I knew when I headed to the dock this morning it was going to be one of those days when you have to work for your fish. That did not change the fact that Mr. Rick and his son TJ and Billy and his daughter Braeley had come a long way to get out on the water. We had dead low tide and stiff west wind, and it had been blowing long enough to stir everything up. We got an early start and decided to stick to the MRGO to keep ourselves in that deep clean water. Fish gods were mercyful and right off the bat on Braeley's first cast she was hooked up on a monster drag puller! He got off, no worries she imeadiately hooked up on another one! Only "issue" was it was a 30lb class alligator gar. Still not a bad way to start the day, crew said they had no interest in eating him so we tried to gently boat him for photo op, but he had other plans. No worries wasn't 10 minutes and TJ had another one on the line! Even bigger this beast went 40+ easy and showed off with a boatside full aerial flip!!! Awesome! Ok enough gar madness we headed down the channel in search of fish for the ice. Was not long and we got lucky on a bite with all kinda mixed species. Billy was the king of everything striped and Mr. Rick was hauling in the silver-sides. Including one monster 22 1/2" speckled trout. TJ and Braeley were holding their own with redfish, sheephead, and trout. Braeley took the biggest fish for the ice title with a nice black drum just small enough to be tasty. We decided to leave um biting to head down the channel in search of a more trout exclusive bite and after a couple stops got on um. Mr. Rick got us started with a couple 2 and 3 fish flurries then we would have to drift a bit and hit another pack of 2 or 3. Nice quality speckled trout, Billy even caught him something without stripes! We soon decided we wanted to head back to our original bite on the mixed bag and found um still hungry, doubles and triples insued with about half hitting the ice. Today we caught speckled trout, redfish, alligator gar, ladyfish, sheephead, black drum, croaker, flounder, pinfish, hardhead, and mangrove snapper! Forget the cajun slam it was a cajun sweep the swamp! It wasn't one of those fill the freezer trips, but in my opinion that's not what it is always about. An 11 year old girl and her family caught fish all day and I think they had a really great time. I know I did.
TJ displaying how to release an alligator gar boatside.
Mr. Rick your too tall for the fish model biz! This fish was 22 1/2"
Braeley battled this beast all over the place!
Billy with one of his prize stripes!
Braeley showing uncle Rick how to catch a speckled trout.
Where are his stripes Billy?
She was a machine...
I was really happy with our catch today.
Come experience South Louisiana fishing at its best! Salty Dog Charters will guide you to your ultimate day of speckled trout, redfish, and flounder fishing. Whether its in the marsh or offshore Salty Dog Charters is a great choice for your New Orleans greater area fishing adventure!
~Salty~