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Sightfishing

New Year, New Boat

March 4, 2022
Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Gear Review, Kayak Fishing, Kayaking, Outdoors, Saltwater, Sightfishing
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I got a chance to get down to the marsh on New Year’s Eve and try out a new-to-me boat that I picked up off of Facebook marketplace. I had been looking for a tandem boat with a framed seat that also had a solo configuration and had a couple brands and models in mind. I finally came across a good deal on a Crescent Crew around Thanksgiving and jumped on it.

This trip to the marsh was my first opportunity to really dig into the new boat, but it also gave me an opportunity to see how post-Ida Lafourche Parish was coming along, which I’ll get back to at the end, let’s talk fishing first.

I paddled out from the launch to the first flat directly in front of the mangroves you see in my launch pic above and immediately saw fish tailing. The tide was out so it was real shallow in there and after a few errant casts I plopped my fly in front of a cruising fish and hooked up. First fish in the new boat was a red on the fly!

After that first fish I really thought that the fishing was about to be on fire, but truth be told, the next four hours were downright frustrating. I wasn’t seeing tons of fish to begin with, missed the shots I did have, and was pretty much just blowing opportunities left and right. Odd things were happening too. I’d have fish eat my fly, I’d set the hook, and then a few seconds later they’d spit the hook. Stubborn me never changed the fly, insisting that it was getting the eat, but in retrospect that was foolish. I finally got my shit together and caught another red (with the fly in question).

I caught another red just as I was ready to call it quits for the day and head back home. The long gap between fish catching was tough, but at least I ended the day on somewhat of a high note.

Overall, I was happy with the new boat and happy with my purchase. It’s the first non-Jackson I’ve paddled in quite some time and it definitely has a different feel to it. The deck is pretty much the same as the Bite, wide open, which I like. It’s not as wide a boat as the Bite, so the primary stability doesn’t compare(a little more wobble when standing), the secondary stability is definitely there though. The boat paddles and tracks a straight line very well and it’s pretty fast, closer in comparison to my old Kilroy, which is my favorite boat I’ve ever owned. It has a deeper keel(which probably explains the tracking) and it sits higher out of the water than a lot of my previous Jacksons. A big plus is that the weight of the boat balances nicely on the side handles when carrying it overhead and makes it more manageable to throw it on top of my truck solo. The weight comes in at 80 lbs, which I think is pretty light for a tandem, slightly heavier than the Bite, but due to the weight balance it is actually easier to cartop than the Bite. I don’t that it’s fair to make a bunch of comparisons between the Crew and the Bite as one is a tandem and one is a solo, but these are the two boats I currently own, so that’s what I can speak to.

It was good to get back down to the marsh and see with my own eyes that, at least at this spot, which is a favorite of mine, that the marsh was healthy post-Ida. There was plenty of fish and bait around and I didn’t come across any big areas of vegetation die off. The natural ecosystems bounce back from these big events pretty well so I really didn’t expect to encounter any issues. Still you never know until you can see it for yourself.

Infrastructure though and the human side of life in South Lafourche has been severely impacted by Hurricane Ida. Things are going to come back very slowly down there. The areas where there is a lot invested, like Port Fourchon, are back up and running, but for folks living from Lockport south times are tough. I didn’t make it as far as Grand Isle on this trip, but Leeville was pretty much wiped out. So many structures damaged, so much debris still on the side of the road months later; this storm was devastating to these rural fishing communities.

Keep these folks in your thoughts and prayers. They won’t be down long. The fishing is too good and the people are too strong to scare them away.

I’ll Fish Anywhere Man

December 17, 2021
Exploring, Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Outdoors, Scouting, Sightfishing, Warmwater
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I got out on the water a good bit this year, more so than in recent years, which has been pretty exciting. I haven’t done a good job of documenting it here, but I’m working on that now. These trips don’t last as long as they used to, but I’ve gotten to fish a lot of new water and a variety of different types of water. The reason for the diversification was pretty simple; I wanted to target as many different species of fish as I could.

I found myself motivated to catch new species this year as I decided in the spring to participate in the Red Stick Fly Fishers Jambalaya Challenge, a contest our local fly fishing club started this year to see which member could catch the most species on the fly in the given timeframe. I figured I could catch 25-30 species and run away with the victory, but little did I know fellow Baton Rouge fly fisher and blogger, Chris Williams, had big plans to catch as many species as possible this year on the fly as well. Thus began a back and forth competition between Chris and myself that went on from March – November which put me fishing all over the Baton Rouge area and beyond looking to catch anything that swims.

