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Mixed results.	25 August 2002
Saturday Danny Williams, his son Seth, and I went looking for reds in some relatively fresh marsh. There were lots of fish there, but it was VERY hard to fish to them because the grass was so thick. We finally found some water where the grass wasn't matted all the way to the surface and managed to catch a few fish. We ended up 6 for 11 with 2 thrown hooks and 3 breakoffs. The biggest red we landed was 10 pounds. Just to give you and idea of how fresh the water was, Danny also caught a bass. Sunday I went back to the same area with Roger Cormier. The fish were still there, but not being nearly as active. The water was a little higher, but still clear. We could see the fish in the water, and there was some tailing going on, but not nearly as much. A lot of the fish were just laid up. We ended up catching one red, losing another, and Roger Caught a great big sheepshead of 5 and 3/4 pounds.
Ron Begnaud	S.W. La Marsh
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where have all the speckled trout gone?	24 August 2002
Had a fun day fishing out of Delacroix on Saturday. Caught several reds on a spoon fly, including two over ten pounds. Went searching for specks in Black Bay with no luck. The water was clearer than I've ever seen it. We did have a lot of fun when we found a huge school of BIG ladyfish terrorizing glass minnows. They would hit anything that moved.
Pescador44	Delacroix
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Lake Concordia report	18 August 2002
Sunday fished Lake Concordia from 10am-3pm. Last weekend Randy Leonpacher went there and said he caught tons of bream, kept 30 over 7 inches, all on a black/chartreuse jitterbee under a vosi. Well, he was right... the lake is thick with gobbules, must've caught 200 or more. But only a few were over 7 inches, ninety percent were between 6 and 6.5. What a spawning class that was! Water is very warm so they weren't "hard charging" like in Spring. However, by October 10 (RSFF fall trip) they should be bigger and in fighting mood again. FYI.. also hooked and lost a big catfish. I almost always catch at least one, sometimes several, on the jitterbee. There was a lady biologist at the LDWF headquarters where I launched, she was doing post-trip surveys. She told me that they caught over 300 catfish in one gill net sample recently. If you want to bring home "meat", you might try bringing worms and commie tackle.
Catch	Vidalia
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Short trip	16 August 2002
Well here I am back home Sat.7:30 AM after catching two small Largemouth...huh! Flip Flop Popper(Pink). No long drive to marsh,hot,wind,spooky reds,long paddle. Got my fishing fix close to home.
del Rio	Pond off Highland Rd.
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THE BIG ONE THAT DIDN'T GET AWAY	12 August 2002
Went to G.M. Sat. a.m. the water was very dirty, less than one foot visibality, but I decided to try it anyway, if nothing else I was going to do some scouting since I had my trolling motor. The action was slow with very little visible activity; I saw a few drum but no takers. I moved to an area with lots of pipes and hooked a red that ran within five feet of my canoe enroute to the nearest pipe which he took advantage of to cut my tippet, he was 30+". About ten minutes later I hooked a large drum that looked to be 10-15 lbs. and lost him to a pipe after a 30 second fight. At 12:30 it started to rain and the wind picked up to 15-20 so I started back to the landing,as I headed down the main canal (in the rain) I saw several 6" croker do their best imatation of a mullet by going airborn and where else would they be but between two sets of pipe coming off the bank. I droped anchor to hold me in the wind and on my third cast a red hit and headed straight for the pipe (not again?!) I turned my trolling moter on full reverse and drug his butt out of the pipe and into the middle of the canal, but as soon as I turned the motor off he headed to another pipe so I used the moter again,this went on for 20 minutes with him pulling me for a while and then I would pull him, he and I circled an area of about an acre. I got my leader in my guides 7 times then he would make another 50 foot run, I think I was more tired than he was when I finally netted him. He was 33" long and 17lbs. on my boga. This fish fought harder than any I have ever cought, he was truely a special fish that I wanted to release but I didn't think he would survive. P.S. two guys that were heading back to the landing stoped and watched most of the fight and took some photos, they were amazed that you could catch reds on a fly rod. This fish is one of those that I will long remember!
MIKE HESS	GOLDEN MEADOW
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Here's the weight.	12 August 2002
...weighed the drum referenced in the last post. It's 38 pound even. If certified this will tie for 3rd place with Rich Waldner, behind Chip Metz 51.38 pounder, and Susan Gros 42.63 pounds... The fish was 39.5 inches long, with a girth of 32 inches
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Estuary
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Afternoon Reds and the Creature From The Black Lagoon	12 August 2002
Monday afternoon, Danny Williams and I went looking for redfish in the marsh. When we left, it was calm in town in Lake Charles, we drove down to Heberts marina thinking we'd fish some marsh on the east side of Big Lake. When we got down to Heberts the wind was screaming out of the W.N.W. and the lake was rolling. Apparently the little front that was rolling through was somewhere between town and mid lake. We decided to drive back North and launch farther up in the estuary. We launched behind the biker bar and tooled into the marsh. There was still a little breeze, but not near as bad as farther South. The tide was on it's way out and we started seeing fish right away, and in short order I had caught a Sheepshead just under 5 pounds. We kept fishing, having a decent afternoon. The redfish were in a mood to eat, although there were many that we couldn't reach. After Danny landed our 6th redfish of the afternoon I was tying on a new fly when we spotted a back out of the water in about a foot of water. Based on what we could see sticking out of the water we figured it was probably about a 6 or 7lb red. The sun was low in the sky and there were clouds lighting up the fish's back with a bronze cast. I cast my fly right in front of where I thought the fish's head would be, and got no reaction, another cast, the same thing. Finally the fish turned and I cast the fly about 5 feet in front of and past the fish. I stripped it into line with the fish and let it settle to the bottom, and the fish ate. When I set the hook and the fish turned I told Danny "Hey it's a big black drum" thinking it was about 15 pounds. It took a while for the fish to notice he was hooked, and when he finally turned to make a little run Danny said "He looks more like 20 pounds" and I agreed. We had our tug of war for a few minutes, the fish really couldn't do much because the water was so shallow. When I finally swung the fish near the boat and saw it's head, my jaw hit the deck. It looked like the head of a cow. We landed the fish and it bottomed out the scale on my 30# boga. I'm going to have it weighed this afternoon for consideration for ranking in the La. State record books, although I don't think it will be near the new 51# record. We fished a while longer ocassionally breaking out into laughter over the obsurdity of having caught that fish in that shallow water on a fly. Danny picked up one more red, and lost one more. When I get the weight I'll post a follow up here. I'll also post pictures on my home page (www.redchaser.com) in the next day or so.
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Estuary
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Saturday at Grand Isle	10 August 2002
Arrived at Grand Isle around 2am Saturday, with the plan to fish specks off the bridge during dark, then after sunrise to head to the marsh for reds. Within 15 minutes of lowering my light, there were 100 specks under it. Nearly all of them were undersized. The other bad news is that there were an equal number of ladyfish under the light. Although I tried to target just keeper fish, and snatch flies away from any undesirables, for the most part it was an exercise in futility. So I tied on a fly only a BIG SPECK could eat, and that pretty much ended the feeding frenzy. I did catch one speck on it, about 17 inches. At sunrise, launched the Redsticker north of Highway 1, hoping to grab some video on tailing reds and drum. A very high tide and choppy water killed that idea, so I headed to Lake Laurier for specks. Found the birds diving in the south part of the lake near a cut. For about 2 hours the action was hot and heavy on small fish, but did manage 11 specks up to 15". Fly was a 1/50 oz. chartreuse clouser under a VOSI, then later, a 1/36 oz clouser on a sink tip line caught most of the bigger fish, as well as a few really nice white (sand) trout which went into the box. Around 11am, headed back to the marsh. Tide was as high as I've seen it this year, and unless I stood up and push poled, I couldn't spot a fish. Did manage 2 reds, but everything was so easily spooked, and I needed to get home and get sleep. It's August, dog days are here, fishing only gets better come September.
Catch
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Big Sky report	06 August 2002
Just returned from a week and a half in Big Sky Country. For the first time in 10 years, this trip was a true family vacation, well, except for Kevin whose Uncle Sam has him busy. Anyway, it was my wife Lisa's 2nd visit, and Cokie's first ever. That meant Master Jake and I had to carve out a couple of hours early am and late pm on the water, before and after the daily activities. Record heat (90+ degrees in Yellowstone) and record drought (no precip in 2 months) had the fish in a funk. Several rivers in Teton and Yellowstone were closed, many others had very low water. Few we fished had any hatches, so it was strictly hoppers, ants, and stimulators. Usually that's okay, but this time that didn't seem to be much help. In fact, the signs outside the West Yellowstone fly shops had either "poor", "closed", or "good on cloudy days". What cloudy days? Everyone recommended the Madison, because they were letting so much water out. Jakester and I did manage to catch a few small fish each day, and on rivers with good water flow, like the Snake, Hams Fork, and Shoshone, we did good and caught a few nice trout (Jake did manage a 20 inch cutthroat on the Snake). Our best day was Monday, our last full day up there. Sunday afternoon and night it rained and got much cooler. That really turned the insects, and subsequently, the fish on. The next day we caught loads of trout, mostly rainbows and cutthroats, Jake again had big fish honors with 19" rainbow. Hatches were everywhere, and it was so much fun to finally use small flies like parachute Adams and PMD emergers in sizes 16-20. Alas, it was time to come home. But with coldwater back in my veins I'm really looking forward to Arkansas trips in September and October.
Catch	Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming
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Frustraiting Reds	04 August 2002
Saturday took my wife Tina fishing. Saw lots of reds including quite a few good sized ones. Lots of backs way up our of the shallow marsh, but ended the day with the skunk in the boat. The fish were being incredibly spooky, spooking off of even small well presented flies, needless to say they didn't like the spoons or grubs my wife was throwing either. Sunday went to Hog Island Gully with Jim Schoen. When we first got there we could see some fish just milling around in the middle of the big pond. Not much tailing or anything, but we could see the nervous water. Jim caught a 9 pounder on a redchaser and the school broke up and scattered. After that we saw very few fish moving. There were tons of fish there, they just weren't moving, they would lay up untill we ran over them with the boat and spook them. I caught 2 smaller fish so we ended the day with 3.
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Marsh
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GRAND ISLE WEEKEND - "A GRAND SUCCESS"	22 July 2002
What a weekend.....good weather, food, fishing & turnout.....My thanks go out to Randy, Catch, Paula, Barry, and the rest of the "Clan" who made this the "Best" gathering I've experienced in many years.....Even the fish, albeit on the small side, cooperated and let us play with them a bit. The Blue Dolphin's new management, especially Ms. Marlene Chappell, worked hard to make our stay enjoyable. I wish the Blue Dolphin crew much success....we even had fresh towels!!! and cold A/C!!! This gathering would not have been possible if it weren't for the efforts of the folks who decided to participate....well done!!!We did miss serveral folks who couldn't attend such as Tom Landry, Robert Craig, Roger del Rio, Peter Allen, and many more that I can't think of at the moment...God willin' and the creek don't rise I'll see many of you at the Southern Conclave the first week of October.........><)))'> ><)))'> ><)))'>
Walt Moskal	Long Beach, MS
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Feedback on Grand Isle weekend	22 July 2002
I received this email yesterday: "I just wanted to thank you for having the Magnolia Fly Fishers at your Grand Isle event this past weekend. We really enjoyed ourselves and we learned a lot. Everyone was very open with information and did everything they could to help us enjoy ourselves and catch fish. Catch Cormier shared information on where to take our kayaks for red fish, Mike Lefleur and Joe let us tag along on their puddling and gave us hands-on information on fishing for reds that don't think I could have gotten any other way. Some of the RS fly tyers helped me with learning mylar tubing and many other fly tying tricks and Joe gave me two great looking Mike Lefleur Pink Charlies'. Mark Pensel and Kyle Moppert offered to help us with programs at our club meeting. I just can't say enough. Maybe we can have a reciprocal event in Mississippi some day for your members. I'm going to be working on that. I can't remember all the names as hard as I tried, but they can be sure that we do remember everyone we met. Please pass on our thanks and appreciation for the warm hospitality that we received by your members and the members of the other clubs." Glen Davis President, Magnolia Fly Fishers
Randy Leonpacher
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Poor conditions, fantastic Redfishing	21 July 2002
Wind, rain, clouds, lightning...what a great day to go fly fishing. Yesterday, I spent the day Redfishing with Capt. Gregg Arnold of E-Z Fly Guide Service (504-237-6742). We launched out of Lafitte and ran over to fish Myrtle Grove for the day. The water was so clear that even under cloudy conditions, we could spot Redfish from a good distance. We were also fishing shallow enough in Capt. Arnold's Hell's Bay Guide 18' that any movement of these fish was a dead give away to thier hiding place. We also spotted a few tails popping up here and there. In the first hour or two we landed a few fish and lost another. We were then forced to take a short coffee break at Myrtle Grove marina while a storm passed but then got back out there and continued to have a productive day. Conditions were tough and every fish was earned, but when the day was done we had caught and released quite a few nice fish ending the day with a beautiful 8 pounder. For more information, contact Alec at Uptown Angler (504-529-3597) or Capt. Gregg Arnold at the number provided above.
Alec at Uptown Angler	Myrtle Grove
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Night Fishing for Tuna	21 July 2002
Last Thursday before the Grand Isle gathering Gary, oliver,Joe Cerice,and Me went hunting for Tuna. Left Venice @ 3:30 PM. Rough seas all way to Ocean America drill floater.Winds calmed by 9:00 PM we caught 8 Blackfin on fly.About 1:30 AM Friday we moved toward Mars drill floater...no action the huge gas flare flame was HOT and bright. Then on to Ursa drill floater I fought a Yellowfin an hour ten minutes then the barbless hook pulled out,Oliver lands two Rainbow Runners. Working our way back North we found grass patches with Dolphin...kept ten the 19-20lber was caught by Joe.Wind and seas were very good late Thursday and all Friday,no rain.
del Rio	Blue Water
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Old River report	16 July 2002
My younger kids - Master Jake and Cokie - went to Old River today with their pawpaw. Cokie fished the black and yellow jitterbee size 10 under a vosi for bream. The Master did likewise for awhile, but when it looked like it would be a subpar day, he switched to casting tackle and rooster tails for white bass. Although they took home 30 fish, and released about 3x that many, none were over 3/4 lb. If the river falls, maybe the big bream will come out and play.
Catch	Morganza
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Commie tactics do work!	16 July 2002
Last Friday night, Steve Lee and I went to Grand Isle to fish the bridge under lights for specks. Not much action going on, even with the strong tide. Then we headed out to the marsh to launch "The Device", our portable lighting platform. It definitely drew in the bait, but I had forgotten to charge the battery, so the lights died out before the specks moved in. So we paddled back in and waited until morning. At first light, we headed into the marsh for reds. We spotted a few pods, casting and landing some, but by mid-morning the water was up too high and a bit too dirty. I then decided to try out an old commie technique - blind casting to a good looking hole. On the falling tide, I parked my canoe next to a marsh cut, cast the fly just above the cut, and let the tide sweep in downstream. As it did this, I stripped in very slowly. This tactic picked up 5 nice flounders, all close to 3 lbs. The largest one at 2.965 lbs is now pending #3 on LOWA fly rod records.
Catch	Fourchon
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High Mountain Trout	10 July 2002
This past week my wife Tina and I went to Colorado, where, along with my Brother Cliff and his wife Patti we made a trip to an area called Music Pass. Music Pass is in the Sangre De Cristo mountains and wilderness area in Southwest Colorado, which was about a three and a half hour drive from Cliff and Patti’s home outside of Boulder. We arrived at the lower trailhead at about 1pm on Thursday July 2nd. The lower trail consist of a rutted out 4 wheel drive road of about 1.75 miles long. Since we were in a 4 wheel drive we were able to drive this section of the trail and adequately test the skid plates on the bottom of Cliff’s truck. This is one rugged road. Once we made the drive up the lower trail and arrived at what passes as the parking area for the upper trailhead, we strapped on our backpacks and continued on foot. While the hike over the pass and into the valley where we camped is not terribly long, it is terribly steep. Being flat-landers from sea level the incline and lack of available oxygen at that altitude made the hike in a little tough on Tina and I. After a fairly arduous hike we cleared the pass at 11,380 feet of elevation. The sight in front of us from the top of the pass was breathtaking. The trail continued down into a valley about 700 feet below us. The valley was surrounded by high rugged peaks of over 13,000 feet and blanketed with wild flowers including Columbine, Indian Paintbrush, Wild Roses, and many others equally as beautiful that I cannot name. We made our descent into the valley and made camp along the Sand Creak. Running water is a great lullaby. Friday morning we got up, ate a quick breakfast, and made a short hike from the campsite to the site of an old beaver pond. When we arrived at the pond site we found that the beaver dam had been blown out, but the creek, and fish remained. With the dam and pond now gone the level of the creek remains a little lower, and the current a little slower than we had experienced here on our last visit some years ago, this presented challenges to the fishing. The fish, all Rio Grande Cutthroats, were holding in pods of up to 30 or 40 fish apiece in very clear, very slow moving pools. The fish were always able to get a very good look at your fly, and would quickly spot mistakes like a bad presentation, too much movement from the angler on the bank, or a too brightly colored shirt. Most of my fish were caught from either a position of being on all fours, or sitting hunched over, using grass and shade as cover so the fish wouldn’t see me. In general I found that you would get the fish to take, or at least give your fly a good look for a couple of drifts, then they would be wise to what you had tied on and you would have to change flies. I went through this routine, going through almost everything in my box, then after sufficient time had past, went back to what I had tied on originally and started over again. We all caught quite a few fish that day, ranging in size from 6 inch dinks, to a respectable 17 incher, with many in the 12 to 14 inch range. These fish were brightly colored, beautiful, and even better because we knew they were wild, native fish. Saturday morning we hiked from our campsite to the “Lower Sand Creek Lake”. The lake is at nearly 12,000 feet of elevation so the hike up to it was pretty steep, although much easier without the weight of our packs on our back. When we arrived at the lake, it was beautiful, glassy, and fish were rising to prolific hatches that were coming off. In addition to the fish in the lake, there were also many fish to be found in the creek running out of the lake. We actually fished the creek more than the lake because the lake was situated as to be nearly impossible to cast out into from the bank with the exception of a couple of spots. The creek was also in the tight confines of trees but is so small that you could cover the entire width of it by simply extending your rod out over it. On Saturday the fish fed with abandon. These high mountain cutthroats have such a short window of opportunity to fatten themselves up before the water freezes over again that they aggressively pursue their food…almost any food…especially big food. Small nymphs did not draw near as much attention or as many strikes as bigger flies. These fish were all over number 14 hairs ears, number 12 stone fly nymphs, number 12 and 14 wooly buggers, hoppers, beetles, and large caddis flies…especially large caddis flies. By shortly after noon I had caught about 25 fish and this seemed to be the average among us. The average size of the fish at Lower Sand Creek Lake were also considerably bigger than those we had caught at the old beaver dam the day before. We kept a few fish for supper that night (6 fish between the 4 of us) and released the rest to fight again another day. The fresh protein was a welcome change from the diet of freeze dried food and trail mix we were living on up there. The cutthroats had a delicious pink flesh similar to but milder than salmon. When we returned to camp Saturday afternoon there was a herd of wild Rocky Mountain Goats in the area of the campsite. They kept what I’m sure they felt was a safe distance, but stayed in the general area for a couple of hours. Sunday we hiked back out, still awash in the beauty of the place, and feeling quite small in comparison to the scale of the peaks that surrounded us. You know now that I think of it, I don’t think it’s so much that I was feeling small, but rather….right sized. I have some pictures that acompany this story at my home page redchaser.com.
Ron Begnaud	S.W. Colorado
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post bill	06 July 2002
I was out on the fourth, the water was up but not as high as I'd expect. It was dirty but not unfishable, the fish were very aggressive and feeding hard. It was a good morning until about 9:30 when it just turned off.
tim aid	myrtle grove
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poppers	28 June 2002
They were great today lots of big fish hunting all kinds of poppers! I even cought some specks on the flats this morning.
tim aid	myrtle grove
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Bluewater Dolphin	26 June 2002
I made a very successful fishing trip last Sunday, 22 June with Capt. Scott Avanzino, and deckhand, Darrell Couvillion on the Cheri Lee. The knowledge and experience of these two gentlemen made possible my catch of a 21 pound Dorado, which will place second all time for Dolphin caught on fly in Louisiana. I had a great time, and look forward to boarding the Cheri Lee again soon for more of the same. I tried to write down my impressions of the trip. As I remember... We left Venice Marina at about 6:20 in the rain aboard the Cheri Lee, Capt. Scott Avanzino's 33' Blackfin Express. We ran out Tiger Pass and turned south to West Delta block 152 to make our first stop for Red Snapper on conventional gear. The tally at that stop was about 4 snapper and 5 or 6 'jacks. We spooled up and headed back north to find the rip, and troll for Dorado. We found the rip to be a solid line of floating sargassum dividing murky green water from clear cobalt gulf brine. It was beautiful. We stopped, tailed into the weedline, and immediately go into the chicken dolphin. In the rush to get rigged up, I rigged my Orvis Silver label 11 wt. rod and grabbed a Reddington AL 7/8 with 9 wt. floating Orvis Wonderline, with a 20 # class line and 60 # fluorocarbon bite tippet. I was number one up and Rip Manint was 2. I had a nice male on with the first cast, and Rip was not far behind. I went back in with my tan over white clouser minnow, and hooked up with a nice 5 pound Dorado which jumped two or three times before I got him near the transom. I was trying to figure our how to get him into the boat, when he darted into a clump of floating grass and did a quick 180 to snap the class line. That was discouraging, but I gave up my spot on the port side and let the other guys have a shot. After the initial miscue on my gear, I swapped the 11 wt. for an Orvis 8 wt. Clearwater rod with a blue and white clouser and waited my turn in the queue. While waiting, there was lots of whoops and hollers, jumping dolphin, fish flouncing in the cockpit floor, blood, guts, regurgitated fish breakfast, and wet, gore streaked anglers. Scott mentioned that we could continue until we got bored, then he would drag some ballyhoo as teasers down the blue side of the rip to see if we could entice some bulls. That sounded good to everyone, so as they boated their last chicken dolphin, I rigged my Tibor Gulfstream with a blue over purple flashaboo streamer topped by a little peacock hurl tied on a 5/0 circle hook. We decided upon a trial or two to work-out the process, which was: 2 Penn 50s , one rigged with naked ballyhoo and one rigged on a coon pop with a blue and white skirt. Two anglers stood at the ready on the reels, while a fly fisher waited on the starboard quarter with line stripped into a stripping basket, ready to toss to the fish that came into the spread. When a fish hit at the teasers, the two on the Penns were to reel the baits in as fast as possible, while the fly angler tossed to the fish. One the first trial run, Capt. Scott encouraged me to throw immediately, and I hung up on the longer of the two teaser rigs. We quickly learned to wait until the lines were cleared, and the two on the Penns learned how to burn those lines back in 2 or 3 seconds. We felt we were ready for anything the gulf could toss at us. We started trolling in earnest and had a fish in the baits in a couple of minutes, but he only made a run at my fly to turn away. Capt. Scott called no joy, and off we went again. We trolled for about 10 more minutes before we had another shot at a bull. I was still up and made my cast, and Capt. Scott was about to tell me I wasn't stripping the fly fast enough when she grabbed the streamer and I yelled FISH ON! Everyone settled in to watch me fight the fish, a bright yellow, blue speckled, 12 pound cow Dorado. She jumped for me a couple of times, and I winched her to within a couple of gaff lengths of the transom, but the fish was too small for the gaff, and deckhand Darrel Couvillion was scared he would separate the tipped with a missed gaff shot. The fish was not cooperating, and she stayed out of range of the gaff for a few trips back and forth across the transom. I finally got her turned and headed for the back of the boat, and the hook pulled. Disappointment. I put up the rod, and retired to the fly bridge for a powerade and consoling words from both captain and deck hand. I think they were really worried about me, but I reassured them I was OK, and I was ready to go again when my turn came. Off to drag baits again; one of the reel guys was slow on the uptake, and we boated a 6 pound cow dolphin, and missed several more shots at fish on the fly. We finally decided to stop for chicken dolphin again chummed them up to the back of the boat, deciding to turn most of these loose to grow. A 3 or 4 ft. shark showed up in the chum, at about that time, and cut a chicken or two in half before moving off. About 5 minutes later, Frank Genusa snagged something deep, and fought it for all he was worth on a 12 wt. Teton and 12 wt. rod he made back in January. Darrel, our deck hand, expressed his worry about the rod, but Frank reassured him that HE had made the rod, and it would outlast the 20 pound class tippet, no matter what! Frank fought that fish for about 30 minutes before he got it up to the top of the water. During the fight, seeing the rod slammed against the gunnel and the substantial bend in the upper section, we all expressed opinions on what the leviathan could possible be, I heard tuna more than once. It turned out to be our friend the blacktip shark. Frank managed to snag a swivel that was attached to a wire leading to a circle hook that was left in the fish by a previous angler. That was fun. Back to trolling a while but after a few more fish in the baits, we had still not netted a big one on the fly, so we opted for a final stop for chicken dolphin. At one point, I think we had 4 guys slinging flies before cooler heads prevailed, and we sorted everything out again. Finally, John Surek and I were