FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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The Wade Right Crew got it done on the Chandeleurs!

I Want to Go Back – Today!

I do not have a freakin’ clue how to adequately tell you how much fun we had.  Other than Tim and Jason from Wade Right I had not met any of the other 7 folks.  Though we just met at the dock Sunday afternoon for the ride out to the Chandeleurs, I now count them all as friends.  It did not take long to learn that they were all accomplished saltwater anglers with tons of experience, and that experience paid off.  A couple have a floating house in the POC area, one a house at Sargent, as a group they have caught a few in their life.

The mother ship’s babies waiting for us to jump in.  Our sleds for the next 3 days.

fishsouthernbelle.com/  – check them out.

The crew loaded our stuff, grabbed 10 pizzas, Captain Howie fired up the big diesels on the Southern Belle, and we were on our way.  We ate and chatted on the 40 mile ride out to the island.  We grabbed our bunks early and headed to bed, for me it was easy to sleep with the steady thumping of the engines.  I was asleep when I heard the captain idle down and put the boat on the hook.  Of course that fishing clock went off in my head as soon as Captain Howie started moving around at 4:30 am to prepare for the day.  I could not have been any more excited!  But first breakfast, the beginning of what would be 3 days of eating some of the best food on the planet, but that is a whole other story.

Fish number 1 on the Whooper Plooper.  My trip was topwater mania!  I can not possibly get all the pictures organized so here they come in no particular order.

Let me get a few house keeping issues out of the way before I forget them.  First, it took me 2 days to get fully with the program.  Why?  Because when I say it was full service that is no exaggeration.  When you fish with the Southern Belle you do nothing. I mean do not take your stuff out of the boat, empty your fish, wash your stuff, do any dishes, clean any fish, in other words get out of their way and sit back and enjoy.  They even ask what do you need in your day cooler, and then they fill it and put it on the boat.  The crew does it all, and I mean freakin’ all of it.  Their whole goal is to provide the trip of a lifetime, and buddy boy they got it done.  They have a system which does not include you getting in the way so sit back and act like a rich guy.  The boats are 12′ skiffs with a 20hp 4 stroke for 2 guys, and they are just fine and easy to use.  I can not recommend Southern Belle any more highly.  You might find a fancier boat but trust me, you will not find a better crew.  As you know I have fished in many places in this world, with many different boats and captains, but these guys are the bomb.  Guess I will quit gushing and get to the fishing!

That is a 300 quart cooler full to the brim!  More on this later.  I took this before they put ice on that days catch, what an average.

We split up in 5 teams of 2 each and our adventure started.  I was paired with Joshua for 3 days, the owner of Marker 54 fishing lures.  (And thanks for running the boat Joshua, felt like I had my own chauffeur.)   He makes a full line of hard and soft shrimp with cool characteristics, and he absolutely slapped the taste out or their mouth on the 3″ Hard Plastic Shrimp under the popping cork.  In one stretch on the beach he caught his personal best red, in fact not 1 but 4 giant bulls.  The fish he found on the beach the first morning led to some of the best fun we had the last day stringing some great fish.

Think he was having a good time?  Before he headed to the beach he whacked a few drifting on his plastic Glide Shrimp.  The reds were lovin’ his baits.  They were freakin’ eating his plastic shrimp, but once he got on the 3″ Hard Shrimp under the popping cork it was game on!

