# Delacroix flyfishing trip report ( June 2016)



## Copperspoonfly (Oct 26, 2015)

A couple buddies of mine wanted to get out of town & go on a flyfishing trip. We decided to rent a cabin at Sweetwater marina and explore the marsh around Delacroix, LA.
I have always wanted to fish this area on my own, but felt intimidated by the vast size of the marsh and about getting lost. There is safety in numbers, so we got 6 people and 3 poling skiffs each equipped with a GPS and a radio and headed out of Austin, Texas. Joe and Tuan were in a gheenoe. Jesse and Daniel were in an Ankona Shadowcast. Adam and I were fishing out of a Hells bay Waterman.

Before we got to New Orleans, I got a facebook update from the guys at Dockside TV. They recommending to fish the ponds near Chalmette during high water situations and had included a map in the video showing where to go.

The guys that were already in Delacroix said that had a difficult time finding clear water that day so we changed plans and put in at the boat launch near the Marina Motel in Chalmette. The run to the Biloxi marsh was mostly in protected waters. After driving through the diversion canal which separated the freshwater from the saltwater we got into the Biloxi marsh. The water was stained like Ice tea. We were close to Lake Borna and I assumed that we were in salt water. I scooped up a handful of marsh water and gave it a taste. It tasted horrible, but I could not taste any salt in the water. I guess the recent rains had pushed a lot of freshwater into the marsh.

We started seeing long skinny shadows right off the bat. They all turned out to be spotted gar and although they would hit lures aggressively it was almost impossible to get a good hookset. Their mouths are hard and bony. A large one took my lure. I waited for him to swim off with the gulp and then hammered it back like you see the bass tournament guys do on TV. The gar was pissed and started taking off. I finally hooked on. Then he turned and came towards the boat and simply opened his mouth and let the lure fall out. Hooking these guys is like trying to set a hook into a steel plate.

We were poling along a small creek connecting larger ponds. I found a strong current pushing through some broken marsh islands. My gulp minnow sank into a calm pool in front of the grass island on the edge of the current. If it was not for the I had a hard hit and saw a dark colored red flash in the water. Finally, the first red was hooked up. It only went 23 inches, but with the huge number of bait in the marsh it had fattened up and put up a good fight. 





Meanwhile, Joe had the lower unit blow out on his Gheenoe and had to be towed back to the marina.

I woke up at 5:30 and already saw a line forming at the boat launch. By 6 am the line was probably an hour long. Luckily we already had our skiffs in the water. There is no marina like the Sweetwater. The These guys have mastered customer service in this industry. One guy is directing traffic. If someone needs help or is launching a boat by himself, he will park your car while you tie up your boat. Another guy is in a golf cart, driving people back forth between the parking lot and the boats. A third guy helps clean fish at the cleaning station later on in the day when boats return filled with redfish and trout. Definitely, 1st class service.

We left shortly after sunrise and headed towards Petite bay. Although we were only a mile or two from the marina, the boats had spread out. During the morning we never had to share a shoreline with another skiff. The few times that boats drove past us, everyone slowed down and idled by. No one bothered to stopped and fish areas that were already occupied.

We poled a shoreline and one the second cast I got a hit on a pink aqua spoon. I made another cast and hooked up on a redfish that busted up the school of fish he was in. I could hear a thump under the hull as reds ran into our boat during a moment of panic.



Behind us, I could see Jesse and Daniel both had hooked up on redfish on the opposite side of the shoreline . 




As the sun rose, the fishing slowed down and our bad luck continued. My engine would not started. I tried priming the fuel bulb and checking the kill switch. I wore my hand out pulling the choke. I thought I had perhaps flooded the engine, and so we waited 20 minutes to see if would run again. Unfortunately, I could not get it started again, so boat number 2 ended up getting towed back into the boat ramp.

Tuan & Joe had hired a flyfishing guide named John Iverson who took them deep into the Delacrois marsh. They ended up seeing somewhere between 100 and 150 redfish had an epic day of flyfishing. 10 reds were caught on the fly with one that pushed 28 inches.





Capt Iverson said that June and July are the slowest time of the year for him, because it is hot and most flyfisherman come in the fall or winter. The fish are still around, and they did not see a single skiff in the back ponds that day. Most of the fisherman heading to Delacroix go further out to the gulf in search of speckled trout so the shallow water reds are for the most part left alone.

With my boat out of commission I booked Capt Iverson for the 3rd day of the trip. The engine ended up starting that morning, which probably meant that I had flooded the engine the day before. John picked us up in his Beavertail Strike and we flew past a couple gators on our way deep into the marsh ponds. We never saw a single skiff while I was on the casting platform fishing. No one else was in the interior fishing these shallow areas. The conditions had changed from the previous day. Although the winds were low The water had become dirtier although the winds were low. We did not have the chance to sightcast to fish, but the wakes of redfish schools have them away.

Capt John told me that in the interior ponds you are fishing freshwater and the tides do not have a significant impact on the fishing. Instead of looking for tidal or wind driven current like I am used to, the guide looked for clear calm water, where it would be easier to spot tailing or waking fish.




I mainly used copper spoonflies. When you make long slow strips the weedless spoonflies spin and you can pull them thru the grass without getting hung up. Once we spotted the gangs of redfish pushing wakes thru the shallow ponds the fishing was non stop action. I landed 2 reds on the fly rod and then we caught another 6 on spin casting gear. The best lures that day were money minnow rigged weedless and the terminator weedless spinner bait.

At noon we were baking in the sun. The fish had moved into deeper water and the fishing slowed down. We caught another 2 reds and called it a day.


----------



## Net 30 (Mar 24, 2012)

Good report. Nice to hear that you received some good local intel and were able to find some fish.


----------



## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Great Report! Good job and that's an insane about of redfish you guys caught!

Show us a pic of your Copper spoon flies.


----------



## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

I love Delacroix. Caught some monster reds there. Going back in Oct. For tailers. Good report


----------



## CurtisWright (May 9, 2012)

Yes, LA is totally different than Florida. In LA you fish the sun and the wind looking for the best chance to see fish. Rather than the tides and currents. The best combo for summertime reds is a north or east wind in the AM. That way you can fish a north bank with the sun and wind at your back!


----------



## E-money (Jul 7, 2016)

Glad you guys got on them and hope that you will return! Looks like a fun couple of days with tons of opportunities and some beautiful fish.


----------



## THTSARUMR (Apr 13, 2016)

Great report with some beautiful fish. It seemed like an amazing trip.


----------

