One Fish, Two Fish, Redfish, Bayoufish

A few weeks back I was invited to join my uncle on a fishing trip to Louisiana. Oftentimes when I think of Louisiana, I think of New Orleans, Mardi Gras, those darn Saints, and the deep south.  But this was not your normal fishing trip and certainly not in your normal Louisiana.

When I have planned and gone on fishing trips in the past, my goal is to travel outside of my comfort zone for an opportunity at an abundance of fish or species I can’t get at home in the Bay Area.

In the month before the trip I called it a “Redfish trip”, assuming we were targeting Redfish. I quickly learned I was sort of right and sort of wrong. Like a lot of species of fish, there are different ‘size classes’ that dictate the rules for keeping certain fish.

For Redfish there are three sizes; Rats, Slots, and Drum. 

Rat Reds are the smallest and youngest, and are ranked up to 16”. Slot Reds are more mature, ranging from 16”-27”, and are in the legal size ‘slot’ to be kept and eaten. 

Rat Redfish are Redfish under 16”

Slot Redfish are up to 27”

The largest, oldest, and most mature redfish are called Red Drums.  The trophy Redfish, the monsters, the stuff of legends... It was this last class of fish that we were targeting for the majority of this trip.  These bad boys start measuring at around 27” and can get all the way up to 50”+.

I connected with my uncle at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and we started to chat about what the week would have in store. As I deplaned and finally pulled up my maps to see where we were going, my pre-trip expectations and excitement were at an all time high. 

Nothing like a week of eating only Cajun!

We got in our rental car and promptly drove AWAY from New Orleans...in the rearview mirror, I saw my dreams of beads and beignets, piano bars and pimm’s cups fade away. We were headed to the bayou! 

X marks the spot. The southern bayou was the turf, mere miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

45 minutes from the airport is a town called Houma. 45 minutes from Houma, in the bayou, is a ‘town’ called Cocodrie.  And when I say town, it's more of a strip of road/highway in the middle of the Bayou.  This is where we met the guide Captain Ben Cooley of Muckin Marauders Fly Fishing to venture an hour south, just miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

It was here in the southern heart of the Louisiana bayou that our hunt began. The Louisiana Bayou is essentially the Mississippi delta, and much like the delta in the Bay Area, it is a marshy tidal wetlands. It’s made up of 35,000 miles of land, spreading from the southern side of Texas all the way to Florida.  The bayou is made of countless interconnected channels and shallow lakes that are home to seemingly endless wildlife; Shrimp, Crab, Alligators, Sharks, Frogs, Snakes, Leeches, you name it.

To navigate these waters, we used what is called a flats boat. Flats boats are specifically designed to navigate in shallow water and can ride in water as shallow as 4-7”. The boat is outfitted with a tall tower on the stern (back of boat) for the guide to stand on. The guide on the elevated platform has a better vantage point to cut through the glare and spot the fish. The guide is also equipped with a 20’+ fiberglass pole used to push the boat quietly and slowly through the shallow water. 

Remain steady and ready to cast from the platform on the bow of the boat.

The push pole style is not uncommon in tropical flats fishing, and can be extremely effective for slowly and stealthy sneaking up on fish. With the guide slowly pushing us along the grassy coastline an angler would typically stand on a platform in the bow (front) of the boat. Much like the guides platform, the anglers platform is elevated to give a better vantage point and elevated easier casting. 

While cruising the shoreline it is critical to remain focused and patient. Red Drum are most often found alone. If they hunt and school with others, there is more competition for food. This means you are not looking for schools of fish but rather the orange hue of the back of the fish (often referred to as a pumpkin), a large pointed wake caused by a moving fish, or the subtle waving of a fish’s tail while it is nose deep digging in the mud scrounging around for shrimp or crab. These signs are subtle, few and far between, and take a trained eye to see. While cruising for drum we were visited by a number of other species of fish and aquatic life from Sheephead fish, Black Drum, Sea Turtles, Alligator Gar, and Black Tip Sharks.

On the first day I had just made a few ‘blind’ casts (casting to general areas, not at any seen fish) off the port (left side of the boat). I then cast my line to the starboard (right) side as I scanned the grass for any signs of fish and planned my next cast. 

I stripped in some line and before I knew it, BANG! 

My line was ripping out of my hands, and in seconds there was a major splash about 30 yards from the boat. 

“Yeaaahhh, that's a Drum”  Captain Cooley says, cooly. 

It screams me into my backing multiple times, before I am able to bring the fish a bit closer to the boat. The fly fishing line I was using was 80’ long.  Attached to the back of the fly line, between the line and the reel, is a thin strong braided rope line called backing. The backing is another 150’+ that you need to use when the fish is ‘running’ away from you. Backing becomes essential when you catch a big *ss fish.

The Captain warns me that redfish often like to dive under the boat for protection and things can quickly get out of hand with the motor and tower in the stern. As he’s saying this, my fish immediately swims directly at the boat, dives down, and swims under the hull to the entire other side of the craft. 

In a split-second heroic effort, I run with a fully bent rod from my platform to the stern, and lay down by the motor.  I shove my arm (rod in hand), under the water so the rod is straight toward the fish. I then carefully lifted the rod from under the engine and back over the push pole platform.  After a hell of a fight, I brought her in and she was a whopping 41.5”!  A very memorable first red drum. 

41.5” Red Drum the fish dreams are made of

I recommend anyone who hasn't been down into the Louisiana Bayou definitely plan a trip into this very special wilderness. It is unlike any other region that I have fished, exposing me to a whole new style of angling, landscape, food, wildlife, and fish that I have never experienced before.