BoldWater and Saltyshores

We snuck a half day trip in before Derek Redwine from BoldWater and Sam Root from Saltyshores had to be at the airport.

After a big hearty breakfast at Penny’s and picking up our Po Boys for lunch we were off to the Louisiana Marsh. The wind was still honking pretty good but we persevered. Both Derek and Sam got some nice redfish on fly. Sam shot a lot of incredible video and pictures. I’m excited to see how it comes out.

Before it was time to pack it in and get these guys to the airport Derek said he would pole me up the next bay. It didn’t take long to find a victim, at first I thought it was a decent redfish siting on the point. As I fired off the fly a big tail hit the surface, and a couple strips and an enormous Black Drum face engulfed my fly. I think Sam got the bite on video. After that we took some pictures and headed for the barn.

Derek and Sam said the check in at the airport was quick and painless. The next few days it looks like I will have some good weather for my charters.

If you want to hit up some Big Louisiana redfish call me, the fishing will continue to get bigger and better for the next few months and I still have some openings.

Fishing the Louisiana Marsh

Started the day off catching a few reds on jig.

BoldWater gets a nice redfish on Fly.

Sam Root gets a good redfish on fly

Louisiana redfish

My 40 pound black drum on fly

A couple celebratory beers and we are off!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.