Jan 21st January 21
John and I recently had the opportunity to chase the big redfish that call the marsh of Mississippi and Louisiana home. We flew into New Orleans on the evening of the 16th and met Jacob for a three day fishing free for all. The first night we spent in Hattiesburg, MS seeing some of the “institutions” that we have all heard about for the past seven years. We got to bed a little after midnight on the 17th, only to be roused by my alarm going off at 4:30 am. We hooked up the boat and headed to the coast.
We arrived at the ramp at Bayou Caddy, just west of Bay Saint Louis, a little after dawn. We were greeted by a cold breeze and cloudy conditions as we bundled up and headed across Lake Borgne to the eastern margins of the Biloxi Marsh. After a relatively pleasant run, we began checking the satellite chart for likely looking edges and ponds. The persistent cloud cover made the fishing difficult despite the low water of the early incoming tide. Hoping to see pushes and tails in the flat light proved fruitless as the fish were just not active. As we approached the noon hour the sun finally broke through and we were greeted by reds as we worked our way through numerous ponds. Although the big reds alluded us, we managed to connect on several fish in the 10-15 lb range. The window of light proved to be finite and the last couple of hours were spent poling good looking water to no avail. The three of us also failed to realize that the wind had slowly gained steam and the run back to the ramp was uncomfortably memorable. The trip across Lake Borgne in a steep chop convinced us that fishing out of Hopedale, LA might be a smarter option for friday the 18th.
Despite a weather forecast calling for increasing winds and heavy cloud cover, we awoke early Friday morning and left the hotel just east of New Orleans in the predawn darkness. After a breakfast to go at a McDonald’s in Chalmette that redefined the term “fast food”, we headed down the road to Hopedale. As we made the run toward the edges of the marsh adjacent to the Gulf, the sun began to break through the soup and our spirits were lifted by the prospect of getting some light. Our first stop provided us with a number of shots at fish cruising and laid up. The fish were active and greedily pounced on the flies. We caught several nice fish, but the big ones still proved elusive. We fished the edges of the marsh and open ponds in hopes that we might find the bigger fish that we desperately desired. Around noon the wind picked up to an honest 25 knots, but the sun continued to shine. We found a clean edge adjacent to deeper water where Jacob spotted a nice red laying in a couple of feet of water. His cast landed right and the fish grabbed the fly. The fish, around 20lbs, headed up wind. As John futilely tried to chase, he spotted another fish even bigger up wind. I stripped some line off and made a couple of casts not getting the fly in the zone and the fish slid out of view. We landed Jacob’s fish, the biggest of the trip, just as the clouds rolled in, it was the last time that we would see the sun. After trying edges in hopes that the sun would reappear we gave up the ghost and headed for the ramp feeling satisfied and proud of ourselves at the good fishing we had.
Saturday morning came with high winds, rain storms and temperatures hovering around 40 degrees. We sat in the hotel room hoping the weather would break, but it was not to be. Saturday would not be spent fishing, instead we headed to New Orleans grabbed some sandwiches at Johnny’s Po-Boys and spent what seemed like hours at Louis Armstrong airport not looking forward to returning to Miami and leaving a place that we are all beginning to love.
Despite our inexperience in the area we managed to find a good number of fish, catch some and learn a lot about navigating what to us looks like a foreign landscape. We caught a decent number of fish ranging from 10-20 lbs, at one point having a triple header. The Mississippi River Delta is one of the most amazing fisheries in the country - the amount of bird life, the beauty of the marsh and the abundance of redfish and black drum makes it an uncomparable place. John and I are counting the days until we can return.
Drew