FISH CATCHING TRAVEL
Chandeleur Islands
The Wade Right Fishing Crew. My wife says I am color blind but my outfit matches to a tee!
This was my 5th year when I it was my pleasure to fish the Islands with the boys from Wade Right and their loose nit band of really good fishermen and all-around crazy boys. We fished, ate, drank and bullshitted for 4 nights and 3 days. And it was nothing short of another great time.
One thing about that trip is every year the fishing conditions are different. This year was literally the Running of the Bulls. The big fish were on the chew, the trout were tough. Now take that statement with a grain of salt. Since we boxed 171 in 3 days tough is a relative term. With Louisiana having that ridiculous 12″ trout limit most of us have a hard time keeping those smaller trout or we could have easily inflated our numbers. But in the final analysis it was another great trip I would not miss for anything.
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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.
For all your wading needs.
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So without further ado let’s look at a few of the many big ass redfish that came to the boga. If you like 35 – 40+ inch redfish this would be the trip for you. And just for your information we only kept 7 slot reds so no bulls were harmed in the making of these pictures. But a few shoulders and backs paid the price!
This one as a little on the small side. It was insane.
The beach was just plain off the chain this year.
Wading on the beach was great, in the bay drifting was the ticket.
With the wind being perfect we all headed to the beach the first morning and it was absolutely awesome. Big bulls in the 35 – 45″ range were cruising the surf and every time you looked around someone was hooked up and the battle was on. I did not land one that morning but when my spool got down to about 6-line wraps left I had to break mine off. They were some bigheaded monsters. For total on the big fish, who knows, but it was something.
Home away from home, the Backdraft. 100″ of luxury accommodations. Check out captain Jimmie on his website, a first class operation.
We switched to the Backdraft from the Southern Belle after Capt. Howie went to only 6 pack trips. The Backdraft has a great salon, plenty of bathrooms with showers and fed us 3 meals a day and to which we added plenty of cold brews. The skiffs have a 15hp electric start motor and are quick enough to cover what basically is a 10-mile stretch of the big island. The mates were great, and I think the Captain is starting to warm up to our motley crew.
Hauling back for supper.
The back deck where we spent plenty of time. I would hate to estimate the bucks spent on tackle and equipment!
After the beach slowed down the first morning Jason and I headed out to the bay and he ended up figuring it out, which served all of us well on the rest of the trip. Every trip to faraway places the fishing is always different from the last trip. This time the trout were not schooled up. So, while we caught a few wading, drifting was the ticket.
The trout were in the potholes scattered throughout the extensive grass beds. While we caught some wading the holes were scattered far enough apart that wade fishing was not the way to go. The key was drifting with the wind, which is acceptable for any trip to the islands. Jason figured it out – drift and make a long cast to the potholes with a small hard twitch bait, twitch it through the pothole and get ready. While not fast by any means it ended up being the pattern. Very similar to a bass pattern where they are positioned on certain stuff and you just need to cast, work it and reel it in and do it again.
And of course, on the beach there was a jack attack. Probably what spooled me on day 1.
Just a small sample of the beach fish. The boys smacked them stupid day 1 and 2.
I never went back to the beach after the first morning. I have caught my share of big reds and am just more interested in catching the trout. By the end of day 3 there were plenty of sore backs and shoulders. I believe it was the afternoon of day 1 when the boys went back to the beach and sight casted the big reds as they cruised the beach. If you like em’ big this would have been the trip for you.
The trout were tough, but that is a relative term when we kept 164 over 3 days. It was more of each boat catching 3 or 4 in the morning then more in the afternoon. I was lucky enough to fish with 3 different folks, so my partners and I ended up adding 50 to the total over the 3 days, which is the legal limit on the islands for 2 people. There were a few cases of woe with lost big trout and if memory serves me right there was only a couple over 3, but the rest were fat and sassy. I had my bite which would have been big trout when she came up yellow mouth open, wallowing like a hog, then spitting the twitch bait. When I lost that one I knew it was my big chance.
My boat partner on day 2 with a big one from the flats. Larry stopped reeling right by the boat and turned his head to say something to me when this one blasted it with 5′ of line out. What a freakin’ bite!
You always learn every trip and this time Larry taught me something. We both were fishing twitch baits and he schooled me on technique. With the trout basically one to a pot hole we would cast past it, jerk it through and then go ahead and reel it in. The grass was tough at times so it was just pinpoint cast and twitch it some. I was fishing with mono so my jerk bait would sink pretty fast while Larry was fishing braid with a 2-foot fluorocarbon leader. Once he worked it to the pothole he would stop and his twitch bait would just suspend in the hole and they would eat. Really cool. I did get to go a little paramedic on him when he got hooked. A small trout in the net tangled to beat the band in the trebles ends up sticking one in his finger. A little “hook out”, see video on the left, and back in business. No harm no foul.
