8 Trout to 18". Capt. Doug and Capt. James E. were working the same patterns in different areas with similar results.
All in all it was a great string of days with a great bunch of guests. As always, we hope the start of the week is a good one for everybody. Come see us when you get a chance!
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Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868
www.seadriftbayfishing.com
Twitter: @Castaway_Lodge
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