Louisiana Redfish Trip/Report
Posted: April 23rd, 2007, 10:05 pm
again, not a big bend report, but thought you guys would enjoy. will be back down to the panhandle in a couple of weeks for a trip to st joe bay.
So i finally made the trip down to la for the redfish trip i promised my dad as his birthday/christmas present. it was an interesting trip is about the only way i can put it. after the report, you guys are going to say i am an idiot/fishing snob, but the trip was much less than expected. we were going down mainly to fish very shallow water back in the marsh country looking for tailing reds and site fishing the reds and hopefully some trout. the wind however would have a much different trip in store for us.
the first day started out with much anticipated anxiety after hearing/reading/watching on tv how absolutely awesome it is to fish louisiana. these feelings were put to ease by a first morning la sunrise.
we fished the first six or so hours shallow. after a while however we realized the wind was not going to cooperate. oh the wind. it ended up doing us in for the entire trip. i am talking 30 mph every day out of the east and in the marsh where there is nothing to block it as far as the eye can see there is just nothing you can do to be able and fish.
so we got word of some big reds down at the jetties. so off we headed. now i have a little 19 foot flats skiff meant to go shallow. we headed down this canal out to the gulf and were passing 150-200 foot oil ships and platforms (no wake zone for large craft). it was very cool to say the least. so we get out and anchor up and were able to catch a few and they were decent in the 27-28 inch range. check out the place we were staying. Boudreax's Waterfront Motel in Leeville, Florida. The room is on the second floor. The whole building is on stilts for obvious reasons. you just walk out the room, downstairs and hop in the boat and go. pretty neat.
so we find out friday night how we needed to set up for the jetty reds. so saturday we are up early and headed to the jetty and then we were going to fish shallow late. WARNING, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ADDICTIONS THAT MIGHT ENSUE AFTER LOOKING AT THE FOLLOWING PICTURES. these are not the same fish. we had 15 for the day and figured they came in somewhere around 300 lbs. the smallest fish was 21 lbs. we couldn't believe it. i have one i will show at the bottom that will be going on the wall with the striper from last week. it weighed 30 lbs.
i am limited to 15 pics so i had to take for of these out.
one of the coolest things of the day happened when three rods went down at once. dad had one fish hooked on one rod, i had one fish hooked on the other and then a third went down. i hooked it and it was very big. i stuck the other fish hooked back in the rod holder and the bigger fish broke off. here are the two we landed.
and the big boy. he is a real brute. the girth on his head is very impressive.
so off we went redfishing shallow after being very exhausted and hoping we could find some of the five lb plus trout i have heard of for years. but it was not meant to be. the fishing was way off. no one, not even the guides were doing anything in the marsh. there were several small trout caught, and a few reds, but nothing big by any means. everyone just kept talking about it being too early with the big cold front a couple of weeks ago.
so we were up again to a 15 mph wind on sunday morning. we fished several places shallow and nothing. then we hit pay dirt. we found this small little duck pond (that is what they call the little ponds in the marsh) and it was full of big bull reds. we were amazed these fish were up so shallow. they were tailing and wallowing around like pigs. it was crazy. we ended up catching three of them and we had to force feed them. they just would not hit anything. we were able to "make" them eat gulps by throwing it to them and just letting it sit beside them for a second til they got the whif of the gulp. we spooked several just by the lure splashing too close. the fish were just very very finicky down there. this is the first one and then we used dads camera the rest of the day. this one was the smallest.:hair: :hair:
site fishing is fun, but site fishing those things and watching the boil they make when they turn on and take the bait is crazy.
the wind was supposed to stay up and we had had enough of it, so we called the trip a day early. like i said before, you guys probably think i am terrible for saying anything negative at all about this trip, but it just wasn't what we were after. we really wanted to get on the shallow fish b/c that is what we love. definetly not complaining about the big fish and catching one that is a true fish of a lifetime. it was awesome to catch that many big reds. i really wanted to catch some of those big trout and bring a bunch of fish home (there limits are much more liberal than florida). however we brought home one fish to mount and three other reds and a sheepshead. everything else was too big.
thanks to each of you guys that helped me out with info on where to stay and other items.