A small one for the big ones we were catching.
It was really interesting how well the hard twitch baits were working. Plastics worked, but in the heavy grass were a little tougher to fish. Most of my trout came on the 4″ Clearwater Knockin Tail on a swim bait hook to keep it as grass free as possible. What happened on this trip the fish were feeding on small Pogies, which were a perfect size match with a small twitch bait. It was definitely a match the hatch. To highlight the point. I had multiple huge reds follow a 5″ Knockin Tail almost to the boat and then not eat. Small was the way to go, as usual, listen to the fish.
Of course, there were a few happenings. One of the Iowa boys jumped a really big tarpon on the beach, a first in my trips there. He said it went nuts then spooled him as it headed to Mexico. We caught a few big jacks, one barracuda, a couple of spanish, and a few other assorted fish. You just never knew. With the weather on the cool side there were not near the sharks like last year, but there were plenty of big sea turtles and some really huge rays. Though the boat traffic has increased every year since I started fishing there it is still a wonderful wild place to fish. The real worry, like all places in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast the islands are disappearing. Our Captain has fished if for decades and hearing how it was is almost depressing. We need to save the coast, the woods, and water. They are not making any more.
Of course we had multiple pools based on this and that. but there was a new one this year, which set the bar on totally cool.
Billy the new title holder with his belt. The bar is set and next year the battle will be on. Funny how a bunch of grown men want that belt! (Including me!)
When Jason revealed the belt, it was an immediate hit. To win it took a combo of the biggest slot red and trout, and Billy got it done though it was a close race. It was amazing no matter what anyone says, we all want to be the champ. So, it will be engraved with his name and date of the trip. By time we all got home it was on his mantel over the fireplace. He will hold the belt for the year, but we are all coming for it. So enjoy it now brother, it will be the last time you hold it! Like they say on TV wrestling he will be the undefeated, undisputed champion of our world. What a great idea.
Jason also had another cool contest. The last day we all drew from a bag of freshwater baits. Biggest fish of any sort wins the money. I drew a Rattle Trap so was not feeling too bad about it and ended up catching a 17 1/2″ trout. But Jason ended up winning with an 18 3/4″ on a Bettle Spin. Other than those 2 nothing else of note on the freshwater baits, though not sure most of the guys gave them a serious workout. I was with Tim, and he had a torpedo which he did produce some bites, but nothing made the grade. One comment on our topwater fishing, it was really slow. (Looking back on it now should have fished the smallest one in the box to try and match the hatch. Nothing like hindsight.) Though a few were caught it was definitely not the way to go, which was too bad as it is usually a good choice in the islands.
Of course, I have forgot plenty and there are tons of pictures out there of giant big-headed reds. Funny how we only kept 7 slot reds. In the pat it was plenty of slots and few giants. This trip they were on the beach and in the flats. There was definitely more sight fishing this trip as the water was gin clear. Though the day Jason and I sacked 18 trout they were in an area that was off color, soaking up the sunlight and the temp on day 1, which was a high-pressure clear sky front following their first cold front of the year. In fact, we got very lucky as a big front had just blown through and it ended up warming all 3 days.
I really enjoyed fishing with Tim and Jason from Wade Right for a day each, and then Larry. There was plenty of switching of boat partners daily letting us all spend the day with someone different. And as an example of how good this group of fishermen really is: the charter boat docked near the Backdraft spoke with our captain. When he told him our total he asked how as his charter fished all over and did not have a good trip. He said don’t let you guys talk to my guys. Thanks to Jason we got the pattern down, and if we had added the 12″ as a group it would have been a lot bigger total, but we just can’t keep those babies. And when they called us home on the radio to call it a day they were really biting. Isn’t that the way!
I could keep adding things as I reread this, but you get the point. Things will get back to normal here as it is back to the real world. Spending today cleaning and organizing, and then probably the lake in the morning as long as it is not storming. Even if I moved to Colorado tomorrow this is a trip I will go on until I physically can’t, or they get tired of me. It is not all about the fishing, on my 5 trips the fishing has been anywhere from great to really tough but it has never been a “bad” trip. We really enjoy the Backdraft and are already looking at setting a new date for next year as they already have tons of bookings and few open dates. I have repeatedly said it is the best deal in fishing, bar none. So, figure out your adventure and make it happen. Hope you enjoyed this quick overview of our trip. Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
