Castaway Lodge Seadrift Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley
"Don't Over Think It"
Quick moving deteriorating conditions on the fishing scene can rattle you. When it gets turbulent I think back to that famous line from Bull Durham when the gal tried to get the aspiring pitcher to try pitching like Valenzuela using the Galapagos Lava Lizard technique…too funny. Well, if it works for pitching why not fishing! Bottom line is to not over think things and work the conditions. Don't over think the situation and, to borrow another great baseball movie line, "clear the mechanism". It happens to be a necessity at this level.
Tough conditions of late found us on the move for Trout and Redfish. Big winds and a big tide fall out seldom do allot of favors for the fishing. Catches were deteriorating from mid-week to late week as we wore out our welcome in a few places and the winds ramped to another level. Locating a small bite and working it to death has been key through the undulations in the WIX (Wind Volatility Index). There is going to be some tough fishing on a boat somewhere in these conditions. I ran into tough sledding on Friday as some fast action fish on Thursday disappointed leaving us to "explore" new areas only to come up empty. We doubled back to dig out 2 limits of Redfish for the 3 guests but it was tough tough sledding. Capt. James C. got a taste of it Saturday as the tide drop deepened and conditions, timing, and approach weren't working out and few other options were available. I got lucky enough to find a small window on some Trout opportunities to bring together a dozen fish or so before the wind and conditions shut us down. Coming off the water Saturday afternoon I doubled back to the lodge and got the clients squared away and on the road. I then dropped Capt. Chris Cady in the water to scout everything we couldn't cover during the normal course of a fishing trip. Results were encouraging and we managed to dig out some solid boxes on Redfish to 30.5" for two boats of the 4 boat trip.
More Solid Leadership
Part of the crew led by Capt. Doug Russell split to stay focused on what had been successful in prior days. With a water level rise on Sunday, it popped the fish off again and Capt. Doug led his contingent to solid Redfish limits and a decent Trout while Capt. James E. took Trout to 24". Seasonal transitions find the need for scouting as weather limitations, techniques, bait choice and focus begin to shift. Capt. Chris Cady put in a solid 5 hours scouting after working with anglers from sun up to 2:30. Like many successful enterprises, that success doesn't come without "doing the work". My hats off to the Capt's. of Castaway Lodge.
We welcome 12 guests with Steve S. from Austin for a three boat trip; Lane R. Jed H. Hunter W. and Impact Fire this week.
WIX Trend Line
It looks like the trend line in the winds are starting to deminish as we head through the week. We may even see some 5-10 knot SE kind of patterns and that's going to pop things off for sure. That's going to bring the WIX into a bearish trend line heading for 16 territory right there so you better hop on!
Have a great week and come see us when you get a chance!
Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868
www.seadriftbayfishing.com
