Sight Fishing Tips for Redfish in the Louisiana Marsh
Sight fishing with a fly rod for Redfish in the saltwater marshes near New Orleans can be very challenging and sometimes frustrating. It's often assumed that casting to fish at great distances would be the most difficult challenge you would face in saltwater. However, this is not true for Louisiana Redfish. In fact, it's the fish that appear RIGHT NEXT TO THE BOAT that tend to test our abilities and our patience the most.
In a perfect world, every fish would be between 10:00 and 11:00 (if you're right handed) off the front of the casting deck and 30 to 40 ft. away. As anyone who's spent time on a skiff knows, that just isn't the way it works out. There are, however, many ways to increase success in sight fishing. We recommend: 1. practise casting before you're in an actual fishing situation and 2. use your practise in actual fishing situation, aka: fish more.
Trips will be much more satisfying if your casting ability is good. It doesn't take much.
A few minutes a day, a few times in a week spent practicing will improve your skills significantly in a relatively short period of time. Although it's fun and important to work on distance casting, close range target practice will best prepare you for realistic encounters on the flats, especially in Louisiana. You need both.
Also, make sure you're not developing bad habits. Take a step in the right direction and do some reading, watch instructional videos or better yet, get a casting lesson from a qualified instructor. Contrary to popular belief, practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Also, make sure to practice when it's not windy AND WHEN IT IS!
Conditions can change in the blink of an eye while on the water and you need to be prepared for whatever the weather throws at you. Play with the angles of your casting plane and pay attention to how the path of the rod tip through the stroke affects loop size and direction. Remember, the path of the rod tip determines what your loop looks like so work towards that straight line path of the tip and you'll get a nice tight loop to follow.
Use your practise in real fishing situations. At first this can create frustrations and missed opportunities when that Redfish appears out of nowhere right next to the boat. Don't ever let anyone tell you that an 8ft. cast with a 9ft. rod is easy….it's NOT! The actions you have to take in casting at this level of close range sight fishing go against everything that A River Runs Through It taught you. Forget tight loops. Forget delicate presentations. Forget 10:00-2:00 or whatever other casting instruction one liners you've been told.
This is when you're casting starts to look a little more like "Whack-A-Mole" than fly-fishing. For those of you who aren't familiar with this arcade game, I'll explain it to you, as I held the long-reigning high score at the go-kart track where I worked summers during college.
First, you grab the mallet that's sitting on top of the playing board. The mallet is what you're going to "Whack" the moles with. The board's around 3ft. wide and 2 ft. deep and has about a dozen circular holes in it from which the moles will be popping out. Shortly after you insert your tokens, the moles will start to pop out of the holes, at first rather slowly and one at a time.
As they pop out of the hole, you promptly "Whack" them in the head and they disappear back into the hole. As the game progresses, the moles get faster and even start to appear 2 and 3 at a time. At this point, you're whacking frantically all over that board with you're mallet. There's no time to think, no calculations to be made, nor can you guess where they are going to pop out next.
. You're just whacking away with the mallet hoping to hit in the right place at the right time. The moles won't be there for long so you've got to be pretty aggressive about it. If you miss a mole, take another shot and do it quickly. You're window of opportunity is only open for so long. It's not exactly graceful and not for the timid. But it is fun and even a little exciting. It can also be a little frustrating at times. I mean, here's this big plastic mole, right in front of you and all you have to do is whack it in the head with this mallet you've got.
. What's so hard about that? Well, it's hard because it all happens fast, really fast, and the moles are coming at you when you're not expecting it and usually there's a buddy with you watching over your shoulder yelling things like "right there…get him…you missed him" and so on. Once again, much like close range sight fishing situations. You've got a very limited amount of time to make each shot count. It does at times happen very fast and usually you've got a buddy or a guide watching over your shoulder yelling similar things with a few expletives thrown in for intensity.
In these situations, you do have to be a little aggressive. You have got to get a fly in front of that fish and fast. If you're first cast is not where you want it, don't think about it. Pick it back up and do it again. If that 2nd shot is not where you want it, pick it back up and do it again. Keep hammering away at that fish until you catch him or he's long gone. And by gone, I don't mean he spooked. These fish are still catchable even after they spook.
