“Snow White & The Nine Reds”

Castaway Lodge Seadrift Report
By Capt. Kris Kelley

It’s a little bit nippy out there even with departures taking off around 8:30am. I put the new 2013 Air Ranger on the water yesterday for her first trip and it was a gorgeous day. The new boat handled like a dream as the 550HP L92 from Mast Motorsports stretched her legs. There are pivotal moments in boat evolution that change the game. The R&D by American Airboats and their move to the L92 motors was one of them. This shaved 400lbs off the back of the boat and increased 125 horses. Yea, that’s a game changer.

Back Lakes Beat

We found the back marsh on the island to be pretty typical looking for a cool snap in February. Emergent grass growth is pretty retarded at this point with lots of barren mud stretches yet to get new growth (no grass no fish – extreme shallows). The fish we did find were schooled up with a very few Pony Drum and most were hanging in the deeper lakes and depressions in the shallower venues with abundant grasses. Tides were on the medium low side and there were a few too many big stretches of ultra clear water for my taste. No doubt we’ve got a lot of fish still hung up in bayous pushing between the bay and back lakes. The bait is starting to stack up in places but low water isn’t making this a real comfortable proposition for the fish. That seems to dump them back in the sloughs putting deep water access close at hand. Black Drum are especially “comfort sensitive” in shallow water and they are very fast movers on tide variations. Redfish on the other hand seem to be less inclined to abandon an area on a big water fallout.

Trout Scene

Soft plastics bounced around area reefs is starting to produce a little better for Trout. Plan on sifting through some smaller fish to get to the keepers and definately pick your weather in the big water. Live bait is still a no show so far at area bait camps.

Goose Hunting

We are still looking strong for the conservation season. Geese hung up on area “greens” and a lack of broad based pressure is making for some “shooting in self defense” over decoys. Friday’s weather was about as bad as you could fear yet loping strings of hungry Snows, Blues, and Ross were “cupped and committed”. Ed R. and guests from San Antonio were on their first goose hunt and lets just say 62 birds despite numerous gun malfunctions will find them “catching the fever”! We are going to gun them until they leave, weekdays have some openings, let’s do it!

Attack At Dawn Special: We’ve got a couple of openings left as we head to the end of February on our Spring Special. It might get a little bumpy mid-week but I think we can handle it so give us a shout if you want to hit the water. Best time to fish this area is WHEN YOU CAN, so come see us when you get a chance.

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