34 pounder "Swamp thing"

Nice face shot of 21 pound redfish

This week I fished Doug Brady of flytreks.com a Belize fly guide. The sight fishing conditions were poor to say the least. Smaller fish in inches of water were tough to spot. The big boys were almost impossible to see more than a few yards from the boat. I split my time on searching the shallows and the deep holes in an attempt to keep things interesting in the Biloxi marsh. Bobby and Doug were both fine casters. I had a strong feeling if a fish made a mistake these boys would take full advantage of the situation.

Bobby's first bull redfish

We landed a few nice fish but nothing to tell your mother about. A small window of opportunity came when the cloud cover that plagued us all day gave way. A nice fish emerged from the dark tinted water. As I guessed earlier Bobby made a fine cast and the fish ate. I was relived to no end because these boys had made a long trip to find some bull redfish. I had forgotten my camera in the Bronco so we used their i-phones to snap a few pictures.

The day wore on and was about to come to a close. I decided to check one more pocket. The casters changed positions and Bobby was back in the Octagon. He spotted a marsh monster in almost no water. Bobby made the cast and the big bull red must have seen the fly in the air. The fish ate as soon as the Magic Mohawk fly hit the surface.

The bull redfish powered out of the shallows and went straight into deep water. Bobby's neon orange backing was out about 20 yards. The fish drug the boat around for about twenty minuets when Bobby asked "Will this fish ever tire and come into the boat." I had no real answer for the frustrated angler. I concentrated on keeping him in good spirts mentally. After the first hour it was apparent Bobby was getting pissed. Doug was feeding him beer and talking smack. I kept reminding Bobby this is exactly what you wanted back at breakfast. Bobby did not want to hear any of it. The rain began to fall the bugs came out and it was getting dark.

After two hours Bobby was obviously ready to give up. He wanted nothing more than an end to this epic battle. I decided to stop fighting the fish in deep water and allowed the boat to drift back into the shallow bank. We had been drug over 3/4 a mile and enough was enough. The tactic worked and I saw the fish nick named swamp thing. It was huge but not record class. I grabbed above the tail which is almost like a handle on big redfish. I knew Bobby's arms were sore so I handled the 34 pound bull redfish for the pictures. Unfortunately all batteries were dead in both i-phones. Doug attempted to use his new Go-Pro but did not know how to turn on the camera. To this day I still do not know if there is any footage of this battle.

Captain John Iverson