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Typical fall and early winter fly fishing in Louisiana

Overall our fall and early winter was decent. Luckily the weather was actually pretty good so we were able to fish a good bit of days. Unfortunately we had to deal with dirtier then normal water due to the Mississippi River pumping more fresh water into our system then it normally does. Hopefully it’ll be good for our long term… with the fresh water I am seeing a lot more grass in areas that I typically don’t see much grass, which gets me excited for spring fishing.

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Winter to Spring 2019

Winter wore on with less then desirable conditions. We still caught some fish but mentally it was draining. I was just hoping for the sun to come out and stay out. It eventually did clear up with good light throughout most our early spring. The fish numbers in the interior marsh were very good and the temperature stayed cool almost all the way though May. Pretty good trout year too.

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Fall Fly Fishing and Weather Expectations

The weather this past fall never seemed to clear up with what seemed like never ending cloudy days. When that happens you need to adjust your expectations… cherish the calm days and try to make every shot count. This fall was full of less then desirable forecasts that we had to make the best out of. Although I did reschedule many days because the forecast was so dismal. We ended up fishing some days that didn’t have great forecasts and the fishing was still good, we also had some days that had great forecasts and ended up having terrible weather. The old saying is true that “you don’t know unless you go.” Reality is sometimes you do know and sometimes it’s a tough call, but if you go out with the right expectations you will always have a good time.

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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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Keeping it Interesting

We had to make the most of this windy partly cloudy day.  When the sun popped out we looked for redfish and when the clouds blocked the sun we blind casted for trout.  We were successful at both but would of rather spot fished all day.  Still a pretty entertaining day though.

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Mike’s last day of Louisiana redfishing

My buddy Mike from the shop is packing up and moving to Denver.  After fishing Louisiana marsh for years and never having a good opportunity on a trophy fish we decided to make it happen.  After adjusting our presentation from smacking the fish to actually leading the fish we started getting true refusals on the purple fly.  We made the switch to brown and it was on.  We caught some little guys and had 4 takes by big fish before we finally got a hook in.  Good fish to hook into though.  This beast went about 30.5.

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Dec 30 -Jan 2

I fished these four days with two young men visiting from Japan. Since my clients spoke very little English, we had to rely on the basics of fishing to communicate.  During this four day trip, my only interactions with these young men consisted of “cast here”,” reel fast”, “reel slow”, “jig” and “set the hook.”  With this direction we landed 8 fish over 20 lbs, 2 of which were over 30 lbs.

 

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Floating Bull Redfish in Louisiana

We had a great day this day with non stop shots at huge floating bull reds.  The fish were so happy they were daisy chaining on the surface with their tails waving in the air.  It was a sight to see.  Even though some fish were being picky with the bite we had so many shots we obviously capitalized on some.

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The Hords of Bull reds have arrived on the Oyster Flats

Finally had a good weather day with calm winds clear skies and warming temps.  This was the switch that got the big fish moving.  Everywhere we stopped there were big fish floating and hungry.  We landed many fish but this was by far the most unique one.

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Last days of Venice clean water

Here are some picks from the last successful trip I took out of Venice before the water rose and brought with it the chocolate milk.  Partly cloudy with every bit of a 30 mph wind.

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Recent Big Redfish Caught on Fly

This has been a great fall so far.  As the temperature drops and winter sets in the game changes but the results should stay the same.

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12 yr Old With a Huge Redfish He Caught on the Fly

I had a great time fishing with the Greens.  They were both great anglers but Daniel at the age of 12 is better then most adults I have seen.  Daniel can not only see the fish, accurately cast at the fish (with distance), but also remembers to strip set on the take. Needless to say we had a good day.  Big fish for Daniel which was also big fish for the day was this 28 lb beauty. 

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Louisiana Fall Fly Fishing at Its Best

Guide day fun fish with Dini.

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Sharks on the Fly

Had a friend come in town to buy my old boat and while he was down we decided to go look around Venice.  We found clear water big redfish and sharks lots of sharks.  The redfish were being a little difficult to get to bite so we went after the sharks.  We got 3 to bite and we have some footage of one. Enjoy….

 

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Sunday Sept.18

David and Kevin of baton rouge giving it their best, as was I , rough water, dirty water, 50% clouds, approaching front, 20mph ESE winds with gust, fish would not go out of their way for the fly’s and shots at VISIBLE fish where few. These guys fished hard! Had some shots at 30lb. jacks but the wind and visibility made for tough casting conditions and we didn’t connect, we are still fishing……………………………………………………………………………………………

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The Wood Women

Biloxi Marsh Redfish

With blue bird skies and just a slight breeze I figure I could take my girlfriend Lauren and her mother Lele out to do some easy sight fishing for some hungry redfish.  Well the water was not as clear as i wanted but still we were able to see. The problem was there was no tide and no fish actively feeding.  We managed to get a hand full of shots and Lele even capitalized on one.  Lauren did have a shot on about a 40lb+ Black drum but he wasn’t having anything to do with her fly.

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Venice in August


summer redfish

I fished the IFA redfish tour Louisiana division this weekend out of Grand Isle and finished 9th.  It was a good finish overall and I can always be happy with a top ten finish. Although due to a miserable boat ride from Venice to Grand Isle then back to Venice then back to Grand Isle I refused to go back toVenice by boat.  I felt bad for ditching my partner but riding with no console in front of you is totally different then riding with one in front of you.

