Castaway Lodge Seadrift Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley
Sponsored by: Mercury Marine; Air Ranger Airboats; Haynie Bay Boats; Baysport Marine Victoria; Castaway Rods; JL Marine; Pure Fishing; and, Bob's Machine Shop.
It's been pretty surreal on the water with a cool front taking down the temperatures on the water and making for some awesome weather. It reminded me of transitions we'll face coming up later this month as we head into September with fronts becoming more frequent. With wind directions taking us off some locations, the Northerly direction lit up some others. We've been working shorelines targeting mud pockets with live bait. That has produced limits of Redfish with some nice releases on oversize fish to 32".
Oversize Redfish Guidance
I saw a billboard a little while back that CCA had put up and the topic was "just keep the slot fish". The Redfish slot is from 20 to 28" here in Texas and the limit is 3 per person/day. We are allowed one oversize Redfish via the Oversize Redfish tag which is in addition to the 3 fish limit per day. The tag is intended for a potential State Record fish or a serious hunt for a wall hanger to be mounted. For some reason, we have been inundated with folks showing up seeking to keep 4 fish and are thinking the tag allows for this. While technically it does, that's not the purpose of the oversize tag. Oversize fish are the least desirable on the table and they are the backbone of the breeding population. Our instruction and intent is to release as many of these fish as possible and that is the recommendation to our guests. We certainly need to turn the trend on intentional oversize fish harvest. We are heading more firmly in that direction.
Lodge News
Our "deck hand" program which puts eager local youth to work helping on the day to day execution of fishing trips is bearing fruit. This week finds two 17 year olds, Kolten and Justice completing their Sea Academy instruction. This is the culmination of lots of long days afield and on the water and an endless number of tasks completed to get to this "deserving level". Each will be eligible for licensing when they turn 18 in coming months.
Check dates and inquire at http://www.seadriftbayfishing.com/Calendar
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Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868
www.seadriftbayfishing.com
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