September 28, 2026

Gators Down, Fish in the Box & More on the Books

Castaway Lodge Fishing & Hunting Report

It’s been another wide-open week here at Castaway Lodge, and September is definitely going out with a bang. From daylight until well after dark, there has been something happening around here. Boats leaving the lodge, gator crews heading out, hunters getting gear together and the girls keeping everything moving behind the scenes—it’s been the kind of week that keeps everybody on their toes.

Great American Homes brought in an awesome group of 33 guys for two days of fishing, putting 11 of our guides on the water. Getting a group that size fed, loaded up, paired with guides and headed in the right direction takes some work, but once those boats started pulling away from the lodge, everybody was ready to get after it. The guys had a great couple of days on the water, and it was a heck of a way to keep this busy stretch rolling.

Andrew Brown with Empire CAT was right behind them, bringing in a group of 14 ready for a little gator and fishing action. With 19 gators on the books this week, our gator guides have definitely been earning their keep. Gator season may be short, but we make the most of every day we have, and when you have this many hunters coming through in one week, there isn’t much room for sitting around.

“When you’ve got that many gators on the schedule, you better have everything ready and everybody on the same page. There’s not much downtime this time of year.” — Capt. Jake Huddleston

That’s really been the story of September around here. One trip rolls in while another is heading out, and before you know it, we’re resetting everything and getting ready to do it all over again. Between gator season, Early Teal and our regular fishing trips, there have been plenty of mornings where several different crews were headed in several different directions before the sun ever came up. As we rolled into the weekend, six more groups arrived ready to take advantage of everything Castaway has to offer.

The Maxwell group was back with us, and these guys have been around enough that we don’t really consider them clients anymore—they’re more like family. They got in on the Cast & Blast with Capt. James Cunningham, mixing some time in the field with time on the bay and making the most of another trip to Castaway.

Justin Taylor and his group hit the bay with Capt. Chris Cady and Capt. Braden Proctor, and those two boats didn’t waste any time getting the job done. Both Capt. Cady and Capt. Proctor had their fish in no time, putting together a heck of a morning on the water and getting the Taylor crew exactly what they came down here for.

The Lewis group came ready to make the most of their trip as well. After successfully harvesting their gator, they swapped gator gear for fishing rods and headed out on the bay with Capt. Casey Jones to put some fish in the box. That’s what we like to see—come down here, get after it and pack as much into a Castaway trip as you can.

The Schmidt and Knussman groups came in with gators on their minds, while Matt Holiday decided one adventure wasn’t enough and paired his gator trip with a Night Vision Hog Hunt.

“This is the time of year we wait on. One group’s chasing gators, another is headed to the bay, and somebody else is getting ready for a hunt. That’s Castaway in the fall.” — Capt. Chris Cady

With the last weekend of Early Teal and gator season upon us, everyone has been trying to squeeze every bit they can out of these short Texas seasons. That means early alarms, plenty of coffee, boats and trucks moving before daylight, and guides turning around and getting ready to do it again the next day.

It takes a lot of moving parts to pull off weeks like this. Our guides have been blowing and going all week long, while everyone back at the lodge has been working just as hard keeping rooms turned, meals coming out and groups taken care of. When you have fishing, teal, gators, hogs and Cast & Blast trips all happening at the same time, everybody has a job to do.

That’s one of the things I enjoy most about this time of year. There’s always something going on. You might see a group come back through the gate with fish in the box while another crew is getting ready to head out after a gator, and later that evening somebody else is loading up for a Night Vision Hog Hunt. It makes for some long days, but those are the days we like around here.

As September starts winding down, we’ll be saying goodbye to a couple of our short hunting seasons, but there won’t be much of a break at Castaway Lodge. The phones are still ringing off the hook, new trips are hitting the books, and we’re already working hard to get everybody squeezed in where we can.

October is already jam-packed.

The fishing calendar is loaded, our guides are getting ready, and judging by the phones, folks are still looking to get on the water. September has kept us running, and October looks like it has every intention of doing the same. We’ve got a lot of fishing ahead of us, a lot of familiar faces coming back through the gate, and plenty of new ones we’re looking forward to having at the lodge.