East Cape Vantage

Weather has been terrible the past two days so I caught up on some errands. I sold my East Cape Caimen on Sunday to a guy from Illinois who has two homes in Florida. One in Boca Grande and one in Naples. He is coming into Orlando in the beginning of November to pick it up from East Cape so I decided to drive it back to the shop so they could get it ready for him. I left at 5:30 tuesday morning and drove through down pooring rain from New Orleans, all the way to Tallahassee driving 35 mph down I-10. That turned the drive into a 12 hour trip instead of a 9 hour trip. I dropped the boat off around 6 pm and caught up with one of the owners Marc Page who I am great friends with and went home to get some food and catch up on some sleep. I met Kevin Fenn, the other owner of East Cape at Lake Conway to test drive the new East Cape Vantage which is what I now have on order and hope to get it by the end of November. It was sad to see my Caimen go because it was such a good boat, but I am extremely excited to get the new Vantage. Big Redfish and Tarpon beware. This boat is bad ass! I got an Inshore Power Boat 16 ft. skiff as a loaner till my Vantage is done. IPB is a custom skiff manufacturer that East Cape bought into and they are co-owners with Brad Ball. They build a killer little skiff at an awesome price and I am excited to try it out. I left Orlando around 9 am to head back to New Orleans and the drive home was much better. Took 9 hours and the weather was great. catching up with emails and looking forward to getting back on the water friday. Tight Lines!

Tough flyfishing for redfish

Monday 10/26 was a tough day on the water. I was fishing with the same group from the past three days and the wether turned from ok to worse. We had strong winds and no sun. We Launched out of Delacroix, LA and fish the interior marsh in a little shallower water because that is what the conditions forced us to do. We had a half day to make it happen so we went right to a few of my best shallow flats. The fish were there tailing and backing down the shorelines but they weren’t acting the way they had been for the past three days, they were finikey. The water in the marsh was gin clear and we were getting decent shots but the fishing gods weren’t with us today. We hooked seven redfish, all nice ones between 7-12 pounds. The only problem was that they all got off after the hook set. The fish were nipping at the fly and getting them close to the outside of the mouth and when they would get in the grass the hook pulled every time. That’s why they call it fishing, not catching! Still a great day on the water with two awesome anglers who got a chance to fish the Louisiana Marsh for the first time.

Fly fishing Louisiana Redfish

Louisiana Redfishing continues to produce! Fly Water Expeditions had another great day on the water with Dave and Gloria from California. They landed 8 redfish on fly despite the limited visibility from the clouds.Big redfish of the day was a 14 pound fish and everything else was 5-8 pounds. At it again tomorrow. Tight lines

Redfish caught on fly in LA

PIGGIE Redfish

Redfish and Fly Fishing, Hopedale

Fly fishing for redfish, Today started at Penny’s Cafe in Violette, Louisiana. We had a great breakfast and picked up sandwiches for the day and it was off to fish for redfish. The weather man called for 5-15 knot winds with tons of sun. If you added the 5+15= 20 he would have got the wind right and we had scum sky (clouds) for most of the day. We launched out of Hopedale, LA in hopes to go look for some bigger redfish on the outside. The clouds weren’t going to help but we went anyways. The water was high and pretty clean, we started seeing fish right away. I had Jeff and Bob today and they were ready to sight cast to some nice redfish on fly. We got into the small fish early with the fish ranging from 8-10 pounds and they were feeding heavily on the outgoing tide. We put 6-7 fish in the boat in the first two hours of the day. As we got a little sun we went further out and got some nice fly fishing shots at fish in the 25 pound range and landed 5 fish that were 13-17 pounds with one double header which included the big fish of the day. We ended up with 12 redfish on fly today and the big fish are going to continue to move in.

Another good Louisiana Red Drum

We fished the 10 weight G. Loomis one piece Crosscurrent Pro 1 with a Tibor Riptide reel. A great setup for the bigger redfish, this makes it easier to thrown the big crab flies we throw at these beasts. Back at it again tomorrow and monday. Tight lines!

Another fatty redfish on fly.

Double reds caught while fly fishing.

Double header redfish

Fly fishing for redfish just doesn’t get any better then fishing the rich, productive, clear waters of Louisiana.

Give me a call to check available dates.

Rates

407-538-0770

Capnd13@gmail.com

Greg Dini
3021 Joseph St.
New Orleans, LA 70125

I look forward to having you on the boat!

Flyfishing for Louisiana reds

I had Tim and Jeff in the boat today who came with a group of guys that Captain Al Keller had put together. We had an East Cape Caimen day with Al just getting his new Caimen two weeks ago, the fish didn’t have a chance. The water was high and dirty in most places today on the Louisiana marsh from all the rain and south winds we got from the front that just came through. The  redfish weren’t in their normal haunts and had pushed way back into the duck ponds that normally dont have much water in them. We still managed to find gin clear water and plenty of redfish were caught on fly. Al and I are both back at it again tomorrow on the search for some 40″ redfish. Tight Lines!

RedBone Tournament in Louisiana

Recently I guided two great anglers from Pennsylvania Jim and Wanda in the RedBone for Cystic Fibrosis tournament on October 14th & 15th. We had sub par weather but tons of fish around. The tournament was held out of Woodland Plantation which is a great bed and breakfast to stay at while down in Louisiana fishing. We crossed the Mississippi River every morning on the ferry to fish the east side of the river out of Delacroix, LA. We had clean water and tons of shots. This was the first RedBone tournament held in Louisiana since hurricane Katrina. The event was a feeler to see how things would go for the next event they will hold here in April for Jazz Fest. With that being said it was a little unorganized with only a handful of the fishing categories that they normally have. We ended up placing runner up in the over all team event, we would have placed 1st in the fly fishing division except they didn’t have one for this particular event, and we won the big fish category with Wanda catching a 33 1/2″ redfish that weighed 17 pounds. This was a great tournament for a great cause. I look forward to fishing in the RedBone in April. Tight Lines! Fishing is great.

