The saying that your life changes forever when you have children,
though trite, is also 120% accurate. Make
that 240% since I have twins. Gone are
the days where on a whim, you can simply head out on a Friday after work for
the weekend of “whatever you want to do”.
Planning weeks, if not months, in advance is usually what is involved
when you have 20 month old twins. In a
couple years it will get a lot easier. This
will be especially true when they are at the age where they can come with
me. For now, it takes planning.
Since my 6th anniversary of my marriage coincides
nicely with Memorial Day weekend, I thought I’d bend my wife’s ear to the idea
of driving down to New Orleans for the weekend.
She had never been to NOLA for more than a couple hours, and we thought
it would be fun since it’s only 6 hours from Memphis. With my parents committing to taking care of the
twins, the planning of the trip began. My
buddy, and former guide in the area, was generous enough to give me great intel
into the areas where he guided around Port Sulphur, LA. He is currently stationed in Texas with the Air
Force, but he happened to be taking a trip back to his stomping grounds just
weeks before my trip. This would mean he'd be able to give me some more up to date information when I did get down there. He helped me map out
key areas to target redfish on the fly.
With the locations planned out, the next step for fly fisherman who also
tie flies, is to hit the bench and knock out about 500% more flies than will ever
be necessary for a trip. But I find it
to be a wonderful way to build anticipation.
As I had heard from many local fly fisherman, "If it ain't got purple or chartreuse, it ain't..." well, you get the point. I mixed in a few more natural looking shrimp patterns, sliders and seaducers in the lot as well.
Also whipping up some hand tied 9ft leaders to accompany my flies. With more than 75 flies for a 2 afternoon
fishing trip (it is my anniversary after all, I had to spend some time with my
wife) I was now part way ready. 45 days
out, I procured a new motor for my Gheenoe.
A 4-stroke 9.8hp Tohatsu would be strapped on to the stern. This was a big step up from my 1970’s 6hp
Evinrude, which was mixed as far as reliability and performance went. I tested it out on a local lake to see
how it ran, and was pleasantly satisfied with it hitting near 20mph (the old
6hp barely made it to 10mph).
A few
other temporary mods to the Gheenoe included a casting deck of sorts in front of the front
seat, and a raised platform on the back inspired by Geofish’s Gheenoes in their
film. It wasn't pretty, but I was shooting for function more than form for this trip. I plan to fiberglass in a permanent
front and rear deck with compartments at seat level, remove the middle seat, and put in a flat floor, but that will be a summer project for later. I replaced my trailer’s bearings, installed
new bunks, a transom saver, a trolling motor mount, and slapped on brand new shiny wheels and tires to
be sure there wouldn’t be any hiccups getting down there. I was now basically set to go. We loaded up the Friday of Memorial Day
weekend, and made the 6 hour drive down to the area ravaged by hurricanes in
the not so distant past.
My wife committed to coming with me Saturday afternoon
provided we wouldn’t be out longer than 4 hours. My married friends out there know that it’s
important to keep the boss happy. Being that my wife is a 1st grade teacher, and Saturday was her first official day of summer, she was not too eager to leave the comforts of
our hotel bed. With some coaxing, we
made the 1 hour jaunt to Port Sulphur with the Gheenoe in tow a little after noon. We were welcomed by the amply friendly owner
of the boat launch. We chatted as I
prepped all the gear and loaded the boat, and wished us good luck as we
launched. We made the short 1 mile scoot
to the first bay I had been instructed to target. We
found only slightly stained water, but were greeted with partly (changing to
completely) cloudy skies. This made my
out of practice eyes even more challenged in being able to spot fish.
Thankfully it didn’t take long to find fish
tailing and pick out fish swimming near the bank. After a couple flubbed casts at
fish less than 20ft away, a missed hook set, and one fish that came
unbuttoned on it’s first run, I finally was hooked up on a decent Red. My wife never touched the spinning rod I had
rigged up for her since she was content laying back with her feet up, and
snapping a few action shots of me fighting my fish.
Since she is inexperienced when it comes to
fishing, she didn’t understand why I didn’t just reel the fish in, and why I
kept letting it pull line. Because her
biggest fish was a 4lb catfish, I had to explain why this fish made my reel
make the wonderful sound as the fish fought to get me into my backing, but
never quite did. It wasn’t the prettiest
redfish (lacking a spot on the tail and possessing several deep scars), but it
was self-guided, hooked on a fly I tied, and my first redfish on a fly. So it was special to me.
The trip didn’t quite meet my hopes and dreams of an epic fishing trip, but I didn’t go home without some great memories to go with the few fish I did catch. Though my wife may not have cared all that much, it was still cool that I got to share the unique experience of catching 2 fish species that were my first on a fly. New Orleans left me wanting more. I almost certainly will forgo a weekend of duck or deer hunting if I get another opportunity to make it down this fall when cleaner water, and even more redfish cruise into the saltwater marsh.
Shortly after the release, I rounded the
corner and spotted a distinctive grey forked tail next the shore sticking out
of the water. I made a quick flip to the
tailing fish and my fly was attacked as soon as it dropped in front of it’s
face. The fight was nowhere near what
the redfish put up, but to catch a sheepshead on a fly was still very
cool. I’ve caught a couple on shrimp in
the past, but I’ve been told it’s quite a big deal on a fly. Since it was only the second one I’ve thrown a
fly at (the first was 20 minutes before), I had to take other’s words for it.
Shortly after his release, the thicker clouds came in, and so did the
gnats. I knew this was my cue to pack
up. If I was ever to convince my wife to
join me again, I knew better than to make her suffer through that.
The following day, my wife chose shopping and an afternoon
at the day spa. It was a fair trade to me
going fishing by myself. The weather was
perfect. I marveled at the perfectly
clear sky. I had visions of dozens of
redfish, dancing in my head. The wind
was only blowing 4 mph, and I would be hitting a strong falling tide just in
time. This was going to be awesome. I hit a spot further away based on my friend’s
suggestion, and how he had done extremely well there just 2 weeks before. Unfortunately, the water didn’t
cooperate. Each spot I hit was chocolate
milk. I spotted a couple tailers, and
one belly crawling in 3” of water, but nothing came to fruition. My very limited knowledge of the area
prevented me from getting too adventurous in trying to find new water. I trolled up a few channels up into some ponds hoping to find
clean water, but each time was to no avail.
The water was teeming with life.
Shrimp and mullet were everywhere, but my quarry remained hidden. The only real excitement of the day occurred
when in a channel only 10 yards wide, a dolphin popped up 10 feet from me and exhaled
in a loud blast. Let me tell you, when
you are all by yourself, in tight water, and the silence is broken by a dolphin
breeching that close to you, it can be quite a shock. It was quite neat however. Dolphins are slightly more than unusual coming from
the fresh water in Tennessee and Arkansas I’m used to. My fish count for the day wasn’t a complete
bagel. I caught an 8” long catfish when
blind casting. He was also generous
enough to gouge my finger worse than any other catfish I’ve caught. So this would have been one of those times I
would have preferred to be skunked.The trip didn’t quite meet my hopes and dreams of an epic fishing trip, but I didn’t go home without some great memories to go with the few fish I did catch. Though my wife may not have cared all that much, it was still cool that I got to share the unique experience of catching 2 fish species that were my first on a fly. New Orleans left me wanting more. I almost certainly will forgo a weekend of duck or deer hunting if I get another opportunity to make it down this fall when cleaner water, and even more redfish cruise into the saltwater marsh.
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