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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.

City Park in late June

August 9, 2021
Exploring, Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Gear Review, Outdoors, Retail, Scouting, Sightfishing, Tournaments, Warmwater
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After finishing first in the fly division of the BCKFC/Massey’s CPR kayak fishing tourney last year I have been brainstorming ways to spend the store credit I was awarded. Without actually going to the main store in New Orleans and seeing what I could walk out with this was proving fruitless. So one rainy Sunday in late June I trekked my way to New Orleans to do a bit of shopping. The first stop though was to City Park to try and catch a Rio Grande cichlid. It had been quite some time since I last targeted them so I was a bit rough around the edges.

A distant waterspout is a sure sign of good luck, right?

I started off near the New Orleans Museum of Art and didn’t venture too far from there as I was on fish from the start. They weren’t the target species, but I was catching a LOT of bluegill, as they got bigger things got more exciting.

Fishing a popper/dropper I got into a few coppernose hammers. They were manhole covers compared to their native cousins. I caught a couple other species too, but no Rios, so I started to walk around and check out some other spots.

Eventually I did find a Rio cruising the shallows and after a well placed cast and a casual eat I had my target fish to hand. Man, these things are pretty!

At this point I needed to make my way to Massey’s before they closed. I found a few things I’d had my eye on but never wanted to spend my own money on, I walked out feeling like I robbed the place. Store credit might be the greatest thing I’ve ever won in a kayak tournament! Let me expand on that a bit and make my case below.

Big kayak tournaments typically give a kayak to the winner, sometimes awarding kayaks to the top three places. That all makes sense. It’s a big prize, has a bit of a wow factor for the crowd, but does it make that much sense? Let’s be honest, the winners of kayak tournaments already own kayaks. They likely own really nice kayaks or they paddle for one brand or another, meaning they likely HAVE to use that particular brand kayak. So what happens to the kayaks they win? Well, they hit craigslist or Facebook marketplace and get sold the next week for cold, hard cash. It’s a bad look for the local clubs and I fail to see what it does to help the local shops that sponsor these events, outside of the pub they get at the awards ceremony.

Now, I don’t know that store credit helps the shops either, that would probably depend on what gets bought as the margins are different for different items. But as someone who has won kayaks in the past, this was a very welcome change as it gave me an opportunity to upgrade some of my other gear and purchase merch I’ve been gun-shy to buy in the past. Shoot, I’ve been pedaling the same bike for the last 20 years, but not anymore, and I still have credit remaining too!

I don’t want to sound like I’m being picky, as I will always be happy and appreciative of anything I’m awarded for placing in a tournament, but I can definitely get behind store credit taking over as the main draw. Big thanks to Massey’s for continuing to sponsor the BCKFC CPR tournament, the fly division is always one I enjoy competing in.

Leeville in mid-July

August 4, 2021
Exploring, Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Kayak Fishing, Saltwater, Sightfishing
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Back in mid-July I managed to get a saltwater kayak daytrip in. The destination I chose was Leeville, for no reason in particular, it just seemed like it had been a while since I fished out of Leeville. I had every intention on making it out super early and watching the sunrise in the kayak, but we had gone to a party at a friend’s house the night prior and getting out of bed was a task in itself. It worked out to my benefit as I’m pretty sure a storm had rolled through the area at sunrise so I was able to avoid that. That was the theme for the day, avoiding thunderstorms, but I was able to do that for the most part.

I piddled around the marsh close to the road early on with no luck and made my way into a bay where I could tell the water was looking pretty fishy. There was a lot of bait activity and that bait was looking pretty unsettled. I even had a mullet jump in my kayak while I was just sitting there. Soon I caught a trout under a popping cork.

I pulled out the fly rod and started throwing my own version of a popping cork bait which was a Vlahos’ combo crab suspended off a an old crease fly Blake had tied. It wasn’t long before I had a nice fish on and after a good fight which had me wondering what the hell it was I had on the other end of the line I soon found out.

It was a gafftopsail catfish, which was definitely a first for me on the fly. It was amusing and slimy as hell. My leader was all slimed up and it took effort getting that slime off my hands. Shortly after that fight a storm chased me off the water.

I retreated back to the vehicle and hunkered down until I felt it was safe. After that I ventured back out toward the marsh. In between storms the winds were actually fairly light so I felt like I might be able to sightfish a redfish or two provided I could find flats that held them. The tide was high when I launched and had been falling all morning so the later it got the better conditions were. Eventually I put myself in a position to catch a redfish.

I kept fishing, hoping to catch a better one for the BCKFC/Massey’s yearlong CPR tourney, but I really wasn’t having much luck. As I got into skinnier marsh I was hearing fish crashing bait, which is usually a sure sign of redfish in the area, but it wasn’t redfish this time. It was sheepshead! Another fish I needed for the tourney and with them acting so aggressively I figured I had a shot to get one to eat and eventually after putting fly in enough of their faces I managed to get a strike.

It’s always fun catching sheepshead on the fly. I really don’t recall when my last one was, I think it’s been a few years. They are picky as hell though, I was thankful to have been on the water with some aggressive ones. I kept searching for reds and sheepshead, but started working my way back toward the vehicle as the afternoon was waning on. As I got closer to the road I connected with a solid redfish that actually broke me off. My line didn’t clear and got caught on something on the boat and the fight was over just like that. I was bummed because it was clearly an upgrade, but undeterred. I paddled around an island and soon enough had another opportunity. This time everything went right and I was hooked up to a nice upper slot red.

After a few pics I sent him on his way. I was satisfied to call it a day after that fish. I didn’t catch many, but I caught a few memorable fish and I figured I came out ahead having to dodge thunderstorms.

I put a link to the fly that caught the sail cat, but I wanted to take another moment to plug Nick Vlahos and his flies, which you can find at Sandbar Flies. Nick actually went to the same high school I did over in Georgia, Milton HS in Milton (was in Alpharetta I went there). Nick is a great guy and a fantastic fly tier, you can buy flies tied by him at his site, but you can also find some of his patterns at Orvis stores. I don’t know if it’s Fulling Mill or Orvis that carries his patterns, but the Baton Rouge store tends to keep them in stock as he did live in Baton Rouge for a number of years. Nick’s got some great patterns, be sure to check them out.