101 Reading A Fishing Report

Castaway Lodge Seadrift Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley

Ghost Writer Free – Authentic Mid-Coast

1-888-618-4868 – TEXT 361-648-3474 E-MAIL: kris@seadriftbayfishing.com

Bait Fishing North/South, Airboat Redfishing

Dual Degrees, MS/PHD, Bouncing Between North & South

A dual Masters Degree and PHD degree, symbolized at the end of a signature by the MS/PHD.  For us, with a chuckle, this has always stood for “More of the same, piled higher & deeper”…LOL.  The 101 on reading a fishing report and meshing the text with the pictures.  These slight of hands fall under several HEADINGS. One could be “Talking North & Fishing South”…another might be “Talking South & Fishing North”…:)  Just throw it in the Facebook MEMES of “Tag a buddy who always talks about limiting out but never has any pictures”…ha ha.  Or the old favorite, “Talking plastics and throwing Croaker”….that’s a classic.

A couple of quick pointers; if we’re throwing up pictures of Redfish limits with Blue Catfish slung all over the boards, “we’re fishing North”.  We might of started South and ended up North but a big box of Blues from here to Galveston means you’re fishing North.  For us, it’s Mission, Hynes, The Delta and so on.

The most important of all “tips to reading a fishing report” is looking at the fish themselves.  For this area, if somebody is “Talking North with a bunch of slender torpedo Redfish, you know they didn’t come from up North. Those are Island fish or shallow bay fish like Shoalwater, etc.

Trout really tell the story. Trout color in particular tells the story.  Talk a shell game with a bunch of Green Trout and you’d better be “know” they came off mud and grass.  Vice versa applies. Anyone “talking a mud/grass’ game with a bunch of silver Trout and you can just bet your fish box that they came off shell or shorelines. Chameleon’s they are. Trout coming off mud/grass will take on a deep dark green appearance.

That recognition led me to the largest run of success on Trout I ever had in my career and it came to me via the fish cleaning table.  Everyone was struggling early one June, nothing was coming off of shell from here to Ayres, lots of running and not much to show for it.  Cleaning a light box I shouldered up to a Redfisherman with a massive box of Redfish and an impressive showing on Trout??  A quick observation noted a bunch of beautiful green Trout mixed in with his Redfish and that was that.  I didn’t have to ask any questions, I had the answers in the color of his fish.  The next day I made a B-Line to Pringle Lake and well lets just the rest is history.

Fishing Report

Running some bumpy weather with fog and overcast, a little chilly to straight shorts and t-shirts with flip flops the last day or so.  Spring in Texas on the coast no doubt. Once the slick-offs cleared out as a front hit we hit a rough patch for about a day working North to mixed reviews and ugly water messing things up a tad.  We headed South after that was the ticket to the mother load.  Big solid Redfish and a bite to beat the band, old school with some catch and release by Airboat for Capt. Chris Cady.

As things calmed, bayboats worked back North with Capt. Braden Proctor taking top spot on solid Redfish limits and some mixed Blue Catfish for a bonus.  Capt. James Cunningham decided to buck the trend with Tim S. and wife Joann drifting mud/shell South for Trout limits on PCG, DOA, and DSL’s.  Poling down on Redfish he worked with Capt. Chris Cady on back lakes fish getting the report on Chris as to what was holding fish as he’d been prowling there on an airboat trip.  Tim and Joann managed their limit of solid keeper Redfish as well.  Capt. Chris has been on a good streak in prime time for Airboat trips taking solid limits along with some Black Drum that are starting to show, still not as thick as they will be.

More folks in from IA tomorrow as we welcome folks from 20 degree land.  Nice to see the north country folks come down for some major rod bending and a definite warm up for them.  Great folks.

If you can squeeze in a trip over March, we’d love to have you.  Visit us once and you’re friends, visit us twice and you’ll be family.  See you then!

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
1-888-618-4868 
www.seadriftbayfishing.com

Sponsored by: Mercury Marine; Air Ranger Airboats; Haynie Bay Boats; Baysport Marine Victoria; Coastline Trailers; JL Marine; CorrosionX; Pure Fishing; and, Bob’s Machine Shop.
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