Uptown angler, Leland Fly shop and Travis Holeman

Went out today to have a guides day off with Capt. Travis Holeman. We got the opportunity to fish with former Uptown Angler manager Hunter Heumann and the present manager of Leland Fly Shop, MJ Jones. Leland Fly Shop is one of the biggest outfitter in the U.S. and won the retailer of the year in 2009 at the fly tackle retailers show. Leland is located in San Fransisco and has a great online presence in the fly fishing community. This was MJ’s first time fishing the Louisiana marsh so we wanted to make sure we showed him a great time. We got to the first spot and MJ was up first, we went up into a pocket that I have been fishing this past week and MJ landed a nice 12 pound redfish on fly right off the bat. After that we were going down a couple deeper edges and he got a few shots at some monster reds but the fish weren’t acting right and we didn’t capitalize. Travis was able to sight fish a 25 pound redfish on convetional gear and when I was getting ready to pull the fish out of the water with the Boga Grip the fish shook loose and came off the hook when he landed back in the water, bummer. This would have been a good redfish to take a picture with. We made a move to our next spot and it was my turn to get up on the casting platform of Travis’s Lake & Bay bay boat. We saw a fish immediately when we stopped cruising down the shoreline. I made a cast and threw the fly a little behind the fish, I picked back up and threw another cast about a foot in front of the red and made one strip and it was over, another nice 15 lb. redfish on fly. We messed around for a little while longer before the wind picked up and the scum sky came in. We ended up landing 4 reds on fly and a few more on conventional. We also got a dozen or so nice speckled trout to take home for dinner. Another great day on the water and it was a ton of fun sharing the day with Travis, Hunter, and MJ. Tight Lines!

Solid redfish on Fly.

Louisiana Black Drum on Fly

Back at it again today on the Biloxi Marsh. Another day of nice conditions, a little breezier today then the past 3 but we still found a ton of fish. We went to the outside today to go search for some big redfish and started off by catching a few nice 6-12 pound fish on fly. We were throwing a purple and tan cran fly that I have been tying for the past few years and the fish were jumping all over it. After we messed around with the little fish we fished some deeper shore lines to look for the big boys. We got 2 shots at big redfish today and one was a freaking stud. The fish was tailing in about 2 1/2 ft of water and we could see him from a ways off. When we got closer I could tell he was a huge fish, I estimated him to be between 35-40 lbs. Craig made the shot and the fly landed 2 ft in front of the fish. The fish started to track the fly and then it all went wrong. My pushpole hit and oyster and made a loud screetch and the fish bolted, oh well. We still had a great day on the water landing 14 redfish on fly and one monster 25 lb black drum. I’m back out on the water again tomorrow to do some fun fishing. Tight Lines!

Louisiana Black drum caught on fly

Releasing a fly caught black drum.

Fishing on the Inshore Power Boat

Redfish are still eating the fly very well in the Louisiana Marsh. Here’s some pics from Nov. 5th’s trip aboard the loaner Inshore Power Boat.

Inshore Power Boat in Louisiana

My first words when I saw this boat were “wow, what a cool little skiff “. While I am waiting for my East Cape Vantage to be built the guys at Inshore Power Boats let me borrow their new Inshore 16. From what I can see the boat looks like a mitzi style hull but when you walk up to it you can tell the difference right away. The new IPB 16 has a finished liner which makes the cockpit look much more presentable then the older style mitzi’s. The cool thing about this boat is that it seems like you can set it up how you like. If you want a front or rear deck, coffin box, hatches, livewell, casting platform, etc. you can set this boat up however you want to for the way you fish. I love the set up that the IPB 16 has that I have been running the past few days in  the Louisiana marsh. It has a Honda 50 4 stroke, polling platform, forward casting platform, coffin box with lean pad, rear bench seat with dry storage underneath and a few other cool options.

IPB in Louisiana

The boat is set up perfect for the marsh and catches a ton of fish. I am a sucker for tiller engines which this one has. The boat has tons of cockpit space to move around and has the coffin box for extra seating. I have been fishing with 10 gallons of fuel, two gear bags, rods, ice/water, and two clients for the past three days and the boat performs really good. It gets a top speed around 36 mph with all that weight, drafts in about 6 inches, and carves around corners and polls like a dream. I have been making 30 mile runs each way to the outer portions of the Louisiana marsh and the boat has been burning 6 gallons of fuel per trip and I haven’t been laying off the throttle. The boat handles rough water really well for a shorter skiff and when you get to your fishing spot it polls in tight corners, creeks, and cuts. I have been really impressed with the boat and I would reccommend it to anyone getting into the light tackle fishing game.

Ready for the Louisiana Marsh

The boat is built for simplicity and is a great boat for the hardcore fisherman or the weekend warrior. I can’t wait for Brad to bring the IPB 16 mud boat over here so we can shoot some ducks in it this winter. I think IPB has a winner and I look forward to great things from them in the future. Inshore Power Boats Website

Redfish on the Inshore Power Boat.

Nice Louisiana reds on the fly.

We had another great day on the water with Steve and Markus. The day started slow and ended real good. We landed 7-9 fish in the 26″-32″ range while fly fishing. The Louisiana water was clean with tons of fish. We found them schooled up in shallow ponds backing down shorelines flushing shrimp and minnows out of the mud. Pretty cool sight, wish I could have taken pics but I was poling. Around 3 pm we were poling a deeper shore line and got 4 shots at fat 25 to 35 pound redfish. Steve put the fly where it needed to be to three of those fish and as soon as the fly hit the water the fish came over and ate the crap out of the crab fly before steve could get tight to his fly line and all three of the fish spit the fly out before he could get the strip strike, bummer! Still cool to see those big reds. Back at it again thursday and friday. Call me if you are ready to go!

13 pound redfish on fly.

Redfish on the IPB

Using a loaner boat from IPB (inshore power boats) we caught some nice redfish on the fly.

Fishing on the IPB in Louisiana

Big Louisiana redfish on fly

Had a guides day off and went out on the water with good friend Capt. Gregg Arnold. Weather was perfect, tons of sun and clean water. We landed the first monster redfish of the day within 5 minutes of shutting the boat down. We spotted the fish in about a foot and a half of water. I made about a 50 ft. cast with my Sage Z-Axis 10 wt, the fly landed 3 ft. to the left of the fish and he came over and gobbled it up. Got him to the boat and he weighed in at 30 lbs. Greg was up next and got a few shots at som 15 pound fish that he hooked and they got off. We polled up into a little gut off of a big bay and I spotted a nice fish tailing up on the shoreline. Gregg made a perfect cast, one strip and he was on. Landed him and he was a rspectable 25 pounder. We messed around a little while longer and caught another 22 lb. fish and I got a 20 pounder. We ended the day with Gregg landing a 26 pound Black Drum on fly. A great day on the water and fun pulling on some monster Louisiana redfish. Tight lines!

Fat redfish on Fly!