Louisiana Fly Fishing
Great day on the water with Capt. Rich Waldner and BILL STRIKE from Ft. Walton Beach, FL.
We launched at the boat club in Port Sulphur and made our way south with a light variable breeze coupled with brilliant sunshine -- a fly fishers delight!
As we left the launch, birds were diving on shrimp. We could have stopped and caught plenty of specks just minutes from the launch, but we trekked on in search of clean, skinny water and cruising redfish.
When we stoppped in the marsh near Grand Bayou, Bill took the first up and we were quickly seeing fish cruising and then a big school spooked and scattered, so we cranked up and headed further south.
At our next stop near the beach, there were plenty of fish working but none were intgerested in eating. It seems the ful moon and lack of tide movement had put them in a non feeding mood. I decided a walk on the beach might pass the time until the fish turned on, so I jumped out onto the sand bar and bid the guys goodbye.
"We'll be back in 45-minutes so be ready because the tide is falling fast and we won't be able to get back to you," Capt. Rich said.
About 90 minutes passed, my throat was getting dry as I didn't think to take a bottle of water with me, the deer flies were tearing me and like Tom Hanks in the movie "Castaway" I passed the time with "Wilson" a basketball that I found washed ashore :)
FINALLY the guys came back to pick me up, I left "Wilson" alone on the beach and waded out to the boat with my bucket of shells I collected along the GI beach. Rich and Bill were excited to share with me that they had seen probably 35 fish but NONE of them would EAT!!
Rich poled the boat back to a little cove where they had spotted a number of fish. It was my turn, and I jumped up on the casting platform determined that I would MAKE them eat! A couple of casts later at 1:00 p.m. I hooked a nine pounder on a purple Waldner spoon fly.. WOO HOO!
Bill got up and quickly followed my fish with a good black drum, and then a 14-pound redfish both of which fell to a charteuse Waldner spoon fly.
My largest fish of the day was a 16-pound black drum which gave me a good fight. Drum are funny...sometimes they ignore the fly, then it is as if someone flipped a switch and they become fierce feeders.
On the way back, we took 15 minutes at sundown to catch and release about 30 speckled trout using Waldner Mardi Gras Mamma and a clouser pattern that Bill tied. No big fish, but they sure did hit hard!
If fly fishing is your game, you owe it to yourself to sample fishing the Louisiana marshes and barrier islands for redfish, black drum, sheepshead and speckled trout.
Give me a call and I'll schedule your trip on a first class flats skiff with one of the top fly fishing guides in the area.
'FISH LOUISIANA - WHERE THE FISH ARE!! '
REEL LOUISIANA ADVENTURES ~ 504-329-7335 ~ SUSAN GROS
