Redfish trip yesterday

[Jeffrey Silvan]

I'm down in New Orleans for a wedding, so as with most of my for-fun trips, I went a day early for some fishing, and this time happens to be fantastic for redfish on the gulf. As my luck usually goes, I missed the best fishing by a day. By the time I got down there, the wind shifted away from prevailing and started from the Gulf, bringing damp air and some cloud cover. A front also moved through, really throwing off the fish. 

That being said, still had an awesome trip. We were only going after bull redfish, and only saw maybe 2 slot fish the whole day and the rest were 20+ lbs. I saw the first fish within a minute of my guide getting on the pole, but it was about 8 feet away from the boat, so it spooked. Very next fish was about 30 feet away, I laid down a perfect cast and it ate. Unfortunately, I trout set it instead of strip setting, and it popped off within 5 seconds. The rest of the day we struggled with lighting and rarely could even see a fish further than 20 feet from the boat. With the new weather patterns, full moon and really low water, they were super spooky. Around noon, the guide finally found a spot where multiple big guys were laid up. I could barely see the one the guide wanted me to cast to, so he actually did an awesome job getting me to basically blind cast to the perfect location. I stripped it a few times, then BAM! I remembered to strip set this time. Ten minutes later, I had the beauty in the attached photo in the net. It measured 29 lbs on the boca grip (just missed joining the Dirty 30 Club!) before we revived and released it to live another day. That fish set my personal fly rod record for landed fish.

I had a couple other follows the rest of the day, but couldn't get them to actually eat. Most of the fish were just way too spooky, and by the time we saw them, they'd spook before I could even start the cast.

[Richard Farino]

Nice bull red.  I'm jealous   =)

R

Richard Farino

Urban Angler VA | 108 N. Washington Street  2nd Floor | Alexandria, VA 22314 

(703) 527-2524 | fax: (703) 527-3313 | ric...@urbanangler.com    

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[TurbineBlade]

Holy crap!!  That's a monster Jeff.  That one could eat the only redfish I've caught, and then stop at Captain D's afterward (in Louisiana it's not uncommon for redfish to stop at Captain D's) and eat all the fried shrimp and 2 plastic lobsters!

 

Gene

[Don Rose]

Great fish!

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[Vic Velasco]

That's it - I'm quitting my job and moving back down South...

On Friday, December 20, 2013 1:49:32 PM UTC-5, Donald Rose wrote:

Great fish!

On Dec 20, 2013, at 12:24 PM, Jeffrey Silvan <jeffre...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm down in New Orleans for a wedding, so as with most of my for-fun trips, I went a day early for some fishing, and this time happens to be fantastic for redfish on the gulf. As my luck usually goes, I missed the best fishing by a day. By the time I got down there, the wind shifted away from prevailing and started from the Gulf, bringing damp air and some cloud cover. A front also moved through, really throwing off the fish. 

That being said, still had an awesome trip. We were only going after bull redfish, and only saw maybe 2 slot fish the whole day and the rest were 20+ lbs. I saw the first fish within a minute of my guide getting on the pole, but it was about 8 feet away from the boat, so it spooked. Very next fish was about 30 feet away, I laid down a perfect cast and it ate. Unfortunately, I trout set it instead of strip setting, and it popped off within 5 seconds. The rest of the day we struggled with lighting and rarely could even see a fish further than 20 feet from the boat. With the new weather patterns, full moon and really low water, they were super spooky. Around noon, the guide finally found a spot where multiple big guys were laid up. I could barely see the one the guide wanted me to cast to, so he actually did an awesome job getting me to basically blind cast to the perfect location. I stripped it a few times, then BAM! I remembered to strip set this time. Ten minutes later, I had the beauty in the attached photo in the net. It measured 29 lbs on the boca grip (just missed joining the Dirty 30 Club!) before we revived and released it to live another day. That fish set my personal fly rod record for landed fish.

I had a couple other follows the rest of the day, but couldn't get them to actually eat. Most of the fish were just way too spooky, and by the time we saw them, they'd spook before I could even start the cast.

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[Daniel Davala]

Well done Jeff, awesome fish indeed!  Hard work and BIG reward!!!!!!

Dan Davala

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[Dave Marcus]

Fantastic fish, send that into the orvis blog, they post nice clear pics like that one. Great job.

On Friday, December 20, 2013 9:32:06 PM UTC-5, Dan Davala - Founder/President wrote:

Well done Jeff, awesome fish indeed!  Hard work and BIG reward!!!!!!

Dan Davala

On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 12:24 PM, Jeffrey Silvan <jeffre...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm down in New Orleans for a wedding, so as with most of my for-fun trips, I went a day early for some fishing, and this time happens to be fantastic for redfish on the gulf. As my luck usually goes, I missed the best fishing by a day. By the time I got down there, the wind shifted away from prevailing and started from the Gulf, bringing damp air and some cloud cover. A front also moved through, really throwing off the fish. 

That being said, still had an awesome trip. We were only going after bull redfish, and only saw maybe 2 slot fish the whole day and the rest were 20+ lbs. I saw the first fish within a minute of my guide getting on the pole, but it was about 8 feet away from the boat, so it spooked. Very next fish was about 30 feet away, I laid down a perfect cast and it ate. Unfortunately, I trout set it instead of strip setting, and it popped off within 5 seconds. The rest of the day we struggled with lighting and rarely could even see a fish further than 20 feet from the boat. With the new weather patterns, full moon and really low water, they were super spooky. Around noon, the guide finally found a spot where multiple big guys were laid up. I could barely see the one the guide wanted me to cast to, so he actually did an awesome job getting me to basically blind cast to the perfect location. I stripped it a few times, then BAM! I remembered to strip set this time. Ten minutes later, I had the beauty in the attached photo in the net. It measured 29 lbs on the boca grip (just missed joining the Dirty 30 Club!) before we revived and released it to live another day. That fish set my personal fly rod record for landed fish.

I had a couple other follows the rest of the day, but couldn't get them to actually eat. Most of the fish were just way too spooky, and by the time we saw them, they'd spook before I could even start the cast.

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[Richard DeafFly Lin]

Ahhhhh.. I am JEALOUS!!! With your permit, I will download this picture and photoshop to replace your head to my head!!!

[John L III]

nice fish. who was the guide? biloxi marsh? out of Hopedale? thanks JL

On Friday, December 20, 2013 12:24:24 PM UTC-5, Jeff Silvan wrote:

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Thanks for the kind words, all.

John - I went with Captain Greg Moon who is the owner of Louisiana Fly Fishing Charters. Awesome guy, and really worked his butt off for me. We did launch out of Hopedale and fish the Biloxi Marsh.

Dave - thanks for the suggestion. I'll probably pass along the picture to Orvis. Not only does Greg know how to fish, he also takes some pretty fantastic pictures. He always goes out with his big camera and gets some great shots.

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[Lane Smith]

For those who haven't had the pleasure of meeting Mr Silvan personally, please appreciate that this monster Bull - were it placed in a tank of water - would probably displace over half the volume as Jeff would ... Well done sir well done!

[Lane Smith]

[John L III]

thanks for the info. I grew up in NOLA and visit (and fish) frequently. My largest is a 40 lb black drum in Biloxi marsh on 20 lb tip. I'll give Moon a try. thanks. John

On Friday, December 20, 2013 12:24:24 PM UTC-5, Jeff Silvan wrote: