Trout Reflections & Cyclical Punctuation

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; Corrosion X; and, Bob’s Machine Shop.

We fished through the unsettled weather of late without skipping a beat as usual. No doubt we are in a long-term cyclical change. Just as the drought in 09 was severe and punctuated the changed from a wet cycle to a dry cycle, so too is the transition from a dry cycle being pucntuated by the weather this Spring. This is way more familiar to us having fished wet cycles for most of our careers. The lessons of those years and the coinciding excellent fishing have not been forgotten. The lessons from 09 through the Winter of 2015 will similarly be etched in our memories. Recreational fishermen get a lot of things wrong on their perceptions of weather and events like coastal flooding. One perception is the freshwater runoff is going to ruin the fishing. Of course, the opposite is the case as evidenced by rebounding Trout action up and down the Texas Coast.

While the drought years took their toll on the environment, one thing there is no substitue for is the experience of years of fishing through a wet cycle. The fish are responding in kind and while not every wound has been healed or every pattern in perfect form; we are seeing signs of improved predictability and a return to familiar patterns.

TROUT NUMBERS

I called bottom a few months back on Trout fishing in a timely report and so far “that call” has been a good one. June is a historic “primetime” month during wet cycles and we are looking for it to “prove up” our feelings.

The States timely cutback on the limits last Fall was probably a good thing in the long run. I’d never have said that 6 years ago, “pre-drought”. As I’ve gotten older, my perception is that 10 Trout per person was “some number” too much in terms of shear meat that people can put to good use. Between the State and recreational fishermen’s input, they decided the right number was 5.

Since 2009, Trout have had the upper hand over anglers in a hyper saline environment and now the deck is being stacked against them as the bays freshen up. I’m sure they’ve been beaten up over that time and the cycle change should start an immediate “healing”. That said, their predictability in this environment is going to weigh against them and the limit restrictions should help mitigate their vulnerability to thehook allowing a more healthy rebound in numbers, size, and shear scope.

PERFECT STORM

It’s becoming fairly obvious that Texas is setup for a rough Summer as everyone is maxed out on their rain tolerance and we’ve yet to get into the Tropical Season. I seriously doubt that we will go unscathed from a myriad of Tropical events that usually coincided with a wet cycle and that’s going to mean one thing, more rain and more flooding.

LODGE NEWS
Attached pictures are from trips late week through Saturday, enjoy.

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