I recently spent a week in Texas and Louisiana working with a few of our reps in the field. During the course of the week in LA, we got a chance to sample some of the fishing the bayou is famous for. And I got to cross off another state from my list.
Dawn on the bayou
Those of you who actually read this mess may be familiar with a list I keep on the right hand side of the Blog. It is my quest to catch a fish in all 50 states. I have been stalled at 39 for a few years. This was my first opportunity to fish in LA, and I took advantage of it.
We spent the night in a fish camp near Cocodrie, south of Houma. We actually weren't too far from the home of Bayou Woman, a blog I still follow - see my list on right. (Great blog, btw) the morning had us launching the boat at daybreak and looking for trout..
Sometimes the birds were diving, other times they were just sitting. But there were fish below them
We caught plenty of these little guys. But catching any fish is good!
I love to fish new ways, and I had never fished with that standard of the trout / redfish world, the popping cork. We fished plastics under popping corks most of the day. The secret, like any tidal area, was catching the tide right, and looking for birds. Some things are universal. We spent the morning going from bird pod to bird pod. Some had a lot of fish, others a few. The trout were generally small - the 12" minimum was reached by maybe one out of 4 or 5 fish. As I found out, it is early for trout. They are moving from their wintering areas to the spawning areas. EVERYONE says come back in May / June / July and limits of big trout are the rule . Today was a good numbers day by my standards, although the locals thought it was pretty slow. I had a great time, we caught fish, and that's all the really mattered.
The grocery / gas / bait store on the canal
All i could think of was "Forrest Gump"
At the end of the morning, we ran across Lake (???) and fished some barrier islands on the outside of the lake with live bait. Here we got a few bigger trout, and one big redfish ate the guides bait. At least I thought it was big. We ended the day with 22 trout and 1 red.
A little better trout
Nice red
A wheelbarrow of fish, destined to become fillets shortly
Beautiful day on the water, took some delicious fillets home, and knocked off another state on my quest. Doesn't get much better than that! And I think I've got another state or 2 up my sleeves this year!