Louisiana Redfish are only uncatchable when they are further away than you can cast. Even if you hook a fish and it spits the hook, throw on that fish again quickly. I have seen the same fish hooked-fought-lost, hooked-fought-lost, hooked-fought-caught in a matter of seconds. This is one of those things you just have to love about Louisiana Redfish. They will at times eat the same fly that just stuck them in the mouth, jerked them around a few times and then disappeared….and then they'll do it again...and again.
When you're casting to these fish at close range, you should try to put the fly right in front of the fish. Don't try to lead these fish like you might a Bonefish or some other fish that tend do be a little spooky. Put your fly on that fish's head or right in front of him. 1 foot or less is ideal. Also, I think you will find that if you can get yourself comfortable with casting more vertically than side-armed, your accuracy will improve.
You'll never see an NBA player shoot foul shots side-armed. This will also allow you to make more solid casts when fish are between 12:00 and 3:00 rather than making those sometimes awkward, across-the-body casts. At times though, as mentioned, the fish will show up right next to the boat and this is when it becomes so difficult to put the fly where you want it because now you are really "flipping" more than casting.
First of all…DON'T JUMP or make any other sudden movement that is going to shift the skiff or visually alert the fish that you are there. At this point, trying to make a cast to place the fly right in front of the fish is a total gamble. You will just as often throw that fly across his back as you will in front of him. In these situations, just get the fly in the water somewhere out in front of him and beyond him so that you can then drag it to where you want it with the rod.
Is this the graceful cast you've been practicing? No. Does the size of your loop matter at this point? No. Could you have done the same thing with a $5 cane pole? Probably. Is this effective? Absolutely! The most important thing at this point is to make sure and not drag the fly into the fish. If you're a Redfish, you're not accustomed to having small fish, shrimp and crabs coming toward you. The Redfish is the predator. You're fly is the prey. Prey does not come at the predator and if it does, the predators probably going to be a little freaked out.
Ideally, you need to drag your fly into a position from which it can be pulled away from the Redfish when he gets close. Another thing to remember here is to never stop moving that fly while the Redfish is coming after it. If you stop that fly, that fish is more often than not going to turn right around and head off in the other direction. Stopping the fly creates a very unnatural situation to that fish. When he's chasing down prey, that prey does not stop trying to get away. Just like prey coming at him, this will probably freak him out a little. So keep it moving as long as you can.
This is by no means easy fishing. I often hear folks say things like, "Man, I hear you can catch those fish right next to the boat", as though it's like dropping a dough ball off the dock to a hungry Bream. I'll also hear things like "Don't worry about me, I'm good to 90ft." or "I've caught plenty of Bonefish so these Redfish shouldn't be any trouble". Sorry guys, you've still got your work cut out for you. So you can cast 80 or 90ft. but can you put a fly in front of a fish at 8 or 9 feet consistently.
Make no mistake, these Louisiana Redfish can offer as challenging an angling experience as any other game-fish out there. But, they also love to eat flies and some opportunities are missed because the angler just didn't realize how bad that Redfish wanted to eat his fly and therefore, didn't give him enough of an opportunity to.
Hopefully, a few of these tips will stick with you. They won't guarantee success, but I do think they'll help. In recap, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- when possible to make a precision cast, put it in his face - don't lead too much
- try casting vertically for accuracy
- get aggressive on these fish and don't give up until they are out of range
- a fish that spooks might still eat so throw at him again
- a fish that has been hooked and threw the hook might still eat again
- in extreme close-range, get the fly in the water in front of and beyond the fish so you can drag it to where you want it - then strip it away from the fish when he gets close
- don't strip or drag the fly into the fish - always move it away from him
- don't ever stop moving that fly while the Redfish is chasing it
- not mentioned earlier, but make sure to "strip-set" - NO TROUT SETS!
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Labels: fly fishing, fly fishing report, Louisiana fishing, redfish, saltwater fly fishing, sight fishing
posted by Uptown Angler at
10:37 AM
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