Can 2020 be over? Just over? We are now looking at our 7th named stormed to hit our coast this season! Whew…
I had to get that off my chest. Now, to the fishing. I caught a break this past Sunday and I slipped my kayak into the beautiful marsh, of my beloved Southeast Louisiana. The weather man had predicted winds of 5 – 10 and sunshine. Well, like I said earlier, it’s 2020 and you didn’t think the weather man was going to get it right, did you? The wind was blowing 10 – 15 for most of the morning and the clouds didn’t break until probably 11:30.
I got there at the break of dawn and I began throwing a deer hair popper. I got a couple small blowups early on and I realized they were probably small trout. I had told myself that it wasn’t going to be a “meat” trip; that I just wanted to catch fish…and that’s what I did. I changed rods and started throwing a Lafleur’s Charlie under a V.O.S.I. I started with some very small trout and I ended up catching 5 different species Sunday. Speckled trout, white trout (sand trout), gaff-top catfish, hard-head catfish, and redfish.
Even though the wind blew hard, and the water wasn’t very clean, I was able to pretty much catch fish non-stop. My second fish was a small sand trout (most people down here call them white trout but these very small ones are probably sand trout…or so I’ve been told).
The trout started to get a little bit larger
And I caught a few that were 13 inches or better, so they got put on ice for the fish tacos Monday evening. Then I caught a slimy gaff-top catfish.
I even caught my personal best for the year, a 16-and-a-half inch speckled trout.
I probably caught about 50 trout and I had a dozen in my ice chest that “made the team” for my Monday evening fish tacos when I decided it was getting time to head in. By about noon, the sun was starting to come out and the wind was dying down. The tide had been slowly falling all morning and I thought I would check a shallow flat that was about 30 yards behind where I was fishing. I looked on the lee side of the point and I noticed a few swirls that probably meant there was bait in the area. I push poled my way over there and that’s when I spied a large slot redfish slowly cruising the edge of the marsh grass. I grabbed my fly rod and realized all I had on there was my speckled trout rig, which was a chartreuse charlie under a small VOSI (vertical oriented strike indicator).
I was afraid I was going to spook the fish with my tiny cork so I made sure my initial cast was about two feet out in front of the fish. I slowly stripped my cork out ahead of the fish and I “dragged” my fly within sight of the fish. I watched it slowly change directions and start following the fly. My heartbeat started racing when I saw it decided it was going to ambush it from behind….patience…patience… watch it! It then flared its gills and when they closed…BAM I strip set the hook home in the top of its mouth. Within seconds, the fish was on my reel and then about 20 seconds later, it was into my backing! I was careful not to try to turn it too early, but there was a big pvc pipe with barnacles on it nearby and I was not about to have it cut me off. Sometime between 7 and 10 minutes later, I was netting a “baby bull” at 27 inches.
As I sit here and watch the weather, I know that the road I take to my fishing spot will be under water for the 7th time this year, as hurricane/tropical storm Zeta heads right to Grand Isle. I am thankful that I was able to get out this past weekend and I hope the storm doesn’t mess up our marsh too much. We have lost so much and there is evidence that we have lost even more due to the previous six storms this year. It’s all good though. I love the fall in south Louisiana and I expect to have a few more good trips before Christmas. Tight loops and tight lines 🙂
Kayak Fishing With Kevin 
Beautiful!
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