The Secret Spot

Almost two years ago, I paddled into a tough-to-access local bayou and caught my first sight-fished marsh redfish in what became the original "secret spot". Due to its difficult entrance and the success I've been having in other locations, I hadn't paid a visit to the secret spot this year since early spring. I was even beginning to wonder if the "secret spot" was really that special or if I'd just been oblivious to the quality of redfishing all along the coast.

This weekend I finally made my way back. The "secret spot" did not disappoint. From the hours of 7 am to 11 am, I was absolutely surrounded by redfish. I cannot believe how many shots I had. There was a period of about an hour where I poled up a narrow branch of the bayou and spotted redfish literally every 15 yards. Some were cruising down with the tide, periodically crashing bait at the edge of the grass. Others were laid up on the edge of the channel, heads pointed into the current. It was nonstop action.

I had 6 eats and landed 4 on the day. Given how many fish I saw, I could have done a lot better. My conversion rate was abysmal. The great thing about having like 500 chances at fish in one day is that you learn a ton. It was like a whole season of fishing packed into one day. 

Why so crabby?

My main excuse is that I was fishing solo from the skiff today. I fish for reds three different ways: kayak, two people in the boat, or alone in the boat. Having owned the skiff since March, I've learned that at my current skill level, it is easier to catch redfish from the kayak than from the boat. The biggest reason is that they simply spook much faster when you're in a boat. That's assuming there is a person poling and a person fishing in the boat. When its only you, it gets even harder. This was actually the first time I've managed to land a red in the boat by myself.

Poling from the bow is the best option when going solo

One of my big lessons from the day is about fishing in current. As I described earlier, I found a lot of redfish while poling up a narrow branch. The branch had a very defined channel (~3 - 4 ft deep) and shallow edges, with most of the redfish being spotted in the shallows right next to the drop off. The current was ripping through the channel, and I was usually trying to cast my crab fly from one side to the other. Many times, I cast the crab fly within a foot or two of the fish. As the fish turned to make a move on the fly, the fly would get pulled into the current. Instead of chasing it down, the fish would nonchalantly disappear into the depths as if they were able to sense something was amiss. I'm not sure what the takeaway is here. I didn't really solve the problem - I actually caught most of my fish in areas where the narrow branch opened up into a wide marsh pond. My ideas are casting further into the shallows, using a heavier fly, or using a minnow imitation which might look more natural swimming in the current. 

Overall, it was still a wildly successful day in my opinion. The best development is that most of the fish I spotted were not breaching the surface in any way, which I depend on when kayak fishing. Instead, I was able to take advantage of the height of the boat and spot fish in the relatively clear water that can generally be found in the Mississippi marsh for the next few months. Its going to be a good winter.

Fishing Guide

Things haven't exactly been busy over here at Michissippi Fly, but I've been fairly busy in the real world. I got to play fishing guide last weekend to three good friends who visited with fishing on their minds. My goal was to get everyone to successfully sightfish a red. I was optimistic as Aaron has been killing it lately (and making some pretty sweet videos), and I had caught a few the previous weekend. But if I learned one thing, it's that being a fishing guide is tough. We didn't strike out, but our fish per hour rate was pretty poor. Instead of boring you with a detailed report, I'll just throw some pictures at you.

Check out the spots on this guy

Best fish of the weekend

Solo scouting trip

What a fatty

To be caught again...

An Evening Out

Its the wonderful time of year when as long as the tide isn't too high, you can successfully sightfish for reds pretty much every morning and evening if you look in the right places. I haven't been taking advantage of that as much as I'd like for one reason or another, but I did manage to take my friend Jason out on the boat recently after work. We headed into the Pascagoula River Marsh around 4:30 pm and immediately found redfish making wakes.

Why are you taking a picture of such a small fish?

Jason used a spinning rod, and it allowed me to really see the pros and cons of redfishing with a spinning rod vs a fly rod. There are a few obvious advantages to the spin fisher, particularly ease of fishing deep, and ease of casting. One fairly obvious fly rodding advantage is the fact that flies land more gently on the water, preventing fish from spooking. But the main fly rodding advantage that I finally realized on this trip is that a fly fisher can pick up a cast and immediately make another when necessary, but a spin fisher has to reel all the way in first. This was a big one on the day because Jason did a fair amount of blind casting (which was somewhat successful), and I kept calling out fish locations, expecting an immediate response from him, but forgetting that he had to reel in first. In sightfishing, it is sometimes crucially important to get a cast out quickly, particularly if the fish is close to the boat or moving toward the boat with pace.