back at it with fly rods and Capt. Scott yelled, someone throw a popper, there is a bull cruising around down there! Surek grabbed the spinning rod with a plug attached, and slung it at the beast. The plug promptly fouled on the grass, at which point I slung my 8 wt. rig with a 1/0 white deceiver at her. I saw the take about a foot deep and 12-15 feet off the transom. It was magic; she hit it, and turned hard for the cover. She jumped three times in the blue water, then headed under the grass to emerge on the other side and breach again. My Reddington is rigged for left hand retrieve, and I was getting bruised fingers with each revolution of the spool as she peeled off all my fly line and about half of my backing in seconds. Capt. Scott backed us through the grass line while I held on for dear life. A quick check of the backing revealed I as OK, and I tightened down on my drag and let her run with the rod pointed straight at her. The next time she breached, she came completely clear of the water, but she was once again on the opposite side of the grass line. Now that we were across in the green water, she was back in the blue. I fought her for a while longer and got her close, but she was under a ton of grass, and we were scared the gaff shot would cut her loose. After a quick conference with the deckhand and captain, it was decided to let her run again in the hopes that she would clear most of the grass around the line and leader. The current by this time had pulled us clear of the grass line and we were in the green water. I loosened up on the drag, letting her move off again, and she was quickly into my backing, but not as deep this time. When I got her back in this time, she had shed most of the grass, and Darrel made a perfect gaff shot on her. High fives all around, then a couple of pictures and it was under the ice with her for a ride back in to the scales. She was 21 pounds even, on the Venice Marina scale, which was good enough for second to Dr. Vic Tedesco's 29.37 pounder caught in May 1993. Rick Kasprzak, a biologist at LDWF marine fisheries division made the identification for the record application, and I will send the paperwork, fly, leader, and pictures tomorrow.
Gary Parrish
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trout	25 June 2002
I just returned from My vacation with the family to Yellowstone National Park. Man it is something. I got to fish one morning alone . I fished the Firehole River , near Fountain Flats Drive. I caught 4 browns and 3rainbows. 1 brown on a dry fly, the others on a nymph. There were 3 cow elk and 2 buffalo grazing right across the river from Me . I fished the Madison another day with My Son and nephew caught a brown on a dry fly, but was mostly teaching the boys to cast fly rods , they both caught a couple fish each.
Brad	Yellowstone Park
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Big Fish on Fly	23 June 2002
Sunday....Geneusa,Parrish,Manint,Surek,del Rio booked Avanzino for Fly Fishing Trip. Started with cut bait at rigs. Caught Red Snapper,Amberjack for box then found the Rip and put about 20 keeper Dolphin in box. Parrish landed a 21 lb'er on 8wt rod.Should be 2-3 in State Records. Had rain on off all day,seas were not bad 1-2 ft. Frank landed largest AJ,Gary had largest Snapper.
del Rio	Gulf of Mexico
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It's Sunday, and we're still drying out	22 June 2002
Steve Lee and I went down to fish Grand Isle Fri pm/Sat am. Fished the bridges in early am, water mirky, wind rough at 15 knots. Caught 2 specks, more than most. At first light, headed north to Galliano to get away from wind (naturally, the wind died down at GI after we left). Once there, we each paddled west a couple of miles in our canoes, until we found reds. For 2 hours, we had a fun time with poppers. Then the dark clouds moved in. We harbored up against a short bank (not one with tall trees) and tried to ride out the storm. Three hours went by, and it was still pouring. Later found out 6 inches of rain had fallen! Finally a break in the weather, we headed back to the launch. The pumps were generating big time. That much dirty freshwater doesn't look good for next weekend.
Catch
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Hwy 51 locations	22 June 2002
Hwy 51 canals refer to the parallel canals, and numerous inlets and small bayous that drain them, between the I-55/Hwy 51 split south of Ponchatoula down to a mile north of the LaPlace I-10 exit. There are drains every 1/2 mile, sometimes less or more. The drains are good fishing in early spring, late fall, and very early and very late in summer. There's also some more extended bank fishing at the Ruddock launch site. Folks with yaks and canoes have range to nearly all the water in this system. Boats usually stay in the main western (single) canal, since the eastern canal is simply a series of enclosed pits with openings to the western canal. Like most darkwater/blackwater fisheries, action is good in cooler weather, or early and late, using popping bugs, and the fish tend to be smaller than in most lakes. But unlike many blackwater systems, Hwy 51 benefits from effects of tide and sometimes slight brackish water. So populations are quite high. During very dry spells, it's not uncommon to catch a bass one minute and redfish the next. Manchac Pass, which splits the canals into north and south, is a popular late-summer spot for specks, white trout, and black drum. Blue cats are good year round. Hope this helps.
Catch
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Hwy 51?	20 June 2002
I've seen a number of posts referring to "Hwy 51". Where are they referring to, Hwy 51 north of Hammond? Is this area fishable from the bank? I am boatless. A few more details would be appreciated. FWIW, I'm in the Midcity New Orleans area, routinely fish Bayou St. John, City Park, and the lakefront, just wanting to try someplace new. Thanks in advance. -Wyatt wyatt70119@bellsouth.net
Wyatt Hines	New Orleans
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Late pm at Hwy 51	18 June 2002
After work yesterday, returned to Hwy 51. Dodged rain for an hour, fished drains every 1/4 mile. After rain stopped, launched canoe. Lack of boat traffic made big difference from Sat. Many bream, 6 bass, 2 sacalait, 2 gar caught on size 8 popping bug.
Catch
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Late pm at False River	17 June 2002
Quick trip to False River after work. Few boats to contend with, water flat calm. Plenty bream, not much size. Fished jitterbee under float, they ignored the bee and kept hitting the float. Switched to popping bug, and it was fast and furious until dark.
