Cold weather redfishing report

Fly Water Expeditions has been getting out on the water the past few days after the extreme cold temperatures kept a lot of the redfish and blackdrum off of the flats. The water is starting to warm up a bit and the redfish have been coming back into the marsh and are on a feed. It looks like we will continue to get a warming trend which should get the water temps back into the mid 50’s turning the fishing on. The reds have been eating big crab flies and have been a ton of fun on the 9 wt rods. Tight Lines

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 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.