After spending the end of last week scouting for this tournament in Venice I have located some interesting and fishy areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I convinced Moon to fish Venice the following morning because not only was the fishing good but i could get a ride back to my car and boat.  Well the fishing didn’t disappoint.  The giant gar were not there like they were friday but the redfish and sheepshead were easily seen in the gin clear water we were fishing.

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8/18 Fly Fishing Early Morning Redfish

Fly fishing guru Damon Newpher’s of Pennsylvanian fly.( www.pa-flyfishing.com). We had another early start of a day, lots of happy reds early and Damon took full advantage. Whacking a red about every five minutes or so, I think he might be mad at our Louisiana redfish!! Don’t know how many we whacked but whack’em he did. Still average redfish for this time of year all between 5-9lbs. had a little bonus fish ol’wiley and tougher to hook the sheepshead or convict as we call them

Back at the ramp by 9:30am, sweet trip good job Damon hope to see you back.

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8/21 Tailing Summer Redfish

Fished with Mr. Ewald and Ms. Kelly from www.grabherflyfishing.com.  Conditions weren’t the best in the marsh today but skilled casters on the boat made the best of it.  Neither Kelly nor Ewald had ever caught a redfish before and Kelly was looking to land her first saltwater fish on the fly.  Ewald was able to achieve his goal by placing precise shots in difficult spots capitalizing on the few opportunities he was offered.  Kelly was able to achieve both her goals in one well placed cast and did it in grand fashion casting to, and catching, a tailing red!  All in all a fun day of firsts, thanks guys for sharing your experiences with me.

Capt Rocky

Salty Fly Expeditions

 

 

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8/20 Big Nasty Summertime Redfish

I had Ted & Kim of www.fishermensspot.com today on board,  going for the GIANTS! rolled out at 4:00am to catch a perfect condition for some trophy class redfish. Our early arrival  to THE SPOT really paid off, the bigguns where already there waiting for a crab fly breakfast and I had the anglers on board to serve it up!!  Teds first red ever to cast too was a 27lb big nasty.  Hard to top huh? Continued floating around, almost tarpon style for these fish, 20 minutes later ted strips down on another big nasty and he came off,5 minutes later Ted serves up another tasty crab fly and that fish pulled! Not good, quick change of the fly, back on watch one more school and…….. 32lb.BIG NASTY! Congratulations TED for a real trophy class Louisiana redfish.

Capt Rocky

Salty Fly Expeditions

 

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8/19 Duck Pond Redfish

Had Jeff & Tony  from Colorado today chasing redfish back in the duck ponds, little or no tide made it a tough day on the water. Fish would eat the shrimp pattern flies the best today but were  kind of picky! Really wanted perfect fly placement. Great casters on the skiff makes a bad day look good. Thanks guys for making the shots…… we where rewarded!!!

Capt Rocky

Salty Fly Expeditions

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8/20 Quad Slam

Rocky and I picked up our guys today at 4:00am and headed SSW to a super secret honey hole Captain Lucas turned us on to.  Right off the bat we new we weren’t in Delacroix anymore due to the shark fins breaking the surface at the first spot we stopped at.  As the day progressed it was unlike any other I have had.  It began by walking in ankle deep water stalking small drum with their backs out of the water.  After catching one we decided to go after our targeted species big redfish! We see our first school and blow our shot but on the next school we hook up and of course its the smallest fish in the school but still a good 10-12 lbs.  We continue seeing fish, have a few hook ups and land one more before we decide to focus our attention on the sharks we keep seeing cruising the flats.  We rig up the 12 weight with some heavy leader and a monster fly and go after them.  We get a few big boys to nose it but never got a take on a big one, we did catch a little two footer black tip though.  Finishing the day and our quad slam we throw a shrimp pattern in a deeper hole on the flats and catch a trout just to say we did. Rocky had a pretty incredible day as well. His report is coming soon….

Capt Miles

985-264-7556

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8/18-8/19 Redfish Tells

Both days have been extremely hot with the heat index reaching 110+ but when it is this hot it means there is no wind.  Is the heat miserable? Yes. Is the fishing good enough to make you forget about the heat? Yes.  When there is no wind it allows you to spot a redfish’s tell or movement from a far distance away.  Whether its a fish busting on a bank, finning on the surface, tailing looking for food, or just straight cruising with his huge triangle head wake, the lack of wind makes redfishing a more visual game then it already is.  Both days we saw all of these examples and multiple times at that.  We caught plenty of fish and never really noticed the bite shut down. The bite did slow down but never stopped all together.  At one point we saw so many fish actively feeding in a pocket we threw on a topwater and stuck one and missed another.  This was late morning too which is somewhat unusual.

Capt Miles

985-264-7556

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8/17 Deja Vu

I had Riaz back on the boat for a second day of tremendous fly fishing action.  We decided to try our hand at catching reds on top-water.  I tied on a redfish popper and Riaz did the rest, laying down shot after shot with surgical precision.  As a guide it is always a treat to have a great caster on the boat and the last two days I have been treated.  Riaz picked off red after red like a sniper taking out the enemy.  We finished the day with fish over 8 pounds and a boat load of memories.

Capt Rocky

Salty Fly Expeditions

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8/16 Early Redfish Action

An early start was the key to success Tuesday morning as Riaz and I got on the water at daylight.  Living in San Francisco hasn’t afforded Riaz any opportunities at redfish on the fly so he was eager to get a shot at his first.  We didn’t have to wait long before we were hooked up.  In fact, Riaz was able to land his first three reds on his first three casts!  The day was filled with hungry reds ranging in size from 4 to 10 pounds and we finished the day in double digits.

Capt Rocky

Salty Fly Expeditions

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