Now for an unsolicited plug.  This rig, his 3″ Hard Shrimp about 24″ below the popping cork, flat catches redfish and some damn big ones!  It was his second popping cork because the first one got smashed repeatedly by bull reds, and in fact this one did not make it either.  He caught them up to 30lbs in the surf, it is was his go to bait on the trip.  He also has some cool plastic shrimp, one that stays in the strike zone for ever, the Soft Plastic Jerk Shrimp, and the Soft Plastic Guide Shrimp that always lands upright, amazing.  He has tons of work and innovation in his lures and is always looking to improve.  You could see his mind turning the whole trip and expect some more things to come from Marker 54 as a result of the trip.  So seriously, go to his website and buy some, I promise they catch fish and I saw it with my own eyes.  And the great thing about his plastic shrimp, as long as you do not screw up and lose it you can catch fish after fish.  Tell him I sent you.  And Jsohua holler when you are down this way and I will be happy to meet you anytime.

http://www.marker54.com/default.asp

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Getting it done in the Chandeleur surf on the White/Limetreuse Controlled Descent Paddle Shad.  A steady retrieve and they would thump that thing!  And the solid trout liked it too.

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Back to the story.  I actually had a great first morning.  They were absolutely smoking the One Knocker in bone.  First I wanted to catch a fish on the Whopper Plopper and it was my first bite right after we started.  When I set the hook the seat went back and other than Joshua grabbing me it might  have been over in the bay.  And it began.  Then Joshua dropped out and walked over the island to the beach, which turned out to be a good choice, and I waded inshore.  It was good, but anytime they are eating topwater is good.  I caught around 10 trout and kept 5 nice ones on the first wade.  I threw back a few keepers, not remembering it was a 25 fish limit and 12″ makes the cut.  Mine all topped 15′ easy and I could have kept them all. We kept hunting and pecking and ended up with some nice fish for the day.

Jason and his dad with a few from the beach.  And Jason paid the tax man, and for some silly reason he got scared when the tax  man literally ran into his family jewels.  What a trip!  

Now is as good a time as any to talk about the fishing.  Do not assume you will fill the cooler like we did the one above.  It might be a great place, but it is fishing.  Our group consisted of 10 real fishermen, and while we had to work hard to catch numbers the size easily made up for it.  The haul above was 131 trout and 36 redfish.  All 5 boats caught basically the same amount but it was not fast by any means.  Unlike their fall trip last year where they caught a 10 man limit of mostly smalls, ours was half that but boy were they good fish and made up for it in weight.  And the redfish, my God, all of us caught tons, not keeping many, and many were  overs both inshore and wading.  We quit keeping them after day 1, I can not even guess how many we would have had if we kept our limits.  In fact as a group we caught very few rats.  And if wading is not your thing we caught fish drifting, and we waded both inshore and surf.  There is plenty of ways to fish.  But our weather was perfect so it was one of those trips that worked out great.  Anytime you get light winds and perfect tides it is hard to go wrong.  So if you go remember there are lots of great things about this trip, fishing is just part of it.

Wade Right Tim laid the smack down on them.  That was the size we caught in the surf, good fish anywhere.  And Ted got in on the act, he also made a contribution to the tax man, and their boat had a great day.  And Ted has a great company working for foster parents and I will write more on that soon.

And speaking of limits, you buy a tour license and when aboard a charter boat in the Chandeleurs you can have a one day limit each.  In Louisiana it is 25 trout and 5 reds with one over.  And boy on this trip there were some overs.  I just wanted to make sure you understand that just going does not guarantee squat, and there were other folks fishing there who were obviously struggling as we got pot licked a few times.  There are 9 other boats making the trip so there is traffic.  It may be the middle of nowhere but there are other folks on other boats.  And to further add to our luck, we could not have had better weather, it was perfect.  So if you ever plan on going, this is a trip that is all about the doing.  The fishing is fishing, good or bad, but the trip itself is the reason for the season.  If you do not have fun no matter what there is something wrong with you.

Headed across to the surf.  Tim and I.  Once I got the speed down on the Controlled Paddle Shad they were smacking it, and I mean eating, not biting!  To bad I lost 2 big trout back to back, but stuff happens.

