Went down to Venice, Louisiana on a Red fishing trip.... 1st day was slow.... didn't catch a red until 9Am ....but she was a good one...



The next day was a banner day, captin Brent said it was his best Red fishing trip inland, ever.... Bot hooked up with doubles 2X and even managed to land a triple...

I caught the biggest fish of the day... don't know the weight but it was 44" long and 27" around (guide said over 40" you subtract 10 and you are close... he estimated this one at 38 pounds)... took 30+ mins of her spooling line off the drag like it was nothing.... Here are a couple of 'action' shots of what ended up being a little more than I cared for on a med weight spinning rod... LOL





30+ mins later of the above and I landed the fish...



Wish you were there.....

Geo

Musta' used a chicken for bait...

Beautiful bull red you caught there. I would say around 35 lbs, I have a good eye for them having caught several hundred over the years. The captains rule of thumb sounds about right as one of the few I did weigh on a scale was 50" and 40 lbs. Got to love saltwater fishing here in La. no place like it. Personally I never use anything more than medium weight spinning rods or bait casters but I prefer the spinning rod myself. That is where the challenge is if I am into catching the smaller 4-12 lb reds I even go with lighter tackle in the 8 lb test range. You want to hear that drag sing that sweet music and with some folks unless they catch a monster they don't get to enjoy the battle using a broom stick for a rod with a huge wench for a reel.

If you really want to test your skills hang a nice red over 10-15 lbs on a fly rod, now that is FUN!

I hope you released that brut, I know they are tempting to keep for people not from here but they are our breeders and not all that tasty, plus their a bitch to clean. Anything over 28" I will usually throw back, the best eating size is up to around 8 lbs or so IMO.

The fishing is so good here that I once watched a Redfish tournament that was in Mobile Bay and a team from La. actually made the trip across the gulf to the Hopedale area in La. It took so long to get there they only had about 30 minutes to fish before having to head back to make weigh in. They did this 3 days in a row and won the event by a very large margin. Our Reds are chunky to say the least. Thats confidence when your willing to run that far knowing you will only have such a short time to catch two fish but they knew if they did they would be fat ones


Dee

George, really nice bull red. Like Dee, I hope your guide insisted that you release her. Yes, the La. estuaries are super fish factories. I'm familiar with the area a few miles west: Grand Isle and Barataria Bay. Susie and I flyfish, and have had some wonderful trips in that area for specks and reds. For more fish porn see the slide show on: www.calmwatercharters.net Kristen and Danny are our daughter and son-in-law.
Kess

Rgr that...we didn't keep any over the slot... I think we mailly ate the 18" fish...

*No fish were harmed during the making of this production*

Haha