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Fly Fishing

Scouting

March 25, 2012
Fishing, Fly Fishing, Kayak Fishing, Saltwater
1 Comment

Went scouting today with Blake in preparation for Paddlepalooza next weekend. I wanted to find some trout and possibly some flounder and that goal was accomplished. I caught 5-6 trout, while Blake caught 3-4 flounder. Reds were caught too, I think Blake limited out. Water was high in the marsh, but the clarity wasn’t too bad. Sight fishing was pretty much a disaster with the high water. I did manage to find one shallow flat that was loaded with sheepshead and scattered with reds and black drum. I got a few of the sheepshead to eat the fly I was throwing but they came off before I could land them.

Looking forward to next weekend. With over 180 people already registered, the guys at Bayou Coast are estimating around 200 kayak fishermen competing in Paddlepalooza. This blows my mind, kayak fishing is blowing up down here.

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Sunday Creekin’

March 19, 2012
Fishing, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Wade Fishing, Warmwater
1 Comment

Saturday was a long day of St. Patty’s Day debauchery, capped off with boiled crawfish. Baton Rouge puts on a good parade. I like it better than the Mardi Gras parades in town.

Sunday, Kurt and I headed to a local creek to see how the spotted bass were doing. The water level and clarity was pretty good, though the sand was quite saturated making wading frustrating at times. Quicksand is no joke. I stepped in one spot and sunk up to my knee. Kurt hit a bad spot he had work his self out of. Luckily no shoes were lost. Fishing was somewhat slow, but I was catching them on top, so no complaints here. No big fish on the day either, everything was under a pound.

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I finally found a live freshwater mussel. I’ve always only seen their open shells on the shore. Found this guy in shallow water with a trail a few feet long in the sand behind him.

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After fishing I went down to the P-Mac to catch a friend in action on the court. Penn State is in town for the 1st round of the NCAA women’s tournament. Tori Waldner is a freshman at Penn State, the Waldner’s lived down the street from us back in Alpharetta. They won and play LSU in the 2nd round on Tuesday. We’ll be back for that one. Good luck Tori! BTW, check out the awesome comb-over on the guy in front of me.

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Fishing and free beer

March 18, 2012
Fishing, Fly Fishing, Food and Drink, Video, Warmwater
1 Comment

Hit a couple ponds on Friday after work looking to catch a few bass on top. The first one was in good shape and I found the bluegill to be very aggressive to both the popper and the dropper. The big bass were in shallow water, sitting on beds and unresponsive to anything thrown their way.  The smaller male bass though would swipe at a fly, I managed to land a few of them.

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The second pond I hit had active bluegill as well, though not the size that I found in the first pond. The catfish were pretty active too. Throwing a slow sinking streamer out to the middle of the pond, let it sink, then hold on was the strategy for the cats. I did catch one on top though which was pretty cool. Managed a nice bass on top as well.

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Capped Friday off with a tour of the Tin Roof Brewing Co. here in Baton Rouge. Every Friday from 5-7 they offer free tours and with the tour you get three free beers. You can’t beat that with a stick. They have an amber(Perfect Tin), a pale ale(Voodoo Bengal) and a blonde(Tin Roof Blonde). The blonde was my favorite, while the amber was Amanda’s. Right now you can only find Perfect Tin in stores, it comes in cans. I’m a big fan of the current trend to can craft beer, I hope it continues.

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Here is a great video that lumehouse put together on the Tin Roof story: