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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Point Aux Chene Fishing...

Cajun Snow
Cypremort Point killed me. I'd dare to say I paddled about 10 miles in 10-20 mph winds and fished for 8 hours. The only aquatic species I put in the boat was a crab that grabbed onto my bleeding shad Rat-L trap. So there you have it. Went fishing, caught a crab. Atleast I got to test out my TFO rod and some crab flies. The point just had its way with me again. 
Saturday was much different. Matt and I made the trek down to Point Aux Chenes to do some marsh fishing. After repeatedly going to Cypremort and getting skunked in open water, I was ready to try out a new area. We were on the road by 430 am and setting up the boats as the sun was coming up.         
                                     
This tide was low and we mistakenly put in on Island Rd., we quickly realized the tide was TOO low for that area. So we scraped the oyster beds and trudged through the mud and paddled the mile or so to the marina. Boats were stacked up on the power lines casting for speckled trout but I was having no such luck. After throwing every lure and fly in the boat, I went to the marsh. I was sighting reds left and right but non of them were hitting what I was throwing. At one point I had 2 reds trapped in a dead end canal in about 6 inches of water. I drug my fly across there nose and they wanted nothing to do with it. They got spooked and started thrashing around because they knew they had no way out. It was cool to see but they eventually dove under my boat, thumping all the way and escaped. I was just hoping they would swim right into my net at that point. Nothing. 

The tide was shifting and coming in all throughout the day. The weather was more than perfect. No wind, clear skies, and the water was running hard and glassy. Safe to say it's not like this all the time but I was surely thankful for such nice conditions. The first red I hooked was about 20" and he bit a gold spoon that I threw just off the point he was hiding behind. The next spot was where the fishing got good. I followed a narrow, deep canal further and further until I found a narrower and deeper canal. I picked up a 16" red right at the mouth on my first cast. I paddled a bit further in and hooked a monster on my second cast. We fought for about 5 minutes and he was too big to easily slide into my net. I was getting antsy and did something I knew I shouldn't have. I tried picking him straight up with the line. The 17lb. test line snapped with one twitch of his body and he took off with my gold spoon still sticking out of his mouth. 
Put him back for next year
With no backup spoon I switched to a Rat-L trap. After picking up a 14"er (and releasing him) the rest of the canal was done. My hopes of recatching the one that got away and redeeming myself and my gold spoon were gone.  The next few hours passed in a mix of reel troubles and frustrations that are better stories over a few beers. Another 23" red and a 16" Speck were in the cooler and the day was done. 
 I needed a day like this. The fishing was great and learning a new spot for the future is always good. The entire area is beautiful and worth checking out for the photography alone. This will not be my last time to make the trip to PAC.

From the marsh, to my plate. Redfish Tacos.

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