Plans almost derailed by this thunderstorm

It was a different day than what I was used to, but still successful. We pulled a few fish out of the channels and a few off of mud flats that we knew held a fish or two but couldn't pin point their exact location. We found several crawlers, and Jason had 2 nice fish follow his jig up to the boat, but we couldn't seal the deal. I was disappointed about that, but overall I was glad we caught fish and glad we got to see some redfish doing their thing.

Another conclusion I drew from this trip is that sightfishing weeds out the little ones. Most of the fish I usually catch are in the low 20's (inches), but these were much smaller. I guess it makes sense that the big ones make the most commotion and therefore are easier to sightfish.

On a side note, Aaron was fishing out of his kayak in the same area, and it was fun to have all of us in the marsh at the same time. He one-upped Jason and me and found the biggest redfish of the evening.

It's On

Remember that post I made a month ago about how the redfishing was going to turn on any day?  Well that day has passed us. It's on.

Aaron and I took off after work last week for a little redfishing in the vast Pascagoula River Marsh. We weren't sure what to expect as it is an area we had only explored briefly before. Almost within sight of the launch I cast at the first fishy looking disturbance. Immediately a redfish blew up on the fly, managing to avoid getting hooked. After that, we knew it was going to be a good day.

Over the course of the first hour as we poled through a deep channel with shallow edges. The fish were there, but they kept popping up out of the channel only to disappear again when we approached. It was tough, but things would get better.

We moved on to a spot that looked extremely promising on satellite images. It was awesome. There were redfish in every direction. It was literally a matter of picking which one to go after.

In total we had 6 or 7 eats, with 5 hooked and 3 landed. With the number of fish targeted, we didn't have a great success rate, but I think we are still figuring out the differences between fishing from a flats boat vs. from a kayak. For one, with the high profile, the fish spook much more easily, so you have to stay further away and make longer casts from the boat. We spooked a lot of fish by getting too close. But overall it was an awesome, action packed day, no matter how many fish were landed.

If you live on the Gulf Coast, its time to get out there!

Release...

...and looking for the next one!

First Connection

Aaron and I got out on the boat after this work last week and finally christened it with its first fish. I've owned the boat since March, but in my defense, I would say this was just its second serious fishing outing. And to end another poor streak, I caught my first redfish since December! Yikes...

It felt great to hook up with a redfish again.  Its pure magic when you first feel the line go taut upon strip setting. For that moment when the rod is pointed straight and the fish is trying to figure out what is going on, you are literally playing tug of war, the line in your left hand. In this moment when the fish first feels the tug, the whole scene changes. I have an image in my mind of a back and tail breaching the water and showing the first signs of alarm, writhing for just a second before taking off on a run. This is the image that is seared into my mind. Not the cast, or the eat, or the fight, or the grab of the tail - although those are all good moments. The first connection is what really sticks.

Enough waxing poetically, here's the fishing report. Aaron and I poled around seeing limited signs of fish for about an hour before we finally saw an obvious crawler with Aaron on the poling platform and me on the bow.  It took me two or three fairly long casts to get it within the strike zone.

No visibility...

We switched up regularly and after moving to a nearby bayou, Aaron hooked up casting after a swirl in the channel.

Stylin'

We switched again and I had another really great chance at a crawler.  My first cast was about four feet to his left, and he ignored it.  Coming straight toward me at some speed, I struggled to strip in enough line and make an accurate shorter cast, and he escaped to deeper water. I am realizing that it is much more difficult to catch a fish coming straight toward you versus one that is swimming across your view.

Just a few moments later I hooked up with another red by blind casting into a channel, but he got off after a brief battle.

It was a beautiful evening on the bayou with plenty of action to keep us entertained. Looking forward to many more like this.

B O A T

After 2 years on my kayak, I finally upgraded to a boat.  I perused microskiff.com for months until this guy popped up and I jumped on it, picking it up last weekend.

It's a mere 14 ft long (that's actually shorter than my kayak!) and should only draft a few inches so I'm going to be fishing in similar places as my kayak, but I see several large benefits.

• I'll be able to spend more time fishing instead of spending half my time paddling to spots. 
• I'll be able to take someone with me and guide them onto fish.  
• I'm really hoping the higher vantage point will help me spot fish, particularly in the cold months when the fish aren't so active.
• Sitting in a kayak for hours gets really uncomfortable.

Pretty much it's going to be a redfish machine.

Took it out briefly this past week and practiced poling, which by the way takes some getting used to.  Its slightly counter intuitive.  Next time I go out I'll take some better pictures, hopefully some fish as well.