Hey guys -

Just back from Lake Laurier in extreme SE Louisiana.  I went down to speak to the Red Stick Fly Fishers in Baton Rouge, and Glen Cormier was nice enough to take me out today.  As you can see, it did not suck.  These were my first redfish.

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Got started before dawn on the marsh.

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Here was the first fish.  All the reds I landed (three) were between seven and a half and eight and a half pounds.

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I hooked and fought a couple more but didn't get a hard enough hookset; I also missed several strikes blind-casting early on.  Glen certainly put me on plenty of fish.


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The spoon we used is Glen Courmier's invention; he calls it the Coma Spoon.  It's much longer and narrower than most spoon flies I've seen.  It sinks without weight, and he actually puts a slight corkscrew twist into the mylar before the epoxy is 100% set.  The fly has both five minute and two-ton epoxy and it was really, really effective.

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Sheepshead!  These guys ate spoon flies too, but you had to work them very, very slowly.  I had a bunch chase all the way to the boat.  The biggest one I hooked was probably the size of a dinner plate; he ate when I quit stripping and the spoon "dove for the mud."  Only problem is these fish have incredibly hard mouths so even though I set and fought the fish for a minute or so, I doubt the hook point ever really went all the way in.

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Probably the coolest thing that happened all day was when Glen slowly paddled me around a little point of spartina grass.  There was a cove in the grass sloping up to about 3" deep, and I could see a large red in there killing baitfish (it was probably between 8 and 10 pounds judging by the other fish I caught).  I casted into the turmoil with the spoon and the fish immediately freaked out.  I was certain I'd spooked it with too close a cast, so I stripped out as fast as I could to shoot again.  That redfish was not spooked. It was trying to kill my spoon.  It pushed a wake as it bulldogged out of that cove and just hammered me.  I had just finished a strip, so when I set I screwed it up and did the trout thing and yanked my rod to the side.  Bad idea.  Short fight then he was gone but I will never forget seeing that fish barrel toward the canoe, only 30' or so away.

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Pretty sweet, huh?

Zach

That is a very nice report.  Thanks, I needed that this morning.

Both, Tim, but I was missing lots of strikes when I was seated that I should not have been missing.  I'm not as comfortable when my range of motion is that limited, especially on the strip strike.  I kept hitting myself in the jacket when I tried to strike.

Incidentally, I have that exact same canoe, but I haven't used mine yet.  It's a shorter Old Town Guide (14'7" I believe).  Standing in the cockpit is dicey but you can put your feet down right behind the front seat; I'm going to put some non-slip tape in my boat right there.

Zach

Sometimes I'll sit on my knees in the front seat of a canoe to give me enough height to see the fish and strike effectively, but still have some stability.  It hurts after an hour or so though.

The marsh is a magical place.  Too bad it's disappearing faster than it can recover.  

Glad you finally got your redfish.  I'm a redfish finatic.  I'd rather catch a big red than just about anything else.

Oh and let me also say, trying to get grip and grin shots from a 14' canoe is one of the most difficult photographic environments I've ever been in.  I really appreciate Glen's patience and help in pulling it off to the extent we did.  It is rare to find someone who is so willing and able to help with fish photography.

Zach

Bob -

I hooked two; all I did was slow down the spoon to a bare minimum.  Like I said, though, that spoon is a bit unconventional.  Glad to know its a rarity; now I wish I'd landed the bigger one.

Zach

Quote:


Zach, just wanted to say I had as much fun push-poling you around as you did catching fish!    For any of you who have ever been around Zach, he's a great guy to hang with... learned as much from him as he learned from a raised-on-the-bayou Cajun like myself!  The trip itself was about as good as we could've asked for considering the severity of the winter we've had.

As for the canoe... mine was one of the very first OT Guides off the production line.  I've put it thru hell (dragged over rocks, fell off the top of my Jeep - that's when I switched from foam blocks to Yakima, scratched over oyster reefs from Aransas to Chocoloskee, etc.) and it's still in one piece.  PE material is the reason.  I often stand up and push pole (Stiffy canoe pole) and the caster seated, but sometimes like yesterday, I sit and pole with the paddle and the caster (in this case, Zach) stands.  The reason for the "diceyness" was mud on Crocs.  Usually we launch off shells or rock, but yesterday tide was soooo low it was down to the mud.  

This is a great recommendation, Zach.  I was wondering if that "textered grip" paint might work better than the stick-on grips.  Nothing really sticks to a PE boat, e.g., kayak, unless you give it the Corona treatment.  That's what I had to do to prep for my skid plates.  I'm going to do some research and find out.  Let y'all know.

FYI... Zach  saved the day for one of our presentations on kayak fishing and locations when he was able to utilize Google Earth on his laptop.  That's the reason God granted him some big reds on Sunday!

Catch -

There's an epoxy that will bond to polyethylene boats called "G/Flex," made by West Systems.  It's not cheap but it works very well.  You can then bond whatever you want to a coating of that epoxy.  I repaired an older PE Old Town Discovery using a combination of G/Flex and regular urethane marine epoxy (we extended the skid guards to "patch" the underside of the boat beneath each cockpit; my boat was breaking down from UV exposure.

For inside the boat applications, I've had light stuff like pads stick to the PE inner coating pretty well with no prep.  If you were to wipe with acetone, then blush the section lightly with a propane torch (just waft it back and forth lightly until the exterior coating "fades" a bit), then I bet you could get a semi-permanent bond for anything as lightweight as a sheet of grippy tape (or just cut wet-dry sandpaper to the shape you want and glue it in there).

Zach

Cool beans, man. You were in good hands with the Catchmeister! Glen is quite the fisherman, and a hoot to hang with, too.
Wish I coulda come down to visit with you two, but was all tied up this weekend doing some stream fishing in the opposite direction, for naught, too. You guys did much better.
Come on back now one day, hear?

Hey Zach, that propane torch treatment is what is referred to as the "Corona Treatment" and it does work!  I did learn the hard way to let the acetone dry before you apply the torch.       I'll have to check out that G/Flex.

JT, there are a couple of kayak fishing rentals in the Grand Isle area. And I think one now somewhere in east New Orleans (Bayou Bienveneu).  You can find out specifically by going to Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or and doing a search. That's the local kayak fishing club I belong to... the topic has been raised there several times before.

The cost will certainly be cheaper than a guided trip, but consider there's a trade-off. As Zach can testify, even with an "expert" like myself, there's an adjustment period when chasing a new species (no different than on my first guided bonefish trip... even with redfish experience it took me 2 hours before I finally got it down pat and brought one to the boat!)  So between that and weather, allow yourself two days of kayak fishing.  An alternative might be to do a guided kayak trip.  These are usually half the cost of a boat guided trip, and you get the benefit of an experienced guide who can put you on fish and show you the ropes, as they say.