SEADRIFT — There was a time when Bay Flats Lodge owner Chris Martin stood over a rack of sizzling steaks on a patio grill with his chest waders still dripping from a charter trip on the bay. Gripping a pair of barbecue tongs in one hand, Martin would use the other for warm handshakes while simultaneously greeting incoming guests and bidding others farewell. That was the early days, not long after Chris and his wife Deb traded their high paying jobs near Houston for a rural life on the shores of San Antonio Bay.

Today at the new and improved Bay Flats Lodge situated about a quarter mile from its humble beginnings, you’ll find Chef Austin and Grill Master Sherman every afternoon wearing a grin and an apron tending to a hot grill and entertaining guests with spicy meats and skewered seafood hors d’oeuvres in the lodge’s spacious outdoor kitchen. Upstairs, a staff of servers and cooks is setting tables and prepping for dinner in the main kitchen, while the lodge’s professional guides relax with hunters or anglers on patio rockers or in overstuffed leather furniture in the lodge’s Great Room.

Chris, who removed himself from the lodge’s guide rotation five years ago, rarely drips bay water on the floor anymore and now has both hands free for those warm handshakes.

In recent years, the Martins host between 550 and 650 guests at their Bay Flats Lodge per month, where visitors can view from the upper deck spectacular sunsets over San Antonio, Hynes and Guadalupe bays, as well as the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge where whooping cranes spend winter. Hunting, fishing and combination packages offer private or group accommodations and a remote suite. The lodge can accommodate up to 36 guests with plans to expand.

With 11,000 square feet of hospitality space within the exclusive Swan Point Landing residential development, this sportsman’s getaway is a year-round operation that caters primarily to serious bay anglers and duck hunters who enjoy comfort and fine dining at the end of a successful day on the water.

In the beginning, the Martins would welcome up to four guests at a time at their converted single-family dwelling that eventually doubled as their home. The feeling of home remains part of the Bay Flats experience. Before opening the original lodge, Chris was a part-time fishing and hunting guide in the Seadrift-Port O’Connor area, while juggling a management and sales job in Houston.

Chris had learned early on how to satisfy customers by watching his father operate a successful Firestone store in Victoria during the 1960s and later at another store in the Galveston area. Chris followed his father into the tire business. After running his own tire store in Houston, Chris furthered his business and marketing education during a 20-year career with Bridgestone-Firestone.

Throughout childhood and his career, fishing and duck hunting had kept Chris connected with the Texas coast. He toyed with the notion of making a living at it if given the chance. Then he created his own opportunity by becoming a weekend guide, which would become a stepping stone to his destiny.

After removing his necktie, Chris recalls the satisfaction of playing host to fishing clients. It was liberating. But soon he became frustrated when charter clients would tell him they would book more trips and bigger parties if lodging was more available and convenient. Chris was encouraged by the challenge. His retail and sales background urged him to supply their demands.

So in 2001 when his tenacious wife convinced her husband that she was just as determined to make a fishing and hunting lodge their dream, the couple bought the first Seadrift property, gave notice at their jobs and moved into a trailer in the yard all within a week’s time.

Deb ran the kitchen and housekeeping, her son TJ Chistensen was the operation’s first full time guide, while Chris ran charters on weekends. It wasn’t long before the Martins sold their home in Katy and held a single address on San Antonio Bay.

Chris admits it was a risky venture, but said there was no time for trepidation. Between booking and marketing their new operation, Chris was guiding 250 to 300 days a year. Within two years they were hiring outside guides and grooming the most skilled among them to become full-time employees.

The lodge has many permanent pit blinds and above-water box blinds in marshy back lakes, remote freshwater ponds on Matagorda Island and at inland ponds on nearby ranches. And for early season hunts, these locations are well suited for excellent wingshooting. But as the season progresses; Chris believes scouting is the key to successful hunts. Bay Flats guides are known for taking the hunt to the birds. In other words, they’re willing to create makeshift blinds in the flight paths of waterfowl at a moment’s notice, wherever an airboat or ATV will carry them.

The Martins, who believe they employ one of the most educated and astute guide staffs anywhere, no longer use contract guides for their fishing and hunting charters. Longtime staffer Harold Dworaczyk, who has been with the lodge for nearly a decade, is typical of the pro staff. A former high school teacher and coach, the personable Dwaraczyk is equally comfortable when hosting waterfowl hunts and fishing trips. Another Bay Flats guide, Jason Wagenfehr, is the grandson of the legendary Fred Wagenfehr, one of the Texas coast’s first fishing guides out of Port Mansfield.

Chris expects his guides to act as ambassadors for the lodge as well as docents for the natural resources that make up the surrounding rich Guadalupe River Delta where they fish and hunt. Several of the guides have studied the native and migratory birds through a course offered by the Audubon Society, so they can identify birds when asked.

