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Fly fishing for Little Redfish to Save the Day!

With the Mississippi River much higher then usual we have had dirty river water invading are normally clear winter big redfish zones.  This makes for a tough day to just go target big redfish.  Although I will try for a while,  at a certain point I just want to catch some fish… Fortunately the little fish in the interior marsh have been very plentiful. Most fish are from 6-10 lbs with a good bit of 11-12lbers and the occasional teener. With all this little fish action already it’s looking like we are going to have a very good spring.

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Tailing Big Redfish

I would consider seeing a 25+lb fish tailing in less than a foot of water one of the greatest sights you could see in the marsh. Now this isn’t something that happens everyday but if you have the right conditions this time of year and you’re in the right spot, your odds go way up.  Here are some tailers we have boated in the last month and I can promise you there were many more we did not get a hook in…


  
  

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The most wonderful time of the year… Sheepy season!

Starting in mid November and going through mid March is what I consider Sheepshead season.  Not to say there are not sheepies here through the year it’s just easiest to fish for them during these times. This is due to the fact the water in the oyster ponds tend to get very clear during this time. With the water being so clear, this usually affords you the opportunity to get good distance shots on the sheepies. Distance is important for two reasons. First they are spooky and will feel the boat even if it just slightly moves during your cast. Further away you are, less chance of them feeling the boat.  Secondly the distance gives you time to entice the fish to eat. Most of the time a sheepshead will not just swim up to the fly and eat, you really have to sell them the fly. 


  

 

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Winter fly fishing action

Although we have had a mild winter, we are still seeing a healthy amount of wintering redfish in the marsh.

  
  

   

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Fly fishing for jumbo Louisiana Redfish

There are six classifications of redfish size on my boat and they are …

Little fish – 8 lbs or less

Big little fish – 9-12 lbs

Teener/little big fish – 13-19 lbs

Big fish – 20-25 lbs

Big big fish – 26-29 lbs

JUMBO – 30+ lbs

Jumbos are not easy to come by, but a couple times a year the stars align and and we get a few jumbos in the boat.  Here are some from recent trips…


  

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Fly fishing for Different Fall Species

Although most of our customers come down in the fall to target redfish there are many other opportunities on fly… Foster has caught many big redfish on fly so he wanted to do something different. I was all about it…  We started in redfish areas passing on “most” redfish to target alligator gar and drum. It didn’t take long to get the drum and after a few missed hooks we got the gar.  The next day was shark day. After passing on a school of about 200-300 reds we found where the Sharks were holding. It didn’t take long to get one on the hook.

  
  

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Big redfish season is here…

September is when we start getting very busy. Although the big fish have not moved into the shallows we are still able to target them in open water with the weather permitting(reasonable winds and sunlight)… This will continue usually through mid October when a good cold front pushes the bigger fish shallow. Although we have had some smaller cold fronts this October the majority of the bigger fish have not moved in yet.  This mixed with some serious winds have made fishing this month no easy task… Don’t get me wrong, we have had a couple days with great weather that we have had great fishing but over all it’s been tough.  We have had to grind it out, luckily we have a very healthy fishery and we can usually fall back inside and chase some smaller fish in protected waters.


  
  
  
  
  
  

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Fly fishing for Jack Crevalle in New Orleans’ backyard…

Starting in June schools of mullet start moving into Lake Ponchartrain. Following these schools is one of my favorite and most overlooked gamefish, Jack Crevalle aka Marsh tuna aka Jackie boy…  With the right conditions the lake clears showing its vast sand flats littered with small grass patches.  The jacks cruise up and down the shore crushing bait, pushing wakes, sometimes they just slow swim finning very much like a permit.  The season usually starts mid to late June, peaks july – mid sept then tapers off just in time for big redfish season.  My go to fly is the white popper pictured below but sometimes we do throw large baitfish patterns. I’d recommend at least a 10 wt rod.  If I’m fishing I’m throwing a 12 wt.  All jacks can fight our jacks are big and they fight. Average size is 20-30 lbs. Rarely do we see fish under 20.

 
  
  

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February

As usual during February the weather has been somewhat an issue.  But as usual when the weather was good the fishing was good.  February is still considered prime time for big Redfish in the marsh.  The water is still clear and the big fish are still holding in their normal winter spots.  What also happens in February is the Sheepshead come in, big ones!  These are what we like to call marsh permit.  Even if everything is in your favor and you even make the right cast these guys may still refuse your offering.  But if you keep at it you will be rewarded…

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Trophy Sheepshead

In November the Louisiana Marsh is known for having big red fish. But Mile Haines couldn’t pass up the opportunity and made a great cast on this trophy sheepshead while it was tailing for crabs.

