A Testimonial by Capt. Travis Holeman on his Potential 4 lb. Tippet Red Fish Record Caught with Fly Water Expeditions!

Today started like any other day for Capt. Greg and I.  Question?  Which way do you want to go?  Breakfast is always surrounded by conversations of wind direction and tide.  We always throw ideas back and forth but the wind tells the truth.  Today it told us to sneak to a secret spot.  Nunya flat!

Time to fish.  As always I venture to the bow acting like a ballast and trying to sneak my way to fishing!  Whatever works.  Greg grabbed the push pole and joy washed over me like a wave.  Bow time!  Sweet.  Earlier at the boat ramp Greg was showing off his knot skills while stalling for the sun to begin to warm the flats.  I tied the 4 lb. class to my 6wt fly rod and after careful fly selection Greg’s Hudini Crab in purple found it’s way to my rod.  Great fly.  Really great fly.

We made it about 30 yards and a fish floating high was glowing like a stop sign.  Big and red.  One false cast and shoot.  Worried about a shock break I stripped slow as the big fish followed the fly into the depths.  Just as she vanished I felt the tug.  Eased the rod to about 45% and smoothly let her clear the line.  Finally putting a little pressure on the big red.  With a little slip the fly was loose.  Bummer.  Oh well.  I was still wondering if that was the one…. looking out in a daze.  Greg whispers “yo I got another one…. floater.”

Seeing the floating red instantly.  I still had not stripped out the line from the previous fish.  Quickly judging the distance I stripped what I thought would be 50 or so feet off the reel.  Greg shifted the boat to give me a clean cast.  What followed was awesome.  After watching the fly cast land perfectly and the big red pounce all I could think about was we aren’t videoing!   The cast landed perfect, I stripped and she followed.  Swing and a miss… strip, strip.  Again I was a little worried about setting the hook and did so very softly as she ate the fly.  15-20 min. later the huge red came to the boat.  I really enjoyed fishing a trout rod for our huge reds.  The 6 wt allowed for a much better shock absorber than say an 8 or 9 wt rod.

Greg jumped into place after expertly maneuvering the boat to keep me in prime fighting position.  Greg gave the boat one last push on the pole, I swung the big red back to Greg as the boat passed putting him and her in position for a gorilla grip landing.  As Greg had informed me earlier we had no net,… the plan had to work to land the fish.  Thankfully we land most fish by tailing, so it was no big deal.  Greg’s face lit up like a kid on Easter.  Fish landed and all gear still kicking.  Great fish.  Great day.  Great friends.  Thanks Greg.  Capt. Greg landed a huge black drum on 8 lb. after we ate and had a very long time to enjoy what had just happened.  I just landed the best fish I have ever caught.  Gotta love it when it all comes together.

Catch-em Big!

Travis Holeman

727-644-4347

travis@holemanbrothers.com

Great day on the Louisiana Marsh!

I had a great day on the Louisiana Marsh today with Kyle from Houston. Expectations were high due to the great weather forecast. We had light winds, clean water and tons of sun. The fish have been cold as of late due to the cold fronts we have been getting every other day but with the good sun heating up the flats it was only a matter of time before the monster redfish showed back up. Kyle started fly fishing about a year ago and impressed me with his casting for only picking up the sport a few months back. The redfish and black drum were suspended in about 3 feet of water and you could see their orange glow from a few hundred feet away making them easy targets. Kyle and I started off the day landing a dozen nice redfish in the 7-12 pound range which was a good intro for him as it was his first time fly fishing the Louisiana marsh. After we messed around with them and had a quick bite to eat I told Kyle we needed to go step up to the big leagues and go look for some monsters and oh did we find them. From 12:30 to 4:30 I don’t think Kyle ever had time to put his fly back in his hand. He was getting shot after shot at 25-40 pound redfish and black drum, it was almost like a shooting gallery out there! We ended up boating 8 redfish over 25 pounds the second half of the day with two absolute monsters that weighed in at 30 and 33 pounds and I can’t tell you how many other fish ate the fly that we didn’t hook and we must have broken at least another half dozen big reds off. Kyle was hooked up to a 25 lb fish at one point and there were soo many fish around the boat he told me to pick up a rod and catch one. So I grabbed a rod and picked the biggest redfish I saw and got him to eat the fly, the fish ended up being 33 pounds and Kyle and I had a monster double header. This is a testament to what we can accomplish as fly anglers in the pristine Louisiana marsh. Tight Lines!

