Again this year, Captain Chris Martin and his Bay Flats Lodge donated a day's guided fishing trip to our annual Members Tournament. It was my good fortune to win that trip this year and this is a report of my trip which I shared with Chris A and my Uncle Don.

We booked two days of fishing and a night in the lodge in order to appreciate the full experience this excellent facility has to offer. Our trip began with a hot breakfast served in the Lodge's great room at 5:30 Thursday morning. After meeting our guide for the day, Captain Alan West we planned our first day's fishing. We decided we'd fish with artificial lures Thursday and then decide what to do on Friday. In true PACK fashion, the wind had begun blowing Wednesday night and was howling as we began our first day on the water. But, Captain West was undeterred. He skillfully navigated his way over to the protected shoreline of Matagorda Island. There was a forecast that the wind may lay a bit mid day, so we headed to the grass flats in protected water and began the first of several wades on firm bottom in sandy but green water. As we fanned out from the boat, Chris A and I were less than 25 yards from the boat when I connected with our first fish. The next hour produced about a dozen additional fish, unfortunately, they all measured 10-14 inches. Chris and I waded together and Alan and Don motored on down the shoreline. Chris had landed several small trout and a couple rat reds but no keepers. Don and Alan had similar results. Capt. Alan got on the radio and got a report from Capt. Harold, another of Bay Flat's guides, that his party was catching some trout further down the Matagorda shoreline outside of Pringle Lake. We headed that way and just as we were setting up our next wade, another fisherman pulled his bay boat right through the middle of our planned wade and proceeded to cut our planned wade in half. Despite that little event, we once again were quickly catching fish, but couldn't box any keeper trout or reds. The wind was still really howling and fishable water was limited, but we continued to try areas of bait activity and fishable water. Chris and Capt. Alan managed to box a keeper trout and Don and I continued to pick up dinks and rats as we worked over the sandy pot holes in the grass flats.

Capt. Alan decided we needed to head for some slightly different bottom conditions and we headed inside Pringle Lake. We took a short lunch break, anchored in the middle of Pringle. The Lodge had provided excellent croissant sandwiches, chips, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. After a short rest, we began another wade. I tied on a spoon, and Don and Chris continued to work a variety of soft plastics. I was able to pick up couple rat reds on the spoon, and all continued to be frustrated in our attempt to put fish in the ice chest. We kept hammering away.

Needless to say the conditions were tough. The wind never laid at all, was probably blowing 20-30 as Captain Alan worked his way through the back lakes of Matagorda. We made a couple more wades with little to show for all of our efforts. We made one last stand in the back of one of the many smaller back lakes and set up a wade in thigh deep to waist deep water. The bottom was a little muddy with some scattered shell. Finally, I got a solid strike on a morning glory bull minnow. As the drag was stripped, i thought I had finally hooked a keeper red. As I brought the fish to the net I realized it was a nice trout. It turned out to be a solid 5pounder, at 25 inches. With renewed enthusiasm, I continued to cast and wade but to no avail. We finally called it a day at 4:45 pm. Talk about a full day's fishing. We had worked pretty hard for our meager results, but were treated to some beautiful scenery, abundant bird life, including a couple Mexican eagles, caught a lot of fish, and had a memorable day. As we were preparing to head back to the Lodge, we got a call from Captain Martin that the weather forecast for Friday had turn pretty grim.

Conditions on Friday were now predicted to be 80% chance of precipitation with strong winds ahead of the cold front that was expected to hit mid morning. We refused to believe the forecasters and decided to postpone our decision until in the morning. We should have known things were not good when the Lodge's entire group booked for Friday and Saturday cancelled. Even with that disappointing outlook, the Lodge went to work improving our mood. A cold beverage accompanied some really outstanding grilled shrimp appetizers. Large shrimp were wrapped in bacon with a slice of jalapeno and grilled over a hot fire. A delicious pepper jelly glaze finished off the mouth watering first course. Huge rib eye steaks hit the grill seasoned with Bay Flat's secret blend of spices. I nice bottle of Merlot, tossed salad, green beans, and strawberry cheesecake sent us to the porch stuffed.
Though we went to bed Thursday night hoping for a break in the weather, we woke to continued howling South winds and a very strong front headed our way. We opted to cancel our day Friday, but quickly put our calendars together to rebook. Reluctantly, we packed our gear and headed to another hot breakfast. We had a leisurely visit with Captains Alan and Chris as we finished our morning coffee. It was pretty special to have the Lodge to ourselves and be spoiled by the great service and hospitality. It definitely helped ease our disappointment.

I can't say enough about how comfortable the Lodge is and great the service was that we experienced from the entire staff at Bay Flats. Please check out their website at BayFlatsLodge.com to learn all that Captain Chris Martin has to offer at his 10,000 square foot facility. From corporate meetings, to cast and blast duck hunts, to gourmet food, you won't find better hosts. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay, despite the tough fishing conditions, I can't wait until I return for another day with Capt. Alan West and Bay Flats Lodge.