Catch	Rougon
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Fingerling Bass	16 June 2002
Saturday started with Popper,but no hits. Then tied on #6 Woolybugger and caught several 4" fingerling Bass. Can someone tell me how old a 4" Bass should be? I'm thinking two or three months. That would put the spawn into March or April.
del Rio	Private Pond
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Hwy 51 a bit tough Saturday	16 June 2002
MJ and I went out Sat 4pm to Hwy 51. Unusual amount of boat traffic, mostly joy riders, skiers, a few anglers. Banks were muddy, wind was rough even in protected areas. Little action on popping bugs, mostly small stuff. T'storm moved in, everybody left. After t'storm, things went calm. Jake caught several nice sacalait (crappie, white perch to those north of I-10). Best fly was - would you believe size 6 popper?
Catch
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Ron's Redchaser	14 June 2002
On Memorial Day weekend, just north of the Leeville bridge, under great conditions, I sight-casted at over 20 red cruise missiles and ended up with one take. Dejectedly I headed home, sure that I had lost my mojo. That's when I remember coming across Ron's Redchaser on his web site and decided to tie a couple. I went out last week to Golden Meadow under windy, cloudy conditions and caught 2 on this fly on a day that even the bait fisher's were doing nothing. Went back out today hoping for a break in the wind but no luck. The wind was at 8-10 knots and patchy sun, along with tide and fairly dirty water. Still I ended up with 3 reds out of 5 hook-ups, and that is after only 1 sighting and just fishing spots and disturbances on a morning that I initially thought was going to be a good day to sleep in. Ron may have a winner and I encourage you to give it a try.It uses an Eagle Claw EC 413 jig hook which is a little hard to find but e-mail me and I'll send you a few.
Jeff M	Golden Meadow
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Trout	09 June 2002
Fished the Montegut area this weekend. We found clean water everywhere except the surf. Caught specks, whites, flounder. Did not see any reds. Chartruese seemed to be the preferred color on any pattern. Fished from Madison Bay to Last Island, all the water was beautiful.
Mickey	Montegut, LA
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Haymark Weekend	08 June 2002
Sat Morning Danny and I fished Haymark Marsh. Water was low, vind moderate at about 5 to 6 out of the North, saw lots of fish. Danny recently hurt his back so I spent most of the time poling him. He caught 4 reds and a nice flounder on a new fly he's tying called Willies Shwimp. Sunday my brother Steve who is in from Colorado came fishing. The water was gin clear and there was absolutely no wind, and the tide was pretty slack. While this made it excellent for spotting and watching fish, it made them super spooky and virtually impossible to catch. Steve caught 1 red early before the sun was high enough to create much visiblillity, once the sun got higher, the fish got spookier, they would spook off of the fly, even little charlies I had left over from a bonefish trip. It didn't matter if you were stripping the fly fast, slow or not at all, the fish would spook off of it. Steve made a lot of really good cast and presentations to many fish with various fly's, all to nno avail. Sometimes the fish just don't realize they're supposed to eat what we throw at them.
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Estuary
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Lil' Mo'	02 June 2002
Went on a three day trout fishin' spree on the LMR and man,the weather was NICE!Caught 9 weds.@ prime time in the C&R area using "smidges" fished in the film with fast 2 in. strips.Had the whole river to myself after about 7:30 PM.Action was slow thurs.AM,only caught one with about a dozen just teasin' me.The punkin seed bream where beddin' up at Hinds' Bluff in 12" of water.Caught several of them as well as a 12" bass on the 3 wgt. Sage fishin'a sz. 8 marabou clouser-fiesty little joker took me all over the pool.Still some trout at HB,but they weren't interested in anything I tossed at 'em.Spent thurs afternoon exploring the west side forest roads of Lake Greeson.You'll need a truck,a good topo map,and maybe even a GPS unit...VERY FEW MARKERS ON THESE ROADS.You can almost hear the banjos playin',if you know what I mean.Caught 6 trout fri. before headin' home.Dynamite Hill camp ground open for business.
Swampthang	SHREVEPORT
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A Legend Leaves Us	30 May 2002
I just recieved sad news that Tom Nixon, author of "Fly Tying and Fly Fishing for Bass and Panfish" and innovator of many great flies like the .56er and the Calcasieu Pig Boat has passed away from cancer. Tom resided here in Lake Charles and actively gave of his time and resources to our local fly fishing club, as well as many clubs and organizations around the region untill the very end. It was my great pleasure to have seen his tying demonstrations and fishing techniques presentations numerous times, and a great honor to have spent some time in a boat on the water with him. Tom had his sharp wit, and was a master at spinning a yarn into a fishing lesson untill the very end. It is my understanding that he was only recently diagnosed with cancer. He will be missed greatly.
Ron Begnaud	Lake Charles
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Wild Browns	29 May 2002
While Conclave was occurring I took a little trip, about 6,000 miles. Fished the Don River in Yorkshire, UK. Had a great guide, David Clavert (contact me if you go to Yorkshire - Derbyshire area, Northwest England). Caught wild browns on a small river where you crawled on your knees to sneak up on the fish, dry flies up stream. Also fished the Derwent River in Derbyshire, wild browns and great wlld graylings. If you plan fishing in UK give me a holler, might be able to help you away from tourist rivers.
Pinsel	Don River
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Giant Bluefin Landed Memorial Day	29 May 2002
For those of you that may not have heard the news, a giant bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) was landed on the Miss Cathy, a 50' Hatteras from New Orleans this past Monday. While fishing along a grassline 25 miles out of South Pass, a school of the giants were spotted chasing dolphin. The fish hit a trolled Cajun Yap lure, and made a hole the size of a car on it's re-entry into the Gulf. After a 5 hour 15 minute fight, the fish was boatside. The crew consisting of Paul Ippolito, Patrick Fitzmorris, Capt. Michael Ippolito and angler Ron Roland struggled for two hours to try & boat the fish. When it became apparent their attempts were futile, they tied two ropes to the monster and dragged it for 7 hours back to port. The exhausted crew arrived at Port Eads at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 26th, where the fish was hoisted onto the scale and weighed a whopping 1,152 lbs. It had a girth of 98 inches and overall length of 130 1/2 inches. It is the largest fish ever taken on rod and reel in Louisiana, and will the new #1 State record bluefin, once certified by LOWA. In addition, it will be a new Gulf of Mexico record. To view a picture of the behemoth go to www.reellouisianaadventures.com and look under SUSAN's REPORTS
Susan Gros - Reel Louisiana Adventures	South Pass - Venice, LA.
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Hump Day Reds	29 May 2002
Wednesday afternoon, Danny Williams and I hit the marsh. We got on the water at about 3pm, we were at the very tail end of the incomming tide, the water was relatively high, and we weren't seeing many fish, the few we were seeing we fish we spooked with the boat. By about 5 the tide started to creep back out and we gradually began to see more activity. Finally by about 5:40 Danny caught our first fish of the afternoon. After that things steadily picked up and we caught 9 reds plus broke off two others by dark. Oh yea, Danny also caught a hard head on fly. The fly's we caught fish on were redchasers, Kwan's, and this Carabou Hair Crab that Danny Ties. The way the fish were acting it looks like they were feeding on very small shad. At times when the tide has been real low we've been seeing them feed on juvenile shrimp.
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Esutary Marsh
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He won't post it, but I will	28 May 2002
Master Jake refuses to post his trip yesterday to False River, says he doesn't won't to divulge secrets. He needs to have a talk with Jody. His grandpa says they got there about 7am, caught several nice bream and tons of small ones at first. Then about 10am, they hit a good bed and picked up most of their keepers. Jitterbees under a cork caught most of the fish, including some nice catfish. That's when I learned about Jake's "secret". He noticed on piers that had tires below the waterline - tires used as boat bumpers - that some had catfish laying inside. He jigged his jitterbee inside the tires. When the cats hit the bee, he yanked them out the tire into open water, and the fight was on! In youth, there is innovation...
Catch	New Roads
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Skunked	28 May 2002
Fished the north shore of Ponchartrain from Bayou Lacombe to Goose Point with Mike Lafleur. The only action I had all morning was one hit from a needle fish. Didn't see or hear of anyone else catching fish near the shore. The grass beds are up, but according to a local they are not as extensive as this time last year.
Steve Lee	Bayou Lacombe
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Private pond	28 May 2002
Fished a private pond out of Clinton yesterday. This pond had not been fished much. Lots of bluegill. Landed one about 3/4 lb., a lot of fun on a 4wt. I plan to return for the bass I have heard about.
Mickey	Clinton, LA
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2 wt. action	27 May 2002
Sunday, I fished the Comite River at BREC's Comite River Park (8900 Hooper Road). From the parking lot, follow the mountain bike trails to the left. At the forks, stay to the left. It's about 1/4-1/2 mile to the river. I fished about a 1/4 mile stretch of river downstream of the Hooper Road bridge. The water was clear and shallow, but was flowing at a surprising rate. I was using poppers approximately size 16-18. I got a dozen or so strikes fishing the pocket areas and undercut banks, but it was hard to get a drag free drift to keep the fly in the strike zones for any amount of time. I was using a short 2wt. fiberglass rod which didn't mend line that well. Managed to land one 5" pumpkin seed. Kurt
Kurt Loup	Comite River
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Tailing Reds	26 May 2002
Took a little trip a bit east of Delecroix/Hopedale. Made it out around Brush Island, Elephant Point, and Tail Bay. Water was pretty clear, reds tailing and to my amazement I saw gulls actually diving and pecking on the reds. When we finally got positioned to intercept one of the pods I made sure to have a Flexo Crab tied onto my 7 weight. Sight, Cast, Strip, BAM and wrrrrrrrrrrr went the reel - 8 pounder. A few minutes later same drill, 9 pounder. Next time a surprise - black drum, an excellent tug of war. A few more of their buddies followed and it was time to come on in - a most excellent way to spend a tide shift.
Robert Peet	Long Beach, MS
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the boys are back in town, again	26 May 2002
Since February it's been too much work, too many activities, and not near enough fishing. So now that Master Jake and I have our weekends back (and a lot of vacation time), the fish are in for trouble! They got their first taste Sunday. Our plan was to fish the Caminada bridge lights during the early am hours on a rising tide, then hit the marsh around daylight. The bridges were a bust. Water very dirty, and there few lights now below the bridge. You better bring your own. At sunrise, we launched the canoe at FAA Gate. Immediately Jake was into a few reds, but the action quit around 8am. We worked a large area, lots of dirty water, few fish seen. Tried for specks in several of my hot spots, didn't get one bite. Finally, we hit a series of back ponds on the eastern side of Lake Laurier. Here the Jakester put on a clinic, teasing drum and even sheepshead into hitting a gold spoon fly. We paddled back around noon, along the lake shoreline to avoid the wind. When suddenly before my eyes did appear, a large pod of tailing reds moving near. It was just like you'd see on one of those ESPN or TNN fishing shows - possibly 15-20 fish, all meandering back and forth. Jake cast to the lead fish, it hooked up, ran off 50 feet of line in seconds, then spit the hook. The fly flew back towards the boat, landed in the water, and was immediately gobbled up by another red. I made a cast towards the remnants of the pod, and when the fly hit the water, again line just took off. Pandemonium reigned! The reds all measured 25 inches. It was an exciting finish. Not a bad day, given the off color of the water. Dirty water won't be a problem on our next trip - south Florida. Tell the snook and tarpon the bad news - the BOYS ARE BACK.
