Louisiana Redfish and Black Drum

[FISHEYE]

Friend Vernon P. from Mississippi and I met in New Orleans and travelled south to fish with Capt Rich Waldner for 6 days last week. It was not the ideal time due to the tides and moon, but I needed to go somewhere warm and sunny and Vernon needed a few days to recover from his trip to New Zealand. He was there in Christchurch during the big quake. We stayed in Belle Chasse and drove down to Rich in Port Sulphur each day. Rich is a retired Marine Colonel and fighter pilot, a real nice guy and the hardest charger I have ever met. He really knows the waters on the delta and I doubt we would have done as well as we did without him. We fished 10 hour days and Rich poled all day except when we moved to a new spot. Rich fishes a Dolphin flats skiff and we could get into just a few inches of water. One day we fished in 30 to 35 mph winds and while it was one of the most brutal days I have ever flyfished, we still caught a few redfish. The turbid river water and wind whipped water maked seeing fish difficult but we did catch fish every day. The biggest reds of the trip were both 10 pounds. Most of the rest were around 5-8. Almost all of the reds were caught on the Waldner spoon fly. It works extremely well for redfish. I think the highlight of the trip for both Vernon and I was the last 2 days when we found a bunch of feeding black drum. We saw maybe 50, cast to 30 and caught 6. Rich says they can be extremely finicky but these fish were feeding and all ate Rich's terminator crab in LSU colors. We started small and worked our way up with fish of 21, 25, 28, 34, 40 and 42 pounds. All fish were caught on 8wt rods and were not easy to get to the boat. They are like pulling on big buckets which occassionally take off. We are looking forward to another trip with Rich in December when the big bull reds are around and the water clears.

Spoon fly at work:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/x_Waldner_Spoon_Fly.jpg

Spoon fly extraction:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/x_Waldner_Spoon.jpg

Vernon w/ a 40# black drum:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/x_VernonP_40pound_redfish.jpg

Vernon and 10 pound redfish:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/x_VernonP_10pound_redfish.jpg

Rich Waldner, Marine fighter pilot, guide and nice guy:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/x_Rich_Waldner.jpg

Poling:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/x_Rich_poling.jpg

Spots:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/x_multiple_spots.jpg

Me with a 42 pound black drum. Ugly, slimy and lots of fun on an 8wt:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/x_42pound_blackdrum.jpg

10.5 pound redfish:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/x_10pound_redfish.jpg

[Darian]

WOW!!! Good lookin' Redfish!!! Love those spots. Those Black Drum are really large. I thought they fought better than how you describe them but it still must've been tough to turn one around if it decided to go somewhere else....

Great trip!!! I've gotta make some time to get down there.... :D :D

[FISHEYE]

Darian, those black drum were caught in very shallow water (less than 1 foot) on 8wts and they are a b*$#h to get in. They pull and pull and pull but they are not the fighters and jumpers that so many other fish are. Maybe if the water was deeper it would be impossible to pull them up with an 8wt. That being said, the 42 pound fish was the biggest I have ever caught on an 8 wt. I think that goes for Vernon too. They are really fun fish. You get the crab in front and just do a really slow strip. They don't whack the fly but the line just comes tight and the fight is on. They are hard to turn around and you really just end up trying to pull them backwards. I kept telling Rich he needed a bigger net.

The redfish fight really nice and the big bulls would be a blast on an 8wt.

[Darian]

Must be like trying to turn a bus around with a fly rod. :nod: I have some good 8 weight rods but am wondering if you would recommend a fast or medium action rod for that fishery :?:

[FISHEYE]

I was using an Xi3 and Vernon had a Scott S4. He liked my faster rod better. We were using the rio redfish line.