We left early Friday morning headed south in hopes of finding some fish and getting acquainted with the area. When we arrived in Venice around 1 o’clock we were welcomed with high winds and a low/slack tide…not good. It was too windy for the flyrod so we sent spinner baits towards the bank most of the afternoon. We ended up catching 3 nice reds in the 25-28in class and called it a day.
We were met by windy conditions again Saturday, but found a point of cane holding a good number of keeper reds. After netting a close to a limit by 9 o’clock on spinning gear, dad decided it was time to break out the “long stick” and kick things up a notch. Dad casted to the point of canes and on his 3rd cast, Boom, fish on! After we high fived and took some pictures of dads first red on a fly, a 21” beauty, we headed over to a spot that a veteran of the marsh had told us we needed to check out. As soon as we entered the pond we were greeted by baitfish everywhere and some redfish boiling at the surface. I immediately spotted a redfish in murky water along a point of grass and after a couple of casts dad was hooked up with a monster red on his flyrod. Dad battled the fish for about 8-10 minutes and when the fish finally tired down I coaxed him into the net and dad had a beautiful 8lb red with over 13 spots! We celebrated with sandwiches, chips, and beer. After lunch we caught and released several more reds, and Dad continued to haul in a couple more nice ones on his flyrod. As the sun started setting dad coaxed me into trying to catch a fish with his flyrod before we called it a day. I spotted a nice red along the shore and after a couple casts the fish was screaming away from the bank with the fly in his mouth. What a feeling, now I know why my dad loves flyfishing so much! As the sun set, we put the motor down and headed back towards camp in hopes of equaling what we thought couldn’t get any better…
The next day we were again greeted by rough conditions, a wind change and a high tide. We started off close to where we had had success the day before, but we came up empty handed…things weren’t looking good. After coming into the south end of another big cove around 8:30 dad spotted the tail of a big redfish in a pocket protected by the wind. Dad scrambled around getting his flyrod organized and took several shots at that fish but came up with nothing. As Dad had been casting at the fish he saw tailing, I was watching what looked to be several more fish going nuts in another pocket around 150 yards away. I suggested that we get over there and see what was going on. Halfway towards the little cove Dad spotted a fin, giving us more reassurance of what lay ahead. As we pulled up to the pocket the winds died down and the sun popped out and God said…’let there be redfish!’ It was insane! The little pool was teaming with 7-10lb redfish. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I turned to Dad and he was in a serious “situation” with his flyrod. He had a huge knot and couldn’t find his glasses to get it untangled…I’m thinking, “wow, this is not a good time to be having problems with your gear”. After we get that “situation” under control Dad and I take turns nailing big redfish on a fly. It was epic! If you made a good cast about 12in. in front of one of those reds the next thing you would see was it’s gills flair and the white fly disappear into its mouth…and it was fish on! We had dozens of opportunities each and managed to land 5 real nice 26-30in. fish on a fly. We had some close calls on break-offs and misses but had an absolute ball. At around 11 the wind picked up and we decided to head back towards Mississippi. What a day in the mash!
Dad and I talked about sight fishing for reds the whole way home. I have a new respect for the art of flyfishing. It was a special trip, and one that neither of us will ever forget! Mission accomplished…
Dads first red on a fly
Dads 13 spot 8lb'er
My first red on a fly
Other's we caught
I'd like to give a special thanks to Jeff on here who gave us some direction and pointers before we embarked on this journey!
Fly fishing for reds is off da' chain!!!