RedBone Tournament Louisiana

Another good redfish in the RedBone Tournament.

Fishing in the Louisiana Marsh

Louisiana Marsh, The vast Louisiana marsh is located in the south eastern portion of the state. It accounts for thousands of miles of seemingly endless shorelines, flats, bays and ponds where redfish take up their residence year round. Located 40 minutes from downtown New Orleans, anglers from all over get the opportunity to fish the most prestigious redfishery in the world. The redfishing is great year round but depending on what time of the year it is determines where we will fish in the marsh. In the spring and summer we dedicate our time to the duck ponds on the interior marsh looking for those big slot, to just above slot redfish. During the fall and winter months we concentrate on the Biloxi marsh which is a 20 minute boat ride from Breton Sound Marina located near Hopedale, Louisiana.

This area has some of the biggest redfish around with world record fish possible on every trip out to the marsh. These fish cruise shorelines in 1-3 ft of water searching for as much food as they can find to fatten up for the winter months. The redfishes main diet this time of the year is crabs, snails, shrimps and the flies that we throw at them. An average fish this time of the year is 20 pounds but fish exceeeding 40 pounds is also in the deck of cards. Red fish aren’t the only target we fish for in these waters. We also get the opportunity to fish for monster black drum as well. These fish are mixed in with the redfish and can grow in excess of 60 pounds.

36 pound Louisiana Redfish

We pole around in technical skiffs in gin clear water in search of these monsters of the flats and with the Louisiana marsh being so big you never have to worry about seeing any other boats fishing your spots. You truely are in God’s country when you are out there. With only a handfull of boats that sight fish for these beasts on fly, the fish get very little pressure and when presented a fly or lure correctly they have no problem coming over to it and inhaling your presentation. It isn’t uncommon for these fish to get you well into your backing providing a sight fishing experience of a lifetime. When weather cooperates you can expect to have shots at monster fish all day long and an average day for big fish can be anywhere between 5-10 fish with exceptional days landing upwards of 20. This truely is the land of giants. I invite you to come share in this incredible fishery and enjoy everything else this great state has to offer.

Louisiana fishing accommodations

Often I’m asked a lot of questions from first time anglers visiting Louisiana. Hopefully I can answer some of the most common questions here in my Fly Water Journal.

Fishermen can fly right into New Orleans International Airport. Rental cars are available at the airport and the drive is only 20 minutes to downtown New Orleans. There are endless places to stay down town. Most of my anglers will stay at the Hilton or the Ritz Carlton but there are tons of them if you do a quick google search for places in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana.

What I like to do is pick up my charters in the morning around 6 am, I will bring them to breakfast at Penny’s Cafe in Violette, LA. We get good food and will pick up sandwiches for the day there.

The best time of the year to fish for a trophy redfish is October through March but the fishing is great year round so I don’t want to pigeon hole myself into those months only. If you want Louisiana seafood you will definately be able to get fresh Blue crabs and oysters if the time of the year is right straight off the oyster boats where we launch. I’m sure if you wanted to ship some home I can help you find a way or you can check a cooler in at the airport. If anglers would like to keep a few fish they can but I recommend they keep only slot size fish; 16-27″.

There are literally tons of fun places to hang out at night in the french quarter; Pat Obriens, etc, etc.

Some good restaurants while you are in Louisiana: Dickey Brennans steak house, Acme Oyster house, Brennan’s Sea Food, G.W. Fins, Drago’s Oysters and seafood, Antoine’s Restaurant and many I have yet to discover. I hope if you are coming to fish with me that this helps you prepare for our fishing adventure.

Louisiana Marsh fishing on fly

Incredible Louisiana Marsh Redfishing, another great day on the water with Clayton and Mack. We went out with high expectations from the day before and with the beautiful weather that was called for; winds 5-10 and tons of sun. We stayed on the inside today to fish for the fat pond redfish. We pulled up to the first marsh point and we were greeted with a school of 25 red fish sitting in a cut and ready to eat or flies. Mack was first up and landed a nice 9 pound red drum and while he was hooked up other reds were following his fish. I yelled to Clayton to get his rod out and when he stripped enough line off the real he threw his crab fly in and was hooked up with one of the three double headers we had today. The redfish were happy and ready to feed, many of the fish we had to dig the fly out of their crushers. The redfish averaged 7-9 pounds and for those of you who don’t know about Louisiana redfishing, these 9 pound fish were only 26″, super fat. The big fish of the day was a nice 12 lb slob and we ended the day one upping our previous day, 28 redfish on fly, all sight fishing. Another epic day of redfishing in the Louisiana marsh. Tight Lines!

Pair of redfish on fly

Redfish on crab fly.

Louisiana Marsh redfishing

I fished today with Clayton and Mack. We were out on the water by 7:30am and looked forward to having great weather with tons of sun. The water was super clean in the Louisiana marsh today and the redfish were crawling all around the boat. Both Clayton and Mack came to fly fish and they played paper rock scissors to see who got up on the bow first. The fish were tailing, backing and pushing down the shoreline on a true feed. Both the guys were throwing crab flies and the fish we’re pounding them as soon as they hit the water. We landed 17 redfish by lunchtime and ended with 27 fish over all including one Gar. The Louisiana redfish were averaging 6-8 pounds and the big fish of the day was a nice 10 pounder. This was a great day on the water with two awesome anglers. The fall redfishing is on fire right now and is only going to get better. I have both of these guys again tomorrow and we are going to look for some 40″ redfish. Tight lines!