– Captain Jim Dietz

 

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December Fly Fishing Highlights

Starting from the top… Cindy came down and for the 3rd year in a row, nailed some great fishing.  This time was especially good timing because we were fishing the redbone, which is a non profit tournament held to raise money for cystic fibrosis.   Well we got the big one!  34 lb 46 in red which is actually the biggest redfish ever to be caught in this tournament to date.  We were both very excited about it.  Next is Christian’s 37 lber which took the title as the heaviest fish caught on fly on my boat during 2014.  Good work Christian!  The next pictures are of some very happy redfish just being hungry in the marshes of Louisiana.

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Cold Weather, Hot Fishing

Jim came down from Alabama to get his first crack at some big redfish. What a heck of a guy and a pretty darn good fisherman as well. It’s been cold but the fishing has been hot.

– Capt. Paul Lappin

 

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Mid-December Fun Fishing

Had a day off, so what did I do? Went fishing, of course.
And man it was cold. Captain Ryan Frederick and I managed to put a few in the boat before heading back to the warmth of the truck. Fun day!!

– Capt. Paul Lappin

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Tournament Fishing

Had a chance to fish with Gary Ellis and Brower Moffitt for the Redbone Tournament benefiting cystic fibrosis. What a great cause and what a fun day on the water with these two characters.

– Capt. Paul Lappin

 

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Captain Paul Lappin

Lived and fished all over the states. From Key West to Alaska. Was introduced to this amazing year round fishery here in south Louisiana and have not been able to leave it. From beautifull weather and a variety of species whats not to love. Not to mention the Big Easy being so close.
Lets go make some memories have some laughs and possibly catch the fish of a lifetime.
Cpt. Paul
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November Redfish

Great 3 days of fishing with Kevin George. These guys had plenty of shots on big fish and plenty of funny stories to fill me in on. Great times and great guys.  See you in key west fellas!!!

– Capt. Paul Lappin

 

 

 

 

 

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Early October Fly Fishing Report

Although we were still dealing with some water clarity issues, we were able to make it to the cleaner outside areas on most days.  There we found large singles, schools of spawners (15-20lbers), and even the occasional Jack.  On the windy days we stayed inside chasing tailers in the shallows and even got this nice flounder on a blind retrieve.

 

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September fly fishing to Remember

Early this September was probably some of the best fishing I have had in a while.  It was by far the best September fishing I have ever experienced.  This was immediately followed by some of the worse weather which in turn made for some very difficult fishing.  Here are some fish we put in the boat this month.  This includes my first 40 lb red on the boat and the biggest gar I have ever had on the boat.  It has been a pretty inedible month so far.

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Summer Fly Fishing for Cobia

Summer is hot!  So instead of poling around in the marsh we decided to take it to the big water in hopes of finding something different… We found it! The first buoy we pulled up to had about a half dozen Cobia floating just underneath the surface.  The water only had about 3-4 ft of clarity but you could easily spot these brown bastards from about 100 yrds away.  Every rig, buoy, or piling we drove up to had at least 3 and as many as 12 floating right under it.  As soon you dropped a popper into the area they were on it.  They stayed on it until you hooked someone out of the group then they would sound.  At that point we would land the fish, move to one or two other spots, then come back and sure enough the school would be floating right on top again.  We did this all day…  I had a great time to say the least.

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The Spring Thing!

Although the big fish are still around they are few and far between.  Because of this I like to turn my attention to some other species this time of year.  When weather permits we are able to run out to the beaches.   This sometimes gives us opportunities at Jacks and big reds.  If it’s a little too windy for the beach, we fall back into the interior ponds and focus on 8-12 lb fish, large gar, and the sheeps are also still around.  Regardless we will have some targets for you.

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Offshore Fishing Venice Louisiana

Although the wind was blowing and the fish weren’t eating right, Capt Kyle Smith still got a pretty good haul.  We started the day as usual trying to catch some live bait.  After a couple throws with the cast net we got them.  Menhaden.  We dropped the live bait only to see nothing happen for the next 2 hrs.  We decided to chunk.  Almost immediately a reel started screaming. After that it was pretty consistent and we ended up with 6 Yellow fin from 60-90 lbs.

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The Perfect Day

Although Fall is most popular, people overlook the dead of winter.  Yes, during winter we get horrible fronts that will keep you off the water for days at a time.  Yes, our average winter temperatures are less then desirable for most saltwater fly fishing anglers.  But… If you luck out and hit it right, you may have a day like this…

No wind, bluebird skies and floating redfish everywhere!!! 17 fish over 20 lbs with 2 going over 30 lbs.  The fish were not very easy to feed, but with good casters and plenty of opportunity, we certainly got it done.

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Cold Winter Redfishing is Heating Up

This winter season has been pretty good, to say the least…  We have had great shots on singles, doubles and sometimes even groups of 10 or more 20+lb Red Fish.  This makes the double possibility jump way up.  I even got to get in the game and hook up with this 35 lber with one of my single customers.

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