Flat Spot Trumped By Heavy Scouting

Castaway Lodge Seadrift Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley

Fishing Scene

Prefrontal conditions late week opened up the best window on Redfish that we’ve seen in a little while.  Capt. Chris managed near limits with a group after duck hunting while Capt. James stumbled into line popping oversized fish positioned on high water. Weather has been really volatile with winds pushing 25 knots out of the South and then whipping back North at 25.

Ducks, Water Levels, Rain & Migrations

Over late week we managed some limit and near limit shoots with the cold front breaking things out to the upside after the conditional turmoil earlier in the week.  Wigeon, Teal, Blue Bills, Shoveler, Mottled Ducks, and a few Pintails dominated the straps.

A warm up with big high tides and copious rainfall inland proved to slow things down on the duck hunting mid-week. Teal fled the upper marshes while Pintail left Matagorda Island for flooded fields inland.  That left us with a smattering of Redheads South and little puddle ducks elsewhere and pretty unhuntable conditions with the high water. If you ever watch a show about Africa and they talk about Water Buffalo smelling rain miles away and it triggers a migration, our Pintails are similarly triggered. When it starts raining a lot on the Coast, they pull off the bays in high migration formations and head inland.  This is something I’ve seen time and again.  As the fields drain, the Pins return to the bays to continue foraging on bottom grasses. We are already seeing them returning to the bays and I saw more on a hunt yesterday than I have in days.

Geese & Cranes

Hitting the grass has been the theme of late as big South winds dominated mid week.  Capt. Jake managed some strong shooting on Snows taking nearly a 100 birds over full bodies over Rye Grass.  Loping Cranes in an open zone made for nice shooting over decoys as well.  We’ve got quite a few geese in the county and we’re looking for more inbound birds as the depths of Winter finally catch up with Northern States and begin to drop the freeze line farther South.  The timing is great for extended season conservation hunts with fresh birds meeting the guns in February here along the Coast.

Twelve days and counting to the wrap up of the 2012 Texas Duck Season.  We’re looking forward to strong shooting taking us through the end and want to thank everyone for coming down to hunt with us.

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