By Jim Darnell
Daily Record Columnist
— I love it when a good plan comes together. Months ago, I visited by phone
with Captain Kris Kelly at Castaway Lodge in Seadrift about a cast and blast
event for outdoor writers.
Although he runs a major waterfowl hunting operation in the winter he said,
“We don’t do the early teal season. It’s too unpredictable. But we can fish
in the morning and hunt doves in the afternoon.”
“Sounds good to me,” I answered.
We set a late September date and hoped all the pieces would fall in place.
Setting outdoor event dates months ahead can be tricky. Weather can wipe you
out. One hurricane on the Texas coast would end it. Also, the fish have to
cooperate and you never know about doves. They’re fickle. You can have birds
one day and they migrate out the next.
But Sept. 24 turned out to be a charmed day. As our guide Shawn Gaskamp
guided the boat from the Intracoastal Canal into Espirito Santos Bay it was
evident that the weather was perfect. Two other boats from the Castaway Lodge
were right behind us. They headed for Pringle Lake planning to fish croakers
and other natural bait on the bottom. Our plan was to wade fish with
artificial lures.
“This Blackberry Island shoreline has been holding good fish for about two
weeks,” Shawn said. “The redfish are in shallow and the trout are out in a
little deeper water.”
It didn’t take long to know we were going to catch redfish.
The grassy shoreline was loaded with bait. Usually, you
find the bait and you find the fish. So it was. Big redfish were blowing
through schools of mullet. Dark, wide tails could be seen poking from the
water in several areas.
With my spinning rod stuffed in my belt I stripped line off my fly reel and
cast my streamer fly across one of the pods of redfish tails. Slowly
stripping the fly right into the redfish produced a violent strike. The big
redfish powered across the flat zipping line off the fly reel. Then he began
to make a wide circle around me. Eventually, I slipped my net under 25 inches
of bronze-colored dynamite. Good start. A big keeper on the fly rod and the
sun was barely emerging into the eastern sky.
Now it was time to nail one on a top water lure. A long cast with the
spinning rod sent the big top water into an area where bait was thick.
A few twitches of the rod tip made the lure dance along
the surface like a skittering mullet. Then, a violent strike. The big treble
hooks stuck and I was into another slug fest. The big spot tail tested my
equipment to the max. But I won. Another big fish on the stringer.
The guide and my writer buddy, Mike Price, were wading deeper and I could see
them catching speckled trout. But Houston outdoor writer Greg Berlocher and I
stayed after the redfish. Greg was tossing a small wobbling top water that
was catching lots of fish but they were smaller. Most were under the 20 inch
minimum.
As the early activity tapered off I cut off the top water and put on a lead
head jig with a Berkley Gulp shrimp. The second cast produced my third big
fish. With my limit of reds on the stringer I waded out deeper, joining Mike,
and began catching trout. But I kept thinking about those big redfish.
“Mike, I hate to leave you and these specs but I’m going back to the
shoreline with those redfish.”
After all, a three fish limit means you can keep three. It has nothing to do
with how many you catch. With my top water tied back on I began having big
redfish blow up on the lure. But they all missed.
I called for Greg to join me.
“Let me throw my locater lure and when they miss you cast your fly right
behind,” I said. It’s a trick that often works.
“I’m ready,” Greg replied. “Call him up.”
After several casts a redfish blew up on the top water but as fate would have
it both treble hooks stuck firmly in the fish’s jaw.
Greg began to laugh.
“Bring him right by here. When he comes off I’ll cast to him.”
Some help I was to him. But he didn’t really need help. He soon finished his
three fish limit.
We reached the dock with a big box full of redfish and trout. Our bait
fishing buddies were already at the cleaning table and most had their limit
of reds.
We had plenty of time before the afternoon dove hunt to kick back at the new
Castaway Lodge for lunch, showers and camaraderie. Kris and his lovely wife,
Wendi, opened the Lodge in May.
“Our business has really increased since we opened the Lodge,” Kris said.
“Getting customers to book a second trip takes more than limit catches. They
love sitting our here on the porch and all the camaraderie that goes with
it.”
By 4:45 we were all sitting around a harvested corn field shooting incoming
doves. Shooting “at” may better describe the event. Most of the “little brown
bullets” seemed to wearing armor. The numbers weren’t great but we all got
shots and even dropped a few.
As the sun dropped into the western horizon it brought the close of a truly
charmed day.
For great bay fishing, water fowl hunts, hog and alligator hunts and awesome
lodging and meals contact Wendi at seadriftbayfishing.com.
Jim Darnell is an ordained minister and host/producer of the syndicated
outdoors show, God’s Great Outdoors. His column appears every Thursday in the
Daily Record.
