Castaway Lodge News

We would like to express our best wishes to everyone affected by Hurricane Ike.  With numerous clients, family, and friends in the Houston metro area, so far there aren’t any that haven’t been adversely touched by the storm.  Their stories are harrowing and life-changing.  We are all thankful, however, at the relatively low loss of life at this point. 
 
The Seadrift and Port O’Connor areas narrowly escaped the wrath of Hurricane Ike as the storm took a turn to the North.  We had some huge tides and picked up roughly 3 to 4’ of water.  We had some high winds and no rain except that associated with the cold front coming through the next day.  Our infrastructure is 100% in tact and local businesses have re-opened quickly. 
 
With so many folks suffering up the Coast, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty as I ran a fishing trip on Monday with Steve R. and guest from the San Antonio area.  I knew things were going to be challenging with the elevated water levels but I hadn’t planned on 25 knot winds out of the North to complicate things further.  We managed to catch a small box of Trout to 20” for the effort.  The cold front has moved a lot of water out of the Bays and that is getting things closer to normal.  The cold front is significantly dropping water temperatures and I think that’s going to set the stage for excellent fishing here this Fall.
 
Alligator Season
So far we’ve taken a 10’ gator missing 3’ of it’s tail and Capt. James just reported landing a lizard over 13’.  The season ends September 30th.
 
Duck Season
The season opener is November 1st through the 30th then re-opening December 13th through January 25th. 
 
Storm Stories
No doubt this storm will produce some of the most gut wrenching tales of survival.  As I mentioned previously, virtually everyone we know in the greater Houston area has been touched by Hurricane Ike in some way or another.  Here’s a small look at Ike’s far reaching impact.
 
A fishing guide friend of mine based on Bolivar in Galveston escaped with his boat and RV but all infrastructure to support his business has been destroyed.  A client living on Tiki Island had 8’ of water on their lower level (which was grandfathered and allowed to be enclosed to living area).  My brother-in-law living in Bridge City, near Orange, Texas, had 5’ of water in their home. 
 
One of my mother’s dearest friends has the worst luck of any of our extended family.  They just sold their house in Goliad, and moved back to their home on Double Bayou in Oak Island (near Anahuac) on the Northeast side of Trinity Bay.  They just got the moving trucks unloaded as Hurricane Gustav rolled ashore which was a close call.  They  managed to get things unpacked just as Hurricane Ike came in.  While the storm was still hundreds of miles offshore, they had water up to their back porch and decided to evacuate to Dallas.  Upon returning, one small house had floated off its pilings and their main residence had been flooded with 5-6’ of water.  They described their home as looking as if someone picked it up and shook it before setting it back down.
 
We are working with displaced family and friends to do what we can to help ease their suffering.  We want to thank all of the hard working relief workers for their tireless efforts in helping people restore their lives.  We also can’t help but thank everyone for their concern and offers of assistance to us prior to the storm making landfall.  We pulled through another close call and want to thank everyone for their “open invitations” in our time of potential need.
 
Sincerely,
 
 
Capt. Kris Kelley
President/CEO
Castaway Lodge, Inc.
109 W. Austin
Seadrift, Texas
Office: 1-888-618-4868
Fax: 361-785-4487
Cell: 361-648-FISH