WHO DAT Redfish Nation!

Went out with Matt a few days ago and he couldn’t help but to show off his Louisiana redfish and WHO DAT Saints T-shirt, Go Saints!

Rough Weather on the Marsh

We have had a rough week of weather out on the Louisiana Marsh. With Rain most  of the week we have had to cancel a few trips. The days out on the water have still been good. Big redfish and black drum are still around and we are getting shots at them .The pattern has been a little off since the hard freeze we had a month back but the fish have moved back in and we are putting them in the boat. Keep and eye out for Fly Water Expeditions airing on the Sportsman’s Channel and Sun Sports with Shallow Water Angler TV in the next few weeks. We caught some monsters despite the cold conditions. Here are a few pictures, Tight Lines!

The Louisiana Marsh was on fire today!

We had an incredible day on the water today in the Louisiana Marsh. Great weather and monster redfish and black drum roaming everywhere on the flats. We landed 7 redfish on fly today all over 25 pounds with the two biggest being 30 and 38 pounds and this doesn’t even include the numerous other black drum we caught. The fish were pouncing on the fly as soon as it hit the water and we were taking advantage of their aggresive behavior. These are the days that make the marsh shine and show that is a great fly fishing destination.

The water in the Louisiana marsh is super clean

The weather had given us a bad run for a few weeks but things are starting to stabalize. We are getting consitent shots at big redfish and black drum over 20 pounds every day. The water in the Louisiana marsh is super clean right now making it great for sight fishing. We have landed a bunch of fish in the 20-40 pound range over the past couple weeks and more redfish and drum are showing up in the marsh in between cold fronts. Tight lines!

Salty Shores Fly fishing in Louisiana

I have Sam Root from Saltyshores.com in Louisiana with me. We have been searching for large redfish on fly but the weather is not cooperating. Sam has taken some good pictures but we are hoping to have a break in the weather and catch some big reds on fly. I will keep you posted.

Picture of my new East Cape Vanatage

Great fly fishing

The last 3 days of fishing has been spectacular to say the least here in Louisiana. We landed 7 redfish over 25 pounds on fly. The biggest being a 29 pound fish today, one black drum that weighed 46 pounds on fly and tons of other smaller fish in the 7-15 pound range. We have had a bunch of shots at big fish and I can’t wait to get back at it tomorrow. The weather has stabalized a little and the fish are starting to act right again. Tight lines

Killer red fishing

The past two days were incredible on the Louisiana marsh. I had Travis from Atlanta the first day and Hunter the 2nd day. Travis wanted to go for some big guys so our plan was to fish big fish water. I can’t tell you how many 5-10 pound fish we didn’t even cast to becaue we didn’t want waste time fighting them and have a monster swim by the boat. We ended up landing 15 fish with the biggest being 19 pounds and we had our shots at 30 pounders.
Hunter and I went out today and got after it. We landed a 22 pound redfish and a 31 pounder on fly. We also had 4 double headers on smaller fish in the 8-10 pound range and had a few other shots at some giant redfish. The Louisiana fishing is on fire right now,Tight lines!

Shy redfish

We had great weather again today and I had Taku and Raneigh in the boat from New York. Both of them great fly casters and they were both members of the Golden Gate fly casters club when they lived in San Francisco. The fishing was a little tougher today maybe due to the fron that will be coming through tonight. There weren’t as many fish on the flats and the redfish that were there were nipping at the fly and a little spooky, the fish wern’t acting like Louisiana redfish today. We still managed to get a few shots at some monster redfish in the 25- 30 pound range and Raneigh landed a nice 19 pound fish on fly as well as a few other 8-10 pound fish. Even though the fishing was slow we still had a great time out on the water. Tight Lines!