The last morning, in fact some of us went 3 times that day, we headed to Joshua’s honey hole on the beach.  You could park the boat, a short walk over the island, and you were on a beautiful beach.  There were fish moving up and down the beach, and boy was the average great.  Solid trout on plastics, topwater, and popping cork, the bite was on and we were having fun now!  You had to throw pretty far out, one of the few times I wished I was 6’5″ instead of 5’6″.  It was great as some one there would bow up, then someone else, then me, it was nice fish mania as most of the beach fish were solids.  With my superior skill I lost 2 big fish on back to back casts.  While we are speaking about lost fish I had an absolute big girl in the easy 7+ range smash the big Whooper Plooper and unfortunately she pulled off at boatside but we got a good look.  And I did have another big girl break off my One Knocker, I had my chances.  But no matter how big they were it was fine because Jason put his personal best on the stringer, she is headed to the taxidermist as I write this.

What a fish.  A Bone One Knocker drifting in the middle of the hot day when it was perfectly slick!

Jason not only caught his personal best, he broke the boat’s record.  Now keep in mind that covers years and hundreds of fishermen.  It is a record he should be, and was, rightfully proud of.  Though the fishing was not fast by any means, the topwater was to die for when one finally committed.  The other folks on the trip basically fished plastics, and as a group our success rate was about even with all boats putting over 3o combined good reds and trout in the cooler, a testament to how good those boys were.  And except for very few, they are all real solids, stringers I am happy with anywhere.

A couple of fishing rods.  Hanging on the deck.

Turn out the lights the parties over.  The skiffs headed to the upper deck as they crew battens down the hatches for the ride home.

I want to take a minute to thank the crew, especially for taking the time in the morning to talk to me before the others got out of bed.  For me it has always been in the doing, the results are just a bonus.  It was so interesting to watch them work and I asked lots of questions.  Efficient, organized, and competent, they are a well oiled machine so get the hell out of the way.  They all fished for fun and money their whole lives and they do everything to help you catch fish.  They load the boat and every time you pull away it was always, “Good Luck”, and they really meant it.  And who does not like a steak better than any I ever paid $50 for.  And the “seagull” pie was to die for, the fish fry was an orgy of consumption.  Every morning a great breakfast, (Thanks Captain Howie, I am a grit eating fool!) then back for a great lunch, fish until a little before dark, maybe a drink or two, bed, repeat.  This article does not do it justice, but hopefully as you read this you get a feel for how much fun I had.

We caught the occasional blue fish and some Spanish.  When a bull this size smokes a topwater in knee deep water it is a thing of beauty!  And you might have noticed the Wade Right belt was an important piece of equipment on the trip, lots of stuff for the beach.

If you ever think about this trip it is a hard core fishing trip.  Quarters are adequate but cramped, nothing like sleeping with 10 of your closest friends, but I sure as heck were not there to sleep.  Plus I couldn’t as I was so excited.  It takes the right group, no whiners or panty waists allowed.   No bitching or moaning.  Everyone has to get along, and you better be able to take a little ribbing.  And there was no lies told, no long stories, no jokes, at least nothing involving your momma.  So when I organize a trip next year, and trust me I am already picking a date, if you are any of the above don’t bother.  And I sure hope the Wade Right boys ask me again, 2 trips next spring are going to happen.  The folks on this trip were really a good bunch of guys, including the curmudgeon, that is the only way it works in tight quarters.  Stay tuned for that.

I do not know what else to say.  The Chandeleur Islands have been on my bucket list for years and it finally happened.  The whole experience was every thing I hoped it would be, and it is a bucket list trip that requires a do over, and over.  I hope to make this an annual trip, no, not hope, it is going to happen.  So my real thanks to Captain Howie and the crew.  Your kind consideration will not be forgotten and God, Karma, and tin foil hats willing I will be back.  And the rest of you on the trip a big thanks, you made me feel a part of the group.  You guys were the best fishing buds yet in spite of what Tim told me about you all before we left.   So there you have it but of course there are a few things that I will share later.  I don’t often ask but please share a link to this story to your fishing friends and any of the guys on the trip.  And please keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines