FISH CATCHING TRAVEL
The Wade Right Fishing Belt
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Don’t Leave For the Chandeleurs Without It. I didn’t!
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After 2 weeks of really great adventures I am home. Feeling a little rough today, tired, and got a cold but it was worth every minute. After last years trip aboard the Southern Belle I was really looking forward to this year, and it did not disappoint. In fact, this trip was one of my favorite fishing trips ever. Capt. Howie, the crew, Este and TD, are the best and made this another trip aboard the Southern Belle to remember. And this particular bunch of guys were fishing lunatics, no offense to lunatics, and we laughed for 4 days. These is no coherent way to tell the story, or repeat the outrageous, but here we go.
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The Paddle Shad is about to do some DAMAGE!! It Did!
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Home Sweet Home for 4 nights and 3 days of hard core fishing. If you find a better boat than this, or a better crew let me know, because these boys are the best!
We all met Sunday afternoon to load up and head out to the Chandeleurs, which is about a 40 mile trip out of Gulfport. We buy pizza the first night as we pay a little more to go out that night and get 3 full days of fishing. 5 guys were on the last trip and 4 were new to me and they turned out to be great fishing buddies. I need to say one word about the boys, it was a “tough” crowd at times, several times I laughed so hard I almost threw up. Everyone got along and it could not have been a better bunch of guys to spend 4 days on the boat with.
What a way to start the trip. Jason of Wade Right lovin’ every minute of it, or doing his Capt Ahab imitation.
I was lucky enough to spend 3 days fishing with Ted from Good Luck Gear. (Check out their site by clicking on the link on the side of my page.) We decided to start in the area where we had some good fishing last year. The first morning was a bit of a grind as we tried to figure it out. Ted waded into a hundred small reds and from that point on we caught fish all 3 days. We caught fish wading on both plastics and topwater the first 2 mornings. We decided not to weigh or even measure many of the small keepers, and we kept after the trout with the reds just came along with it.
The better trout I caught were absolutely thumping the Controlled Descent Paddle Shad on a steady swim.
Ted figured out the most effective pattern we used most of the 3 days – slow rolling plastics. He was using a purple Down South lure and I stayed with the Paddle Shad in White/Limetreuse and Pink Limeaid on a 3/32 VMC swim bait hook most of the time. We slowly got the pattern on day one and kept 15 or 16. It could have been more reds and a few more trout but we tried not to measure them all, if it made it it went in the live well.
Ted with a nice red and sorry about his backlit trout but it was also a nice one.
We ended up wading the first and second morning, from then on we drifted. The wind was out of the right direction to drift out of the pockets, following the fish as they followed the tide. But do not get me wrong, they were not jumping in the boat. Fishing is fishing no matter where you go, it still required us to hunt and then get it done when the chances came. As a rule for us most of the trout were nipping and by just keeping it coming they would finally commit. On the Paddle Shad they smoked it, while not catching as many fish it definitely caught all my bigger trout and reds.
Ted getting it done.
The second morning we headed back to “our” spot for a morning wade and the small redfish were all over the flats. Everyone caught a bunch of shorts and if I were guessing we had an easy 30+ blow ups from all sizes. The tide slacked around noon, and like every day we all met at the boat for a good lunch and a story or two.
The afternoon of day 1 Jason stopped by and said follow him to a place he and his dad caught them last year. And Ted and I had a good run on nice trout. One of those was my biggest at 4.4lbs. What made that special was they wanted the plastic reeled fast, and there was no missing, it was on. I think we boxed 6 or 7 nice ones. Two things about that. First, we all worked together trying to help each other catch fish. Second, though we did not make the surf, I know my average size of keepers was overall a little bigger this year.
The rest of the pics are in no particular order, hard to remember. The trout weighed 3 lbs., one of 4 I caught over 3lbs.
A couple of nice fish on the Controlled Descent Paddle Shad!
We had a good redfish run on day 2 after lunch. Ted just said I had not caught a big red and it was literally 10 seconds later when one just slammed the Paddle Shad at the boat after I gave it a jerk. Nothing better then seeing them eat. Several other followed in that spot for both us. And later I actually caught another good red and while doing the around the boat thing I kept feeling something bumping my fish. Turned out it was 3 giant reds trying to take the Paddle Shad dangling out of his mouth. It is a tough world out there.
Sunset on the boat, it does not get any better than that. And there was only a few thousand $$ worth of rods and reels.
Capt Howie can cook and no one left the table hungry. Hanging on the rear deck and telling a story or two.
The fishing was best described as a grind but most folks had their moments. Wading and drifting all produced, and Larry and Kyle had a couple of productive wades. Unfortunately Larry had a new fancy ass stringer, it failed, and 13 trout got off and he was only able to recover 2, the rest swam away happy to have defeated the Grim Reaper.
Around and around the boat, the Iowa Boys finally nailed a multi-spotted bull.
Matt and Mike, brothers from Iowa, were really wanting to concentrate on reds as they love catching and eating them. And while they had not caught a hoss they pulled it out at the last minute. They wanted to take a few back to those Iowa folks, not many reds in Iowa, when it was over they had plenty for a fish fry.
The board. When the big cooler is full to the brim you better have kept track. These numbers are not a true indication of the totals caught. As usual after day 2 they tell you to give the reds a break.
Capt Howie moved us the second day to shelter from the winds to come the last day. So with a new area to explore the second afternoon we started drifting behind an island and actually finished our trip fishing behind it the last day. The wind was tough enough to make fishing plastics hard and I had a moment of insight and we started in on the popping cork. It was not fast by any means but we boxed 17 nice trout the last day and released a few. And there was a moment of real insight.
Instead of tossing in front of the boat on the drift, we were moving right along, Ted and I started throwing the popping cork out of the back of the boat, drifting along and popping. That technique will forever be known as the Chandeleur Method. Not having to cast we just popped along, and leaving them close to each other seemed to attract more bites. It was an easy way to fish, and if you have them cornered and the wind is tough give it a try. It basically made it easy on the arm and we were able to finish off the trip with consistent fishing. A perfect technique if you have a healthy breeze and folks on board who are not all that experienced, or you are a lazy old guy like us.
Turn out the lights the party is over. Group hug.
We ended up with a 172 keepers and it could have been more with smalls, especially reds, many who would have made the grade if we were measuring them. The 3 flounder were a surprise as they are not that common. We saw some really big stingrays and a few small sharks. One morning during the topwater catching a shark came in to explore the action but no real confrontations this year. The Iowa boys did make the surf for a couple of hours one morning and caught some, but the prevailing wind prevented us from getting out there like last year.
As a group not much got broke but one lucky angler, who shall remain nameless, did face plant out of the boat. And interestingly he also nose planted on the sliding glass door the day we loaded. Always an adventure. And a fighter jet came over us and then went supersonic straight up over our heads. I have heard plenty of sonic booms in my life but this one was spectacular.
Now here is my big, and only, complaint. Capt Howie and the boys can cook and if you don’t eat it would be an insult. So as usual the belt is out a notch. Big breakfasts, steaks, fish fry, his delicious casserole, banana pudding, cake, roast beef, grits, and on and on. If you take the trip and bitch about the food just stay home, you ain’t worthy! So just kidding on the eating thing. And Este and TD are not only great mates but good guys. And if you will listen to them your results will improve. They have all been fishing the area for decades.
And last some practical information if you consider going. The skiffs are 12′ with an easy starting Yami 4 stroke, and there is a net and radio to keep in touch. Other than beer or some particular drink, 3 rods and reels and your tackle will cover it. You can either wade or drift, both are effective. There is a reef or two but the crew will help with that and it is not particularly hard to navigate. There are other boats fishing the area, but it had no affect on our fishing or choice of places. It is a bucket list trip. And yes you catch reds and trout just like here, but that is not the point. So a big thanks to Capt. Howie, TD, Estes, and my boat mates. As I said in the beginning this was one of my favorite trips ever and I am already putting it on the calendar for next year.
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I am still dealing with this cold and trying to catch up with everything I have ignored. Over the last 2 weeks while I have been gone it has been a pleasure to not be a slave to the phone or the internet. So consequently I have ignored some of you and I promise I am catching up as fast as I can. Next I have to sit down and work on the Wolf Tracking expedition which like the Chandeleurs is a one of a kind adventure.
I hope to fish in a day or two soon but will be leaving town next week for a few days. Then it will be some serious bay fishing. Michael at Controlled Descent is finishing up his new plastic and it looks to be a killer and I plan on giving it a good workout. And last I hope I did justice to our trip, it was all that. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
