Marsh fishing and another first!
The only thing that can ruin a fishing trip in the marsh besides rain is too much wind coming from the wrong direction. The NW wind, along with the falling tide, pushed the water out of the marsh way too fast. There were places we had to use the trolling motor to get in and out of due to shallow, muddy conditions. We saw a few reds here and there, but nothing like the big numbers my host saw in the same spots the evening before.
D.R. did manage to snag the fist red of the morning, and a gorgeous fish it was!
After a while of fruitless trolling, though, we had to change the game plan. While D.R. was tending to his engine, I took advantage of the new spring growth, bursting forth with seemingly no memory at all of the previous fall flood.
I was on the lookout for my favorite and the state’s wildflower–the Louisiana wild iris.
The first one I sighted sat alone, poised on the edge of purple glory.
And then this sight brought me sheer delight–Iris Island!
Over half of the island was still waiting to break out in purple blooms.
And then this beauty blew its goodbye on the NW breeze as we departed for fishier waters.
Sometimes, you just have to use your fish brains, think like a fish, and go with the flow.
This morning, the flow was a fast falling tide through a dam, where several wading birds were already having breakfast.
This snowy egret was hoping we were just passing by, but we decided to stay at this dam and see if the fish were biting.
And they were. We finished off catching 10 reds. Five keepers and 5 throwbacks.
And I leave you with one last image . . . my favorite of the trip . . .
Enjoying life in the Louisiana wetland!
BW
That is beautiful. I bet it will be a sight to see when most of those Iris are bloomed out on that island.
The iris is beautiful, BW! and the fish–I see a feast coming.
I love those irises!!! they are my favorite, well…next to the sweet magnolia’s..!!!! lol. I want to be in the first group to the bayou women!!! I keep trying to go to these type of things around here, and either im already scheduled to work that weekend or they are already booked up…This would be my kind of thing for sure!!
Thanks for your foresite, because YES, a lot of women would love this kind of thing.
Deb
SweetM, I’m so glad to hear of your interest in becoming a Bayou Woman! