Christmas Holiday Circuit, Part Tres

I made a trip down to Terrebonne Parish with my good friend and fishing buddy, Buddhaman, Friday morning.  The weatherman had called for strong winds (10 – 15 mph) but I hadn’t fished with him in a while and was looking forward to fishing in his Gheenoe for some reds. John had called me the day before and boasted of how he had caught a limit of redfish on topwater the day before…in 20 minutes!  I was looking forward to duplicating the feat on my fly rod with poppers.

We met at John’s house at 7 AM and made the short car ride to the “Red Gate,” where we launched and began our half-hour ride to his honey hole. We stopped at a spot to fish for specs first and I tied on a chartreuse Charlie (under a VOSI). After not getting a hit for 10 minutes we proceeded to his redfish spot. I left my Charlie on and was greeted by a 23 inch redfish after my third cast. Both of us thought that it would be “on” for a while. Well, I fished for another half hour before getting another hit. This one was a nice fat one (about 21 inches). Buddha proceeded to fish with a spinnerbait and began getting hit after hit. He caught his limit of five during the next couple of hours. I tried sight fishing to a couple of tailing reds but couldn’t get them to eat. We spooked lots of redfish but I just couldn’t get them to eat. The water was a bit more stained than the water I had been fishing down in Leeville. The wind picked up and there was no tide movement to speak of.

I finally put down the fly rod and broke out my commie tackle and caught my third and final redfish of the day on a spinnerbait. Overall, I had a blast fishing with a good friend, took a few fillets home with me to end the year 2011. I took some video, but it didn’t make the Musicdoc cut for editing. I did manage one picture with my largest redfish of the day caught on the fly rod.

Christmas Holiday Circuit Part Deux

My daughter, Danielle, and I joined my brother and his son (my godson) down in Leeville for some marsh fishing. I was determined to put her on some redfish. There’s no explaining how it feels to be on the water on a peaceful, sun-drentched morning with family!  Even though my daughter is nearly 26, she’s still got my heart and she still calls me “Poppie.”

Anyway, Danielle did catch 5 redfish, three of which were keepers. I struggled with my fly rod and didn’t even get a bite until about noon. I managed to catch one and fought two others before they made a quick exit before officially being “landed.” I firmly believe that one on a fly rod is worth five on traditional tackle, so I was quite pleased. I was disappointed because the specs were no where to be found.  Maybe when the wind comes back from the south they’ll be there.

I put together a short video:

Christmas Holiday Circuit, part 1

The arrival of the Christmas holiday marks the beginning of a two-week hiatus from school and gives me an opportunity to do fishing. The winds and weather haven’t allowed me a chance to get down to do any marsh fishing yet so I’ve had to do some pond hopping. I’ve tried my hand on three occasions at one of our local BREC ponds that have been stocked with rainbow trout. However, I’ve only been able to catch one small rainbow on a fluff butt. Yesterday, I decided to hit one of my band parents’ ponds and I was rewarded with a cajun freshwater slam, consisting of a dozen feisty bluegills, one bass, and two catfish. All fish were caught on a fluff butt under a VOSI. I hope to be able to post reports on parts 2 and 3 before the new year.

Cajun slam 1

Cajun slam 2

Cajun slam 3

 

Video from Saturday’s trip is ready.

Check out the video from last Saturday’s spec fishing in Leeville:

 

Specs on the fly

I joined members of Red Stick Fly Fishers Club for their annual fall, Catch and Eat event this past Saturday. I only brought my fly rod (an 8 wt.) and some “Lafleur’s Charlies” that I recently tied in black and in chartreuse. I launched my kayak around sunrise off the side of the road on LA 1 and began my morning hunt with some poppers. I got no looks from any redfish. The gnats were merciless! I kept spraying the Victoria’s Secret (Amber Romance) but I couldn’t get a break as I was even getting bitten on my eyelids. I did manage to catch a couple of nice specs on the black Charlie (under a V.O.S.I) at around 8 AM but I had to move around a lot to try to lose the gnats. I tried all my usual hot spots and didn’t get much of a bite at all. Finally, around 9 AM, I decided to paddle back to a spot that produced a limit of trout last year around this time.

The “spot” is an area with about 3 1/2 to 5 feet of water near a shallow bay on a point that pushes water on a strong incoming or outgoing tide. The water splits the point and the tide pushes water on either side of the point. The combination of the tide and the wind, which had picked up considerably (relief from the darned gnats) produced an area of “rolling water.” Most of you have experienced this. You know, the wind blows in the opposite direction that the tide is moving, thus the rolling water (I think Bob Gourges calls is “nervous water”). Anyway, I proceeded to pick a few really nice trout on the Charlie. At about 10:30 though, I only had 9 in the my ice chest. I was quite satisfied because I had matched my catch from two weeks ago and I knew if I would just remain patient, that I could fill my “Cormier” limit (self imposed limit of 15 specs – from my friend and fellow fly fisherman, “Catch” Cormier). Well, the catching picked up steam and I started catching beautiful specs from 15 – 19 inches. Since we were going to be frying these for dinner, I decided that the Cormier limit would have to be replaced by the “Musicdoc” limit of 18. Once I caught 18, I decided to keep fishing and just practice catch and release, which I did (got video to prove it). I threw back 13 and 14 inch trout and kept anything over 14 inches for our fish fry that evening. Yeah, I practiced catch and release all right…that is, I released seven more specs over 14 inches into my ice chest. I had several that went over 17 inches.

I was off the water by 1:30 and had my limit cleaned and bagged by 3 PM. Catch and I cooked fish, shrimp, fries, and eggplant for members of RSFF Saturday evening. It was my most productive fly fishing trip ever. I estimated that I caught 35 total specks (probably released 6 keepers between 12 and 14 inches and 4 undersized trout). Only caught one dink redfish and no flounder.

For those of you who want to know how to find a “spot” like mine: My area is like so many other spots in our wonderful Louisiana marsh. The key in the fall and winter is to find deeper water with a moving tide, near a point. The water in the bay was no deeper that about 1 and a half feet. The depth where I caught my fish was around 3 1/2 to 5 feet. The specs are in the deeper water. Find some moving water and fish around 18 inches under a VOSI (Vertically Oriented Strike Indicator). Just pop the cork periodically, much like you would with a speculizer. I actually saw several specs flash under my cork before they hit my fly. Oh and there was a crab trap nearby, which also probably provided some more structure.

Overall, it was extremely fun! I hope to make the trip there again during the Thanksgiving holiday. I’ve got a lot of editing to do this week on the video. I ended up with 22 separate clips. I did lose several fish as I was fooling with the camera and not tending to the fish that was on my line at the time. In the meantime, here’s a picture of my limit laid out in the back of my yak when I got back to my car. Enjoy! I’ll post the video later this week.

Box Shot

Here’s my box shot of today’s catch

Fishing the Marsh in October

I’ve been chomping at the bit to get a little fly rod action down on the coast this fall. I went this morning with my brother, Keith, and my nephew, Collin, (godchild) and we fished the marshes near Leeville. I only took the flyrod and caught my personal best (26 inch redfish) on a popper. I tried to video it but it didn’t come out well. I did look and the time and it took over 7 and a half minutes to get him in the boat. Very exciting, especially since I caught it on a popper that I tied last winter. The fish literally came out of the water and inhaled it. I hooked another big boy about a half hour later but it broke my line where the tippet meets the leader. I then managed to catch a few trout and one white trout on a clouser under a VOSI. The water clarity wasn’t what I had hoped it would be and the fish weren’t crashing bait like I had hoped.

I did manage another redfish hookup on my clouser. I saw this one…a big red that had been crashing some bait near the bank where I was targeting some specs. When I set the hook on him, he lit out towards some pilings and I knew I didn’t have a chance. It cut my line on some barnacles. Overall it was a great trip. 7 pretty specs (3 went over 15 inches) a white trout and a 26 inch redfish all caught on the flyrod. My brother and my nephew caught a limit of redfish on plastics (commie tackle) and about 6 specs. Looks like the next chance I’ll get to hit the coast may be the morning of the LSU/Bama game. I’ll have to use my LSU clouser (purple and chartruese)

One thing that I found alarming was the fact that NONE of my fish had any shrimp in their stomachs. I have heard that the shrimp season was the worst in ages. All my fish had finger mullet in them. I know…bigger fish eat more minnows, crabs, and mullet and less shrimp, but I didn’t even see any shrimp jumping anywhere. I’m hoping this isn’t residual from the BP oil spill.

Here’s a video of the day’s trip. It’s not as good as some of my previous videos but it should get some of you out your office desks and back in the water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4aJRS-YuAI

 

 

The Rio Grande Cichlid (A First for Me)

I managed several “firsts” this past weekend.  First on my list was the opportunity to spend the day fishing with a long-time friend and fly fishing guru, Glen “Catch” Cormier. Glen is the guy that got me into kayak fishing and fly-fishing. We were going to fish a tournament in New Orleans (well Kenner really) for a new species to me, the Rio Grande Cichlid. Since being dumped into canals in the greater New Orleans area by pet storeowners, this only American native of the Cichlid family has thrived in urban canals and pond where predation from bass is low. When you see the pictures of the drainage canal where we caught some of these you will understand how intrigued with the idea of fishing in an urban environment was to me… especially with the fly rod and targeting a really beautiful species of fish.

The morning was a gorgeous day to be outside enjoying God’s beautiful creation. We probably began fishing around 9 AM in Lafreniere Park after visiting with several members of the fly fishing club down in New Orleans. Right off the bat, I was getting “schooled” by Catch, as he started catching bream right and left.  I finally got in on the action. The fish were hitting fluff butts under a VOSI (small cork strike indicator). As the sun got higher in the sky and the morning warmed up, I changed to an all white fluff butt. I started picking up some small bass and several sacalait (crappie). Neither Catch nor I were able to weigh any Rios during the tournament.  Glen suggested a great place to pick up a poboy and rest before hitting several drainage canals that he knew would hold fish.

After lunch, we hit three or four drainage canals and picked up a few of the elusive Rios. Glen missed a really nice one that broke him off and he missed a really nice carp.  I caught several more bass, bream, and I caught my first Rio!  I nearly hooked a carp and I got a large garfish to strike my VOSI. It’s really cool to catch a new specie of fish. I’m looking forward to another trip with Catch soon…most likely to catch some redfish and specs…something with a “little more hair on its chest.”

On of the bass I caught on the fly. Notice the small drainage canal in the background.

Beautiful colors on this Rio

My first Rio

Another beautiful Rio

Glen's first Rio of the day.

I caught some pretty bass on the fluff butt too.

I was surprised to catch a few of these nice babies. I normally keep sacalait but I don't know about these in an urban lake.

Tied some poppers

I’ve been in a holding pattern for now…waiting on the fall to get here.  In the meantime, I’ve continued to make short trips to the lake by my house and a couple of other small ponds. I’ve had a blast catching bass and bream on poppers that I recently made (tied).  Check out some of the pics.

Caught on one of my balsa poppers

An assortment of bass poppers

These cork poppers drive the bream crazy. They are just the perfect size. I've even caught a few bass with them.

Love catching these guys on poppers that I tied myself! I may never use a spinnerbait or plastic worm again

Finally, the full length movie!

Well, if you call a 4 minute movie “full length.”  I’ve put together a video of the Andry Fishing Trip down in Leeville. We had a great time and look forward to doing it again soon.