Cocodrie Spooked Fish Report...

Weather was looking good so I had to make it to the marsh. The bad juju I had going in saltwater needed to be broken. Seems that any good spot south of Houma is 2.5 hours away so I decided to fish Cocodrie for the first time. I launched from CoCo Marina and was on the water before 8 am. The sun was behind the clouds and the wind was breezy and cool. I knew it would warm up and spent most of the morning paddling to different spots on the map and looking for redfish. The water was slightly muddy but not too bad. On a few occasions I saw dolphins breaching the surface in the deeper shipping canals so I was sure that it was plenty salty.

Bugspray?

The fish just were not on through the afternoon and I put my spoons, rat-l traps and baby 1-minus right on there nose and they just made a fleeing wake in the opposite direction. It wasn't until the wind completely died and the no see-ums started swarming that I got a hit. I cast down a canal and a redfish hit it right away. I reeled him in and was fumbling for my net when he made a run and broke off the line. Now that is true heartbreak. Directly after that a sheepshead bit on a silver spoon. This was my first sheepshead so it was nice to break the ice on a new species. Funny thing was I was stubbornly trying to catch the red that broke off (with my gold spoon still in its lips), knowing very well he wouldn't be feeding right away again. When the sheepshead hit I wasn't sure what it was because he wouldn't come to the surface and kick around like a red does. He stayed deep, which is a relative term when fishing in 2 feet of water and it wasn't until he was sliding into the net that I saw what he was. What they say is true, they put up a strong fight. I was more responsible with my drag setting on this fight thankfully.

All in all, it was a rough and nice day. It's never fun to lose a nice redfish, but I didn't come home with an empty cooler. Also it was valentine's day and I'm lucky enough to have a girlfriend that let me fish late when they started biting instead of leaving early for dinner. I was packing up at the marina and some old boys rolled up in there aluminum skiff and were confused on how you could fish in a kayak. They asked a few basic questions. Ever fall in? Damn close. How far you go? about 8-12 miles a day. Catch anything? well. They had caught one trout and weren't gonna take it home to their camp. They insisted I take it off their hands and I wasn't gonna deny them that.

Cocodrie is a pretty place to fish and paddle and i'd like to return with more knowledge and LUCK to put some reds in the cooler. Maybe rent a camp and make a weekend of it. Til next time i'll be bass fishing and camping at Toledo Bend this weekend with friends and will return to the marsh the next chance I get.