Archive

Retail

Sightfishing Redfish seminar

April 15, 2014
Fishing, Fly Fishing, Gear Review, Kayak Fishing, Kayaking, Retail, Scouting
3 Comments

Earlier this year I was asked by John Williams to come give a seminar on the topic of my choice at Pack & Paddle in conjunction with a monthly LKFC meeting. Naturally I wanted to talk about catching redfish, specifically sightfishing for them. Well tonight is the night, if you want to up your sightfishing game or have any questions about anything you’ve seen on this blog, come see me at Pack & Paddle in Lafayette tonight at 6:00pm. I know, what a terrible heads up I’ve provided, but it is what it is. I know sightfishing is nothing revolutionary, but hopefully I can help some folks out so that they can catch more fish in the future. If you can’t make it I will basically be expanding upon a post I made back in 2012 on planning a sightfishing trip to the marsh. Below is the write up on the Pack & Paddle website:

How to Sight Fish Reds Seminar – Sponsored By Jackson Kayak

Meeting Time &  Place:  Meet at Pack & Paddle at 6pm.
Price: FREE Event!

Ben Roussel Sight Fishing Pack & Paddle

Join Ben Roussel, Jackson Kayak Fishing TeamJackson Kayak Logo Pack & Paddle member, as he takes you through a primer on sightfishing for redfish. Sightfishing is an angling technique that allows you to see the fish you want to catch, making it one of the most exciting ways to fish from a kayak. In an effort to make you a better kayak angler he will share the tips and tricks he has learned that have helped put countless numbers of redfish in his boat employing this technique. You will see why sometimes putting down the rod and picking up the paddle can lead to a much more fulfilling trip.

Ben Roussel Sight Fishing Pack & Paddle

In the seminar you will learn how to sightfish, when the technique can be most effective, where to look for the best redfish flats, and what equipment you will need to make your sightfishing more productive. Ben will cover both fly and conventional tackle and everything from pre-trip planning to that moment when you spot a 20lb bull red and “buck fever” sets in.

During the seminar, we will be giving away prizes donated by Jackson Kayak for this event.

Ben-Roussel-Guide-PicSpeaker: Ben Roussel
About Your Speaker: Ben is a member of the Bayou Coast Kayak Fishing Club and the Jackson Kayak Fishing Team and is a past winner of Fall N Tide. He has been kayak fishing the waters of South Louisiana for the last six years, primarily focusing on shallow water redfish. To him there is no greater thrill than watching a redfish inhale a lure/fly right next to his kayak. Be sure to check out his blog “Mountains to Marsh” at http://www.mountainstomarsh.com for reports, fly patterns, and more tips and tricks that just might help you put more fish in the boat.

The Fly Fishing Film Tour is back

January 9, 2014
Fishing, Fly Fishing, Multimedia, Retail, Video
1 Comment

F3T_2014PosterIt looks like the Fly Fishing Film Tour will be headed back to Baton Rouge in 2014. According to their website, Orvis Baton Rouge will be hosting the show again this year, on February 28th at 7:00pm. Be sure to stop by the Orvis store to get your discounted tickets because this is an event you will not want to miss. I posted the Wild Country trailer a few days ago, but here are a few other films that will be shown:

Massey’s BCKFC Fish Pics Tournament

December 12, 2013
Fishing, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Kayak Fishing, Retail, Saltwater, Tournaments, Warmwater
1 Comment

 

You may have noticed throughout the year that some of my fish pictures had a little card identifying my participation in an eight month long catch-photo-release tournament:

token

The tournament, put on by Bayou Coast Kayak Fishing Club and Massey’s Outfitters, was free for club members to participate in and ran from March 1st through October 31st. It consisted of seven categories over two divisions:

  • Conventional Rod and Reel Division

    • Speckled Trout
    • Redfish
    • Flounder
    • Large Mouth Bass

  • Fly Rod Division

    • Speckled Trout
    • Redfish
    • Large Mouth Bass

What made this CPR tournament a little different was it’s point structure. Normally overall aggregate length wins in a slam tournament like this, but this one was different because each category was awarded a fixed amount of points. The goal was then to get the most points by trying to catch the longest fish in each category. This made each species just as important as the last and protected the tournament from being dominated by one really long catch. Each division would win a kayak so no division held more value over the other, both fly and conventional divisions would be competitive.

This tournament was a lot of fun to fish because it was so multifaceted. It lasted eight months, so my interest in kayak fishing was at an all time high during that time. There was potential in every trip to upgrade your standing and work your way to the top. It also highlighted species that I normally don’t focus on and really helped me to become a better angler for them. I made specific trips to fish for largemouth and intentionally fished for flounder – these things don’t normally happen and it was a lot of fun.

I didn’t do as well as I would have liked, getting 4th overall on the conventional side and 5th in the fly, but I was lucky enough to enter a fish in every category and being the only angler to do so the tournament organizers felt I deserved a special prize – a brand new Bending Branches Angler Pro paddle!

BCKFCawards(Photo credit: Brendan Bayard)

I also took home a $100 check for 4th, not bad for a free tournament! A big thanks to the fine folks at Massey’s for their generosity. The rest of the results are below:

Conventional Aggregate
1st Clayton Shilling
2nd Steve Lessard
3rd Mark Eubanks
4th Ben Roussel
5th Steve Neece

Fly Aggregate
1st Jonathan Craft
2nd Kevin Andry
3rd Glen Cormier

Youth Aggregate
Rory Craft
Big Trout
Donnie Elliot
Big Red
Lance Burgos
Big Flounder
Michael Drenski
Big Bass
Don Hallet

It took a number of trips to earn the 4th place finish as I was upgrading fish throughout the year, but I didn’t catch anything memorable until the IFA championship. That’s when I was able to get a 31″ red and a 22.5″ trout.

IMGP8371

IMGP8357

I was pretty disappointed that 31″ was the biggest red I could get because early in the year I had a few reds over 40″! At 22.5″ though, the trout may have been the biggest I’ve ever caught, so really stoked to have that fish to use for two different tournaments – the IFA championship and the Massey’s CPR tourney.

My flounder was caught while we were filming for Sportsman’s TV in June. It went 17″ and flopped in the water shortly after taking it’s picture, which was fortunate because I haven’t caught a bigger flounder since. Maybe I’m cursed after catching two monsters at Fall N Tide last year.

IMGP8146

The bass was an even bigger disappointment than the red. I caught it during a daytrip up to the Kisatchie National Forest. I thought I had a good shot at catching a nice bass at one of the lakes up that way, but all I could muster was this little guy, who went just a hair over 13″.

IMGP8289

Pretty embarrassing, but rules state they had to be caught on public water and I felt like this was the best place to get a monster and it didn’t pan out. I’ll have to spend a little more time on bass next year and hopefully find an even better spot.

What’s more embarrassing is that this was all it took to get 4th. You’d think that in a club with well over 300 members and the tournament being free this event would be a no-brainer for everyone, but it seemed to be the same core group of 20-30 competing with each other. Hopefully year two of the Massey’s Fish Pics tournament will be bigger and better and even more folks will compete – to me, if you have a kayak and fish in Louisiana, it’s worth the cost of a BCKFC membership ($25 last time I checked) to participate.