Back in November/Decemberish my good old buddy Tom calls me up and asks if I down for the Jacksonville Kayak Fishing Classic again. I tell him I'll need to check with my amazing, terrific, beautiful loving wife since I missed not only Mother's Day, but also her birthday because of it. She being the awesome wife she is said "NO!!!! But if you want to go a trip you get 1 week it just can't be that weekend." Fair enough, relayed info to Tom and it was on to Google to see where to go. Keyed in "top kayak fishing destinations" and you get a couple of lists from YakAngler magazine. I noticed between the list there was 1 place that kept showing up in the top 5 if not the #1 spot. Grand Isle, Louisiana. Did another search and found that there was a reason for its placings. GI is crazy kayak friendly. You can literally launch everywhere! There is marsh as far as the eye can see on one side of the island and the Gulf on the other. Talked it over with Tom and it was settled, Grand Isle are the end of March.
Departure day came quickly. Tom, Lester (friend of Tom's) and I loaded up in his RV and were off. The 2 day trek down was fun, 3 guys swapping fishing stories, dirty jokes, etc. Finally arriving we were giddy as school girls to get on the water and wet some lines. We quickly readied the RV for our stay and we were off. We didn't need to drive far for water that looked fishy. The three of us launched into that brackish tea stained water that is the Mississippi Delta. Quickly we realized why this was the #1 kayak fishing destination, FISH EVERYWHERE!!! Tom and Lester hooked up quickly with a couple fish, I on the other hand, not so much. I struggled to land my first redfish. With the light fading and still no fish I spotted a small cut in the marsh where some mullet were going crazy. I ninja my kayak into the cut and notice why they were going crazy. There were several reds pushing them up to the back of this cut. I launch a my new Arashi Wake Bait into the fray. I reel in the bait with the anticipation of a violent strike. As is gets closer and closer visions of a screaming drags and bent rods are a flurry in my mind. Then......NOTHING! I launch the bait several more times into school with the same result. Finally on my last last cast before its too dark to find our way back I get the violent strike I was waiting for. The drag screamed, the rod bent. It was not the biggest fish of the trip, but it was the greatest catch of the trip. It was my first ever redfish. After years of watching tv and Youtube videos I finally realized why these are sought after fish. I was hooked.
The next morning came with a revisit to the spot before with the same stellar results. Being adventurous and being there is thousands of acres of marsh we picked a different local for the evening. As we slowly drifted along, blind casting we pass some high voltage power line towers. I think "Hey, that looks like there might be hanging out near the pillions." I pitch my swim bait in between two of them with real no thought that there might actually be a fish there. Not paying to much attention as I'm retrieving came the thunder. A strike that nearly ripped my brand new Denali Kovert from my hand into the drink. Quickly regaining my composer I began the battle. After about 5 min or so the fish surrendered, a beautiful 28" red. The biggest redfish of the trip. Day 3 morning came, back to the honey hole. This time TAILERS! Everywhere we looked we saw tails in the air from rooting fish. This what you see on tv, guys sight casting to fish. The three of us had a blast casting to these fish. The take was visual and aggressive. Pitch a Gulp! shrimp ~2ft or less in front of them, a couple little hops and BOOM! Fish on. We fished the morning tide with several hook ups, a few misses and couple of heart breaks. The evening tide came around and so did a trip back to spot #2. This time I had a new plan, beat the big red from the day before. I picked up some frozen mullet for bait. I told Tom and Lester to go off and do their thing I was gonna fish a deep channel. They went off, I dropped a bait and drifted slowly with current. With the rod in my holder I drifted off into the daze that is the beauty of the marsh. Suddenly the rod snaps sideways and I snap to. Grabbing the rod with the feeling of nothing on the end my heart sinks. I reel what I think is possibly an empty hook. As I get the bait close to my kayak, it skips across the surface when about 5' from the kayak emerges a grey fin. I immediately pull the bait from the water in utter shock and awe, trying to figure out what that was. Dolphin, shark, no clue. I snapped myself back into reality and drop my bait back into the water. The line goes tight as soon as it hits the bottom then just as fast goes limp. I reel it it, I've been clipped. So now knowing I'm dealing with a shark I grab a steel leader tie it on and drop another bait. I drift for about 15 seconds, line goes tight, drags starts screaming, FISH ON! A rush of excitement comes over me as I have just caught a shark from my kayak, no sooner I realize that I realize I JUST CAUGHT A SHARK FROM MY KAYAK! CRAP! So here I am, alone, with a shark on my line. The tug of war begins with give and take of line from reel. I finally just say F It! Crank the drag down and let him take him take me for a nice little ride. ~10 minutes pass with no give in either opponent. I'm trying to call for help via my phone with no avail, to which about that time Tom and Lester round the corner only to seem we with a bent rod and look of help on my face. "Big red!" Lester yells out to which I reply "SHARK!" They realize my predicament, paddle over snap some photos and release a nice 4' blacktip. By far the greatest highlight of the trip for me and with most likely be my all time favorite catches. The final day came with the only skunk day of the trip. As we headed home plans for next years trip down to Grand Isle play out in our minds.
Until next time. Tight Lines
Nice writeup Kyle. I'm ready to go again.
ReplyDeleteNice writeup Kyle. I'm ready to go again.
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