So i finally made the trip down to la for the redfish trip i promised my dad as his birthday/christmas present. it was an interesting trip is about the only way i can put it. after the report, you guys are going to say i am an idiot/fishing snob, but the trip was much less than expected. we were going down mainly to fish very shallow water back in the marsh country looking for tailing reds and site fishing the reds and hopefully some trout. the wind however would have a much different trip in store for us.
the first day started out with much anticipated anxiety after hearing/reading/watching on tv how absolutely awesome it is to fish louisiana. these feelings were put to ease by a first morning la sunrise.
we fished the first six or so hours shallow. after a while however we realized the wind was not going to cooperate. oh the wind. it ended up doing us in for the entire trip. i am talking 30 mph every day out of the east and in the marsh where there is nothing to block it as far as the eye can see there is just nothing you can do to be able and fish.
so we got word of some big reds down at the jetties. so off we headed. now i have a little 19 foot flats skiff meant to go shallow. we headed down this canal out to the gulf and were passing 150-200 foot oil ships and platforms (no wake zone for large craft). it was very cool to say the least. so we get out and anchor up and were able to catch a few and they were decent in the 27-28 inch range. check out the place we were staying. Boudreax's Waterfront Motel in Leeville, Florida. The room is on the second floor. The whole building is on stilts for obvious reasons. you just walk out the room, downstairs and hop in the boat and go. pretty neat.
so we find out friday night how we needed to set up for the jetty reds. so saturday we are up early and headed to the jetty and then we were going to fish shallow late. WARNING, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ADDICTIONS THAT MIGHT ENSUE AFTER LOOKING AT THE FOLLOWING PICTURES. these are not the same fish. we had 15 for the day and figured they came in somewhere around 300 lbs. the smallest fish was 21 lbs. we couldn't believe it. i have one i will show at the bottom that will be going on the wall with the striper from last week. it weighed 30 lbs.
i am limited to 15 pics so i had to take for of these out.
one of the coolest things of the day happened when three rods went down at once. dad had one fish hooked on one rod, i had one fish hooked on the other and then a third went down. i hooked it and it was very big. i stuck the other fish hooked back in the rod holder and the bigger fish broke off. here are the two we landed.
and the big boy. he is a real brute. the girth on his head is very impressive.
so off we went redfishing shallow after being very exhausted and hoping we could find some of the five lb plus trout i have heard of for years. but it was not meant to be. the fishing was way off. no one, not even the guides were doing anything in the marsh. there were several small trout caught, and a few reds, but nothing big by any means. everyone just kept talking about it being too early with the big cold front a couple of weeks ago.
so we were up again to a 15 mph wind on sunday morning. we fished several places shallow and nothing. then we hit pay dirt. we found this small little duck pond (that is what they call the little ponds in the marsh) and it was full of big bull reds. we were amazed these fish were up so shallow. they were tailing and wallowing around like pigs. it was crazy. we ended up catching three of them and we had to force feed them. they just would not hit anything. we were able to "make" them eat gulps by throwing it to them and just letting it sit beside them for a second til they got the whif of the gulp. we spooked several just by the lure splashing too close. the fish were just very very finicky down there. this is the first one and then we used dads camera the rest of the day. this one was the smallest.:hair: :hair:
site fishing is fun, but site fishing those things and watching the boil they make when they turn on and take the bait is crazy.
the wind was supposed to stay up and we had had enough of it, so we called the trip a day early. like i said before, you guys probably think i am terrible for saying anything negative at all about this trip, but it just wasn't what we were after. we really wanted to get on the shallow fish b/c that is what we love. definetly not complaining about the big fish and catching one that is a true fish of a lifetime. it was awesome to catch that many big reds. i really wanted to catch some of those big trout and bring a bunch of fish home (there limits are much more liberal than florida). however we brought home one fish to mount and three other reds and a sheepshead. everything else was too big.
thanks to each of you guys that helped me out with info on where to stay and other items.
I'd love to have a trip like that to whine about JEEZ
