Keith Lusher One of the great things about being a sportsman in South Louisiana is the options we have as far as being able to go hunting or fishing. Chuck Miller of New Orleans decided to enjoy the best of both worlds. His target was the East Pearl River, He paddled his Hobie Outback Kayak into a flooded area near a duck pond. Chuck says it was easy to maneuver through the weeds because of the high water due to the recent rains. He positioned his decoys nearby and settled in. It was a mild morning for this time of the year and there wasn’t a breeze that morning which brought out the gnats. “The first a pair of wood ducks swooped in on me the instant I had to scratch some gnats so I ‘waived’ them goodbye,” Miller says. The hunter had two more chances at a kill but the birds weren’t cooperating this morning.
Chuck decided to put away the shotgun and pick up his fly-rod. He paddled over to an area that he’s had success before catching striped bass. “I rigged up my 4 weight fly rod with a chartreuse and white Clouser minnow. I marked lots of larger fish along the deep bayou that was 12-15 feat deep,” he says. Miller couldn’t manage any fish in the deep area. “I worked the Clouser minnow slowly with short strips, big hops, and other retrieves but couldn’t get a strike,” he says. Then he spotted a shallower area with moving water. That’s were Chuck had his first hit. He put a 1.5 lb. striped bass in his kayak and caught 5 more in that spot. All the fish were in the 1.5 lb. to 3.5 lb. range. Some of the larger fish that he caught had broken stripes indicating that they were hybrid striped bass. Miller says that the striped bass saved the day and a it was a bonus to be able to catch them on a fly-rod. “They sure are fun to catch on light tackle!” he adds.
Rigolets Bass and Reds
Chuck decided to put away the shotgun and pick up his fly-rod. He paddled over to an area that he’s had success before catching striped bass. “I rigged up my 4 weight fly rod with a chartreuse and white Clouser minnow. I marked lots of larger fish along the deep bayou that was 12-15 feat deep,” he says. Miller couldn’t manage any fish in the deep area. “I worked the Clouser minnow slowly with short strips, big hops, and other retrieves but couldn’t get a strike,” he says. Then he spotted a shallower area with moving water. That’s were Chuck had his first hit. He put a 1.5 lb. striped bass in his kayak and caught 5 more in that spot. All the fish were in the 1.5 lb. to 3.5 lb. range. Some of the larger fish that he caught had broken stripes indicating that they were hybrid striped bass. Miller says that the striped bass saved the day and a it was a bonus to be able to catch them on a fly-rod. “They sure are fun to catch on light tackle!” he adds.
Rigolets Bass and Reds
Phil Plaisance cleaning fish before the fish fry Phil Plaisance and his son Cain of Covington made a trip to the Rigolets to try and catch speckled trout and redfish. They were armed with live shrimp and decided to try a pond located off the main canal. “We stopped at the first pond on the left in the Rigolets and basically fished 20’ out from the bank,” Phil says. The father-son team started catching immediately using live shrimp under a cork and sparkle beetles. Phil says they caught all the bass they wanted and had to weed through the rat reds but managed to put together a limit of redfish. The cold front that had just past brought a wave of cold air the day before but Phil says it wasn’t too bad. “It was cold at first but once the sun came out it got comfortable. It ended up being a fun day!”
Chalmette Wall
Randy Foto and some friends made a long run from his camp on Bayou Lacombe to the Chalmette Wall. They had a live well full of live shrimp and had plans to catch speckled trout at the Wall but trout were hard to come by. They spotted a boat catching one redfish after another at the left side of the rocks near the junction of the ICW and MRGO. “After patiently waiting for the friendly sportsman to catch his limit of reds he let us into the spot and it was on!” says Randy. The friends caught 20 redfish all on artificial lures. Randy says they were hitting anything with chartreuse in it. After catching their limit they worked their way back down the ICW with live shrimp but all they could manage was a speckled trout and a bass. Foto returned from the trip and decided turn some of the redfish into a homemade dip for the holidays. “I made a pecan smoked rosemary and garlic redfish dip. Gotta love Southern Louisiana,” he adds.
Chalmette Wall
Randy Foto and some friends made a long run from his camp on Bayou Lacombe to the Chalmette Wall. They had a live well full of live shrimp and had plans to catch speckled trout at the Wall but trout were hard to come by. They spotted a boat catching one redfish after another at the left side of the rocks near the junction of the ICW and MRGO. “After patiently waiting for the friendly sportsman to catch his limit of reds he let us into the spot and it was on!” says Randy. The friends caught 20 redfish all on artificial lures. Randy says they were hitting anything with chartreuse in it. After catching their limit they worked their way back down the ICW with live shrimp but all they could manage was a speckled trout and a bass. Foto returned from the trip and decided turn some of the redfish into a homemade dip for the holidays. “I made a pecan smoked rosemary and garlic redfish dip. Gotta love Southern Louisiana,” he adds.
Ed Phillipe, Stephen Ferrera, Randy Foto, and Eddie Expisito
