Saturday, August 31, 2013

Fly guides attack 2

Recently the weather broke into a pattern favorable for sight fishing. Another guide and I decided to head out and film our antics. The afternoon fishing slot yields the best tides. I would leave the house between 9 and 10 am for some excellent sight fishing conditions.

 The Biloxi Marsh did not disappoint. Giant redfish crawled all over the deep water banks. If the water level was low enough to get out of the marsh grass the bite was on. Monster reds hug these banks looking for prey. These fish are Easy to spot and very aggressive.

The schools of Jack Cravelle are also on the move. Open water feeders these guys can be seen at distance. Hoards of these 20 to 30 pound fish rip and slash at schools of bait fish. If you can find the bait you can find the big redfish and the jacks without too much trouble.                                     


When Fly Guides Attack episode 2
https://vimeo.com/73497047

Friday, August 23, 2013

Cajun carp on the fly

I need practice with my GoPro camera so I walked some of the canals by my house for carp. This video I made for fun. I hope you find it amusing.

Cajun carp on the fly
https://vimeo.com/72773800 1:45

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

A Good day


I took Kyle from Uptown Angler fly shop in New Orleans fly fishing. The morning started out slow with water 6-8 inches into the marsh grass. Louisiana redfish hate high water so they sit on the bottom and don't move. This is obviously a real problem for sight fishing. We busted fish out of their hibernation state only to see their wakes running from the boat. About 10:30 the slack tide began to move a little and so did the fish. Redfish, sharks, and Black drum became more active. Kyle caught a few reds and this large black drum in the pictures. We did not see a lot of fish but some we did see were monsters.
 
This was Kyle's first time saltwater fly fishing and he did quite well spotting the fish. Although not plentiful, shots were becoming more frequent. Kyle had other engagements and a thunderstorm arose between the boat and the dock. I turned the boat Southwest and skirted the storm for the run home.  I basically considered the day a failure. Upon returning to the dock I realized Kyle was grinning the whole time. He had thoroughly enjoyed his first outing and just casting at one bull red crashing a bank 40 feet from the boat was plenty of excitement for him. (I missed getting this on video of coarse.)   
 

I had lost perspective. The client was happy. We did not get drenched running home. He was about to take his son to play football.  Kyle landed 3 reds and a big black on his first outing. He had a good day and that's what matters.
  

 

Friday, August 9, 2013

Giants down under for Michael

 
      
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                        Michael came to New Orleans from Australia to fly fish the world class Louisiana marsh. The winds blew hard that day and a heavy thunderstorm came through the night before. This clouded the water which caused us to see less fish than usual. The redfish we did see were of tremendous quality. The big boys were tucked up tight on the rare  to find calm banks.                                                                                                                     
 
Black drum were fairly abundant. These fish are not my favorite species. They are a nasty beast, however they are huge and should be included on any fly fisherman's bucket list. All my clients enjoy casting at those massive tails flailing in the breeze.

Michael lives in North Australia near the under developed giant bonefish area. He explained the routine for their the big bones. From his accounts the fish are larger but wade fishing the Bahamas is much more fun. Most cast he explained are at flashes 15 feet deep. No tails and no wakes just deep bonefish. 

To see Michael's video (Giants Down Under)
go to:       https://vimeo.com/71917237


Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Wolfgang's day Flyfishing for redfish

Wolfgang and I had a very civilized day on the water. Low winds and sparse cloud cover made for easy fishing. The entire South end of the Eastern Biloxi marsh is absolutely loaded with redfish. Any shallow pond that contains oyster reefs has tons of potential for active redfish and massive black drum.
Wolfgang was admittedly over excited when we began to spot fish. As the number of shots piled up he became calmer. The fish were not supper aggressive on this particular day. Fly placement was definitely key to getting the strikes he craved. Once over the hump of the learning curve fish started coming into the boat.   


 
Watch Wolfgangs video entitled
Germany at 
 


Friday, August 2, 2013

When Fly Guides Attack

 
 
Drew and Brittney booked their half day of Louisiana sightfishig. The Biloxi marsh's shallow oyster flats are literally teaming with redfish. Multiple shots are around every corner. It is actually hard to explain the abundance of fish. I cant seem to stop anywhere without seeing nested up crawlers and wakes. The fishing is so amazing I feel like a giant among men as I run my skiff to the outside islands. Seeing 100+ fish in a few hours does not last forever. There are even some pigs in the 20+ pound range guarding the openings of the banks. Eventually the tides will turn slack and the fish will become more scarce. When this happens a good guide is your best defense. If you ever wanted to try this sport now, I mean right now, is the perfect time. Fly fishing does not get easier than this.

 
Brittney never held a fly rod before today. She landed 4 nice reds and had one break off.
See her video at https://vimeo.com/71387842










Rocky and I hooked up to make a video of the massive numbers of redfish. We searched for some donkey's (20+ lbs) for a while to no avail. Plan B was put into effect so we headed east of the MRGO.  
Once again every hole was alive with bait and redfish. We managed the holes by staying back from their nest. This allowed us to pull multiple fish from each spot. Check out this video, it rocks.

When Fly Guides Attack:
 https://vimeo.com/71555288