On one of those trips I found myself in Zachary, checking out a BREC park there. The main fishing pond there had some stained water and the pond itself was pretty boring so, armed with my 1wt, I ducked off into the woods to check out the outlet creek.

With apologies to Johnny Cash, “I’ll fish anywhere man, I’ll fish anywhere…”

At this point I’ve committed to full blown microfishing, something I never thought I would do in my life, but a species is a species in a competition. I didn’t take pics of every tiny fish I caught, as many of them I’ve caught this year already. There were a variety of juvenile sunfish, mostly warmouth and green sunfish, and a couple topminnows, which from my research afterward were blackspotted topminnows.

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I can only take so much microfishing so I left the ditch in the woods and headed to check out another smaller pond at the park. I found it loaded with submerged vegetation and much better clarity than the bigger pond, or the ditch for that matter. I began tossing my 3wt with a beadhead leech pattern in pockets and around grass edges and working it back slowly, but fast enough to not to get it caught up in the weeds. On one cast a fish exploded on my fly as soon as it hit the water. It was a nice largemouth for the 3wt and after a short fight and some tugging through the weeds I got him to the bank for a few pics.

I wasn’t expecting a largemouth of that size in this small pond, but I was happy to have found him there.

Fishing a bunch of different ditches and parks around town has been a lot of fun this year. They don’t all reward you like this one did, but it’s this kind of trip that makes the exploration worth it. It keeps me interested in continuing the pursuit, fishing anywhere and everywhere, wondering all along just what the heck lives in the water around us and how can I catch them.

Evacuating Hurricane Ida

December 15, 2021
Adventure, Exploring, Family, Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Hiking, Outdoors, Scouting, Sightfishing, Wade Fishing, Warmwater
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After driving home from fishing north of Lake Pontchartrain, we ultimately decided it was in our best interest to pack up that night and head north with the kids in the morning, far out of the cone of uncertainty that surrounded Hurricane Ida. We ended up booking a cabin in Oklahoma, near Hochatown, Beavers Bend State Park, and the Ouachita National Forest. There were several cabins available and after Blake and I had visited and fished last year up that way I commented how that would be a fun place for the whole family. It seemed like now was as good a time as any to head back. We turned it into an impromptu vacation that I think we all enjoyed.

While we were up there I did find a little bit of time to sneak away and fish. I fished the Lower Mountain Fork in Beavers Bend last year in early Fall and remember the fishing being tough. This time around I decided to explore a bit of the Ouachita NF backcountry and find a creek where I could target some native fish. After a lengthy drive down numerous dirt roads I arrived at a creek crossing and decided to check it out.

The water was beautiful, some of the clearest water I’ve ever seen. There were lots of baitfish swimming around too. I decided this was as good a spot as any to string up the 3wt and explore it further. It did not take long to catch fish.

The longear were timid, but eventually obliged and ate up my offering. The longear were nice, beautiful fish, but I was really looking for a smallmouth, which were proving to be elusive.

The water was so low and still that fishing was tough, especially for the larger predators. I saw a few smaller smallmouth, a fish I would normally consider aggressive for their size, but they were extremely wary. I may have had one mouth a bait and I pulled it from him before he could get hooked. I didn’t want to be gone from the family too long either so eventually I had to call it a day without the smallmouth I was after, which was a little disappointing, but I was happy to have gotten out.

The next afternoon I was able to get out again, this time I had Marin along for the ride, so it was less of a fishing trip and more of an exploratory one. I went a different route and ended up on a different creek. I knew she probably just wanted to play in a creek, but I brought along a 1wt, just in case she wanted to see what lived in said creek.

I wasn’t so certain I’d find a fish big enough to hit my flies in a creek this small, but I did when this creek chub sucked down my dry. There were a lot of creek chub in the creek, this one just happened to be big enough to get hooked.

We had fun playing on the slippery rocks in the creek and checking out a part of Oklahoma I’m sure not many people know about. The Ouachita’s are beautiful with some of the prettiest creeks I’ve come across, I definitely recommend checking them out if you ever get a chance. Next time I’ll hit some bigger water though and give myself a better chance to locate the smallmouth.

We headed back to Baton Rouge on Tuesday not really knowing the hornet’s nest we were driving into. We knew that things were bad back home, but to what extent was unknown. We knew our home was fine and that power had actually been restored that day, but much of area was severely impacted. I was really glad we made the decision to head elsewhere during the worst of the storm and that my kids didn’t have to live through the experience of riding that one out.