This should serve them well in the lodge’s newest ecotourism venture. The Martins soon will offer airboat safaris through the Guadalupe marsh and into the back lakes of Matagorda Island, where guests can view and photograph waterbirds, shorebirds, alligators and other creatures in their natural habitat. The Martins appreciation of the ecosystem they call home has translated into their conservation ethic. In addition to being featured on television shows that promote responsible enjoyment of the outdoors, Bay Flats Lodge has hosted the National Ducks Unlimited Media Camp and the Martins regularly donate auction items to organizations such as DU and the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA). The Martins have been involved in the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s Spotted Seatrout Enhancement Program. And in 2009 they donated 1 percent of their fishing charter profits to help pay for equipment at the department’s redfish and trout hatchery programs.

But the lodge’s hospitality remains its trademark. The Martins’ philosophy is that a warm atmosphere with fine wines, hearty helpings, fresh ingredients and time tested recipes will always compliment a good day on the water.

Article written by outdoor writer David Sikes

As my alarm clock rings violently, I stumble as I make my way to slap its noise off. It’s 2:30 in the morning and I will be serving the duck hunters their scrumptious breakfast before they head off to pepper their limit of Pintails, Redheads and possibly some tasty teal. Talking with them over their morning coffee, as they hastily scarf down a full hot breakfast; they started my thought process. Fewer than most, including me, don’t know what ducks you can eat and much less know what they can do to make them less game tasting. As I grew more intrigued at the thrill of hunting my own dinner, rather than catching it or ordering it; I asked the one man I knew would be able to tell me all the information I needed, Captain Chris Martin. After much pleading and convincing I got Captain Chris Martin and Captain T.J. Christensen to take me out for my first real duck hunt on San Antonio bay.

 ”You better plan on wear ’in more than just a fishing shirt and jeans or you’re going to freeze your tail off Chef” Chris Martin tells me as we clean and ready our Benelli 12 gauge shotguns. I begin to wonder what the next day had in-store for me and what I would be cooking.  How can I make it taste better? How can I improve the quality of the meat after I shoot the birds? How can I store them? A million questions were going through my mind as I search all over the internet and drilled Chris until I passed out in-front of my computer on the couch from sheer exhaustion.

I’ve cooked a lot of ducks, but none of which were wild shot. The type of species you kill and the size of that bird will dictate whether you braise it in salt pork, marinate it in buttermilk, or brine it in a salt water bath, simply pan-sear the breast, or roast it as a whole.  For instance, red heads are the gamest tasting birds on the waters of San Antonio Bay. Not far off from the Mud Ducks of a local lake where I grew up, these ducks are really good for stews, soups, or braised in liquids for a long period of time. The Flavor of these meats all depend on what the animal eats. Red headed ducks eat mostly aquatic plants, insects, mollusks, and fish.  Tougher flesh means three cooking methods; braising, marinating, or mechanical action (Pounding with a mallet or tenderizer.

As soon as the light it the water and my watch chimed in with the faint shots of shotgun blasts from neighboring blinds, I realized it was 7:00 and zero hour was upon us.  “To the Left! ,”T.J. firmly tells me in a yelling whisper as two pintails burn me from the rear and escape into the morning sun mockingly laughing. “Next birds you let by you I’m moving you to the center of the blind,” T.J. tells me in disappointment at my lack of attention to the horizon. I hear the sound of Chris’s duck call. “Four teal coming in at 3 o’clock,” Chris announces as the ducks come in to foolishly land in our scattered decoys. “TAKE ’EM!” yells T.J. That was enough for me, as I pulled the trigger and sent lead shot into one of the fleeing Teal. “Nice Shot Chef Austin,” Chris said as he commends me on my one shot drop. With an unrealistic amount of excitement I smiled and grinned from ear to ear as our Ammo (aka THE MONSTER) launches out of the stand to retrieve what is rightfully my first duck of the morning with many to follow in its unwise ways.

Teal, Pintail, and widgeon ducks are very clean and slower compared to the red head. These ducks are best served roasted or grilled. My favorite thing to put on the grill is teal breast wrapped in bacon. Great for parties and finger foods; however, if you want to serve duck to your guests at the table, I have a really simple and easy recipe. An easy way to keep these ducks as opposed to breasting them, in my opinion, is to freeze them whole, skin on, with feathers off. The easiest way to pick your bird is to tell your guide to do it (I’m going to take some heat on that comment). Once cleaned, the ducks can be dried off and put into Ziploc bags to be frozen for up to 2 months, for best quality. Generally, residential freezers freeze only the water in products. This means that the oils in the birds are not frozen so they typically do not last but two months.

As the sun starts to beam down on my proud pile of lifeless ducks, Ammo climbs next to me, ready for me to put on his ear muffs on. It has been a great morning for me and I have a new found respect for these hard working guides and the beautiful waterfowl that San Antonio Bay has to offer. As I reach the dock to begin breasting these ducks I couldn’t help but wonder how these would taste. Some say they taste like heaven, some say they taste like liver; heck, I’ve heard people say they taste like chicken. One thing is for sure, as I ate my teal wraps that evening they tasted sweet and un-like something I had ever tasted before, Victory.

Photo: Chef Austin’s first South Texas Coastal Pintail