Catch Cormier	Grand Isle
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Alligator Bayou	22 May 2002
What do you want to know? The bait shop at the launch rents canoes. Paddling down Alligator Bayou will get you to Cypress Lake in about 10 minutes. If you follow the levee on the left of Cypress Lake, you can make your way around to the opposite side of Cypress Lake. At this end, you will find a long straight canal. If you go straight at this intersection rather than going down the canal, you can wind your way to the western? end of Spanish Lake. If you don't know where you are going, you can get lost fairly easily. Last time I was out there, we couldn't make it all the way to Spanish Lake due to water hyacinths blocking the way. I'd try small popping bugs, jitterbees or dry flies along the bases of the many cypress trees. I have some pictures of the area on my web page www.loup-garou.net. Follow the paddle trip link. Kurt
Kurt Loup
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Looking for information	22 May 2002
I am looking for some information on fishing in Alligator Bayou and Spanish Lake. If anyone can help, please contact me a LSUrents@aol.com. Paul
Paul X. Noel	Spanish Lake
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The Prodigal Friends	19 May 2002
Cliff Young and Mark Poe came over from Houston this morning. I couldn't break away till noon so I e-mailed them very specific directions and a map on how to get to some good water in Sabine Refuge, with the intent of meeting them at the dock around noon. They got a real late start on the water because of a few wrong turns by car and boat, finally getting to "the spot" by about 9:45. They reported seeing lots of fish and catching 2 nice ones on fly before the tide got too high. They were almost an hour late meeting me at the dock, and when they showed up they and the boat were covered in mud, they had taken a wrong turn, gotten stuck, and had to get out of the boat and push. By the time they met me they were too exhausted to be up for checking out any more water. While sitting at the ramp talking, Cliff picked up a spinning rod and cast a spoon..bam he caught a nice redfish. The 3 of us sat there at the dock and caught 8 reds and 2 trout on spoons, grubs and fly's. Mark caught a nice 7 pounder, the others ranged from around 18 to 22 inches. www.redchaser.com
Ron Begnaud	Sabine Refuge
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FFF SE Conclave - Gulf Shores, AL. 15-17May 2003	19 May 2002
SE was a lot of fun.....We missed seeing many of you there....the best part was the Cajun Feast on Thursday, 15 May.....We fed about 200 guests...the boys from Lafayette and Baton Rouge did a "Superior" job as usual....next year its rumored that this Thursday nite gathering will be held at the park facilities so long as we buy the beer in Alabama. The State Park facilities will be undergoing renovation soon,(Jun 03) I heard is when its going to start. There was a good crowd on Saturday....but Friday was a bit light....the company was good, but would have been better if many of you had come. Ya'll missed the pregnant "Babe" with her tanned belly hangin' out ...she was a "babe" from the word GO.....but that's another story for a different time and forum. Fished Florida (30 min away) at the Gulf Islands National Seashore State Park..the grass beds were fantastic, caught some on every cast!!! ><)))>
Walt
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Great Morning in the marsh	18 May 2002
This morning (sunday) Danny and I fished the marsh. When we arrived the tide was WAY out and comming in, we could see fish everywhere. There was a HUGE school of redfish that had their backs out of the water a couple of hundred yards away, but there wasn't enough water to get to them. We fished the small area that had enough water for us to pole in untill the tide got higher and we were able to move back in the marsh. We ended up catching 16 reds up to 9 pounds, and a flounder. We've never seen so many fish...awsome..
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Estuary
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sharks!	14 May 2002
went back to cameron early yesterday morn to see if i could spot some blacktip sharks on beach... they were every where... from day-break till about 8am they were in knee deep water feeding hard on bait fish.... if i saw one back fin i saw 50!.... managed to hang 2 and break off on one... none landed... (useing surf gear)... the wind was kicking at about 100mph! when it lays down this summer, early one morn, i may try putting on a steel shock leader and give the ole 8wt a shot at a 25lb shark! i think if i use a loud, big, mamouth gurgler or something top water, i may have a shot! anyone out there tried site casting shark in milky , south louisiana surf?! tips? bonswa,ty
ty	cameron beach
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wind!	12 May 2002
got tired of fighting the wind with my fly rod yesterday....will it ever die?! i gathered up my surf rods and headed south of lake charles, to cameron looking for big game. wind no longer a problem! i managed to land a 7-8lb sailfin gaftop catfish, bigest one ive ever seen, on live mullet....i then caught a 3-4' black tip shark. my largest yet...fun day....i now know what to do when the wind kicks up! bonswa, ty
ty	lake charles
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New Place	09 May 2002
Join us at www.cypressfly.com for Louisiana fly fishing discussion boards.
Neka
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Bream	08 May 2002
Caught 18 nice bream in West Lake Verret Field, today. Water is pretty, but rising. Caught them on a little thing I call a Swimp. Ice Chenile ,with a chartruese crystal flash tail , with gold pull chain bead eyes. Fished about 8 inches or so under VOSI.
Brad P.	St. Mary Parish
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Wind	06 May 2002
Ok, who ordered the gale-force winds? Everything's muddy again, and HIGH. Went for an hour after work today, not a strike.
Neka	St. Mary Parish
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big bluegills and sac-a-lait	05 May 2002
My friend and I had a great trip Saturday to Lake Penchant area. Caught and release hundreds of bluegills, brought 90 big males home for eating. We also caught 28 nice sac-a-lait, the largest was 2 1/2 pounds. Most were caught on foam spiders and poppers, even the sac-a-lait. Also caught one 20" red that had fun with me until he tired. Catch plenty, keep some.
gene	Lake Penchant and pit
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Clear Water	04 May 2002
I thought I was in Florida Yesterday, The Upper Marsh was that clear, now I know how Red Fish got their name. If the wind hadn't been blowing it wouldn't have been fair seeing the fish so far away. A great day all the way around, lots of Reds with a significant by catch of good size trout. The Trout were on the flats mixed in with the Reds.
Tim Aid	Myrtle Grove
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Puddler Forum	02 May 2002
It is working. Just go to the last post then follow up type in new subject....it works.
del Rio	home computer
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South basin getting better	01 May 2002
Picked up three keeper bass after work in about two hours. Also eight big bream. All on a chartreuse and yellow popper. Water's still stained in the west St. Mary Parish area, but Stephensville area is supposedly good. The Atchafalaya is moving swiftly, but the lack of rain and calmer winds seem to be helping. When is the puddler's forum coming back?
Neka	St. Mary Parish
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cajun bonefish!	30 April 2002
just moved back to lake charles.. this time i have a home 100' off contraband bayou.... ive been seeing tons of mullet every day...i was courious if anyone had ever caught one on fly... i did some diging and - BAM! all kinds of sites were out there on flyroding for mullet! most people chum them with bread or oatmeal. IT WORKS! as soon as the bread hits the water, the silver jumpers start feeding like paranah! most people tie a fly to simulate bread or oatmeal...small trout flys or cotton / rubberband tied on a small trout fly was said to do the trick.... i went out this after noon and gave it a go...they sucked it down like it was bread and the fight was on! i landed 2 CAJUN BONEFISH ! they fight! they schools by my home are small fish... the ones i see in the marsh are big....i think i may have to hit the marsh with some oatmeal and my #4 rod next week!
ty	lake charles
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lights	29 April 2002
does any one know what the 2nd or 3rd largest speck caught on fly is? i had a speck, at the side of my boat in prien lake, middle of lake charles, that went an easy 6-7 lbs....! landed 6 more specks between 15-23''. ive been developing some garfish flys for site casting gar... they are all done on small #6 trebble hooks... one is a streamer and the other is a gurgler tied on a trebble hook. its coined the "GAR-GLER"! caught 3 gar as well on new flys all around 23''. man i really love this night fishing under the lights....bonswa...ty
ty southerland	lake charles
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