December to Remember

Report Date: December 3, 2003

ADVENTURE SOUTH GUIDE
SERVICE-Buras/Empire/Venice

*Bay Stealth*Honda*MotorGuide*St. Croix*Shimano*Ocean Waves
*Deadly Dudley*Mann's*MirrOLure*

On Tues. and Wed. I had Dan and Hank fishing with me in Venice. These guys saw me on TV and decided to come all the way down from Connecticut to give the fishing a try. With a pretty stiff breeze blowing from the north on Tues., I decided to go down river and seek protection in one of the many cane-lined bayous and ponds. I fished down that way on Mon., and had a very good day with 50 nice trout and 5 reds. With the temperature in the 40's, and the wind blowing a good 15-20, the ride down river was a bit chilly, but I had the right cloths for the job and the guys managed by riding tucked behind the leaning post. The big console on my 24' Bay Stealth is awesome, and it is even more impressive when you are trying to get out of a wind chill of less than 40?. The ride was over before we noticed and I pulled back on the throttle of the Honda 225 as we approached our first stop of the morning.

The water was not moving very much, and was a just a little bit on the dirty side, but I knew that there had to be a few fish still around from the number we caught the day before, so I put the MotorGuide trolling motor over and started fishing. It did not take long to put the first fat speckled trout in the boat. Each of us caught a fish at our first stop, but the bite was slow, so I decided to move to spot #2. As we pulled into the cove, I could see a definite water color change to a better green color, and even noticed a few baitfish flipping on the surface here and there. These to factors usually mean that there are some fish in the area, so we grabbed our rods and started chunking. The move paid off, and the guys started catching some very nice trout on a regular basis. Both Dan and Hank boated some very nice trout with a couple going 5 lb. and several in the 3-4 lb class. After catching and releasing probably 40-50 trout, we decided to go look for redfish. Try as I might, and I did try hard, I could not find any redfish. With the river at 6' and rising, the fishing in the passes is just about non-existent, and that is where I have been catching most of my reds down river. We called a day at around 1:00 with smiles all around.

The winds died down quite a bit on Wed., so I decided to switch things up a bit and go toward Buras, hoping that calm conditions and low water would allow us to catch some fish along the numerous canals in the Buras area. The conditions were perfect, but the reds were very, very finicky. I saw on the order of 20-40 reds and just about all of them refused the lures. We tried hard until around 10:00 and then decided to switch gears and go catch some trout. This was easy as it took only 2 stops to find the trout biting pretty well. I stuck the PowerPole and took fish off as the guys swung them over the gunnels. I estimate that the guys caught and released about 40 or more before we got a call from Capt. Pete and Capt. Lloyd saying that the redfish were turning on. We made a move and got into a shallow canal were we could see the redfish cruising the banks. I caught one, and then Dan caught one, and there were more fish in front of us waiting to be caught, when I looked over my shoulder and saw the ominous looking line of dark clouds approaching from the SW. We made the decision to leave and try to make it back to the marina before the rain hit. It was a good decision, as the rain got heavy not long after we hit the dock. All in all I think the guys had a good time. I would have liked to put them on some of the big bull redfish that we typically catch down her this time of the year, but the high, muddy river, put a hold on those plans.

If you want to go fishing or fly fishing with a guide service that prides itself on giving it's clients an outdoor adventure of a lifetime, then give me a call at (504) 392-1700, or on my cell (504) 382-2711. The guides who fish my customers are TOP NOTCH, not just some guy who knows how to drive a boat and cast a fishing pole!!! I Guarantee Fish and Fun!! Fly Fishing can be excellent in January-February. Don't miss the boat!!!Until Net Time, Catch Em' Up!!!

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