Even the sun shines on a dog’s ass some days. Thanks to Sidney Deane for the quote, but that pretty much summed up the last time I got out to fish. The day before my wife had to remind me that I had planned on fishing the next day and I’m glad she did. Conditions were perfect and the fish cooperated. Winds were light, the sun was out, water clarity good, and the fish were there. Within five minutes of launching I caught my first redfish as he was cruising along the shore.
I then managed to catch a limit of reds on the fly in that same area within sight of my vehicle over the next hour or so.
It was stupid fishing, there were redfish everywhere early on. All the reds were mid to upper slot sized with a handful being above slot, no true bulls, but no rats either, all nice fish.
Redfish were crawling on mud flats, they were tailing out in the open, they were cruising the shores, and roaming in packs. If there was a moment where I didn’t have a redfish in sight all I had to do was wait and one would swim into my vicinity OR I’d hear them crashing shrimp in the next pond over. The bait shrimp that day were THICK, the reds were gorging themselves.
When I decided I needed a break from the reds I stopped at a spot with clean moving water and searched for trout, I found out they were there too.
I caught them on the fly too, just for fun. I had steady action on trout 12-15″ for a while before deciding to move along.
Everything I caught was released, maybe that’s why the fish gods smiled down upon me on this day, but it definitely made for an easier trip.
I stayed long enough to catch one at 29″. I really couldn’t tell you how many I caught working my way up to that size. I didn’t manage to break the 30″ mark, I spent plenty of time looking, but there just weren’t any big bulls around.
It’s been a long time since a day has gone that well for me, which is part of the reason I fish the coast so infrequently now. I had forgotten how good it could be. The drive seemed to get longer and longer as I caught fewer and fewer fish. It’s good to have a good reminder that when the stars align the fishing can be pretty incredible.
Last month I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days in a kayak off old La 1 and sight fish for redfish and just like it’s always been it was a blast. It was the first chance I’ve had to take out the Jackson Bite and the first time I’ve fished inshore since maybe January. These days it takes a special occasion to motivate me to head that far south and on this particular weekend some old friends from Alabama were staying in Grand Isle and since the weather was nice and LSU beat Bama I had to make the trip.
I headed down on the Sunday morning after LSU’s triumphant victory and got a later start than anticipated due the previous afternoon/evening’s celebration.
Conditions were decent upon arrival, with winds a tad higher than I’d prefer, but the area I was fishing had a ton of mangroves so I wasn’t bothered too much by the wind.
In the first canal I stood up to fish I came upon a large pack of reds marauding shrimp along the shoreline – exactly what you want to see when you haven’t thrown a fly at a red in months. I was able to pick a lead fish off the pack with a good cast and a strong drag and the pack didn’t spook, they just turned around and went in the other direction.
I released that red and continued on down the shoreline until the pack decided to turn back around and head back toward me again. I got some grainy, Sasquatch-esque cell phone video of the reds I’ll try and attach:
Again I was able to pick off another fish, this time the pack caught wind of me though and took off. I thought I might be able to spot them again given some time, but I never did. Still it was a great way to start the day.
After a brief meetup with my friend James I kept searching for redfish. I came across some trout in the process, settling in on a school that was feeding in a cut between two larger bodies of water. The action was hot enough to break out the fly rod and catch a few on the fly as well with a few of the fish being keepers, most were throwbacks, but it was fun to mix it up and catch some trout.
I ended up catching a couple more reds on the fly with one being a nice baby bull, coming in just under 30″.
After that fish I decided to call it a day and paddle back. At the launch I was able to catch up with another buddy Matt, who had a tougher day, but managed a 30″ red on the fly as well back in the skinny water. It’s always a blast finding those over-slot sized fish in the trenasses.
The fishing was fun, but if I’m being honest the best part of weekend trips like this are the hangouts at night. Nothing beats sitting around sharing some brews or cocktails and swapping stories of past triumphs, defeats, or anything entertaining enough for a group of fine, upstanding citizens like the group from Alabama that has assembled in Grand Isle on an annual basis for nearly ten years now.
I was hesitant about fishing the next morning because I needed to be back in time to pick the kids up from school. I was hesitant until I saw that the weather was gorgeous. I saw that the marsh behind the camp was glass so I quickly made plans to get back on the water. Marcus was also planning on hitting the water that morning, so we decided on fishing from the same launch, but hitting a slightly different area, one I hadn’t had a whole lot of experience at, but should yield the same results.
The tide was a bit lower than yesterday and was visibly ripping through the canal we launched into, which told me that the water clarity would probably be a little poorer than it was yesterday.
I covered a good bit of water, good looking water too, before I started seeing fish. Seems like they needed the air temps to warm up before they were active. I found a small slot with a colored up tail in a small pond to get the skunk off.
I was only fishing until lunch time and it was already mid morning so I didn’t have much time left to make the day a success, but like I mentioned earlier as the temp warmed up so did the fish. I got into a pipeline canal and started seeing fish and managed to catch one in the mouth of an offshoot canal. I kept moving down that canal and as I progressed into the canal it got narrower. As it narrowed I was spooking redfish, the water was clear and shallow in the canal and the fish were seeing me (or feeling me) coming from further away than I could get a cast off to them. I finally made it to the end of the pipeline and the canal veered off into a ditch going in a 90 degree angle.
In that ditch I could see two reds coming toward me, with no idea that I was even there. I made a good cast leading them and the smaller fish looked like he inhaled the fly so I did a strip set and lucky for me pulled it out of his mouth and as I did the bigger red saw it and nailed it. Fighting a 26″ red in a ditch you could jump across was a hoot! He ran back under my boat a few times, I’m glad I was at the intersection so he had some room to run into the larger (6-7 ft wide).
I was getting ready to head out after that, that was a tough fish to top, it was nearly lunch time and I needed to make it back to BR before the school bus came by the house. I had to poke my head into one more pond because I saw a bit of nervous water and what I saw was another pack of redfish with some of the pack skittish while the others were playing it cool. The first few casts I made were at skittish fish who just swam right on by, but the tail end of the pack was more than happy to pounce on my fly. As I fought the fish I hooked I could tell it was a leopard red, when I got him to the boat I counted 14 spots.
The fight may not have topped the previous fish, but this red sure had him beat in looks.
I bid Marcus adieu as he decided to make his way toward another pond before he headed out and hit the road home. It was great to get back into the marsh and have some success. I miss redfishing a little bit, I certainly don’t miss the drive though.
The Bite performed admirably. It’s a slower boat than I’d like, but that’s the trade-off for the stability it offers – this thing is wide. For the price you’d be hard pressed to find a better boat available, which is why I pulled the trigger on one. It’s a fantastic platform to sight fish reds from and I will happily use it over the Cruise FD I’ve got collecting dust in the garage.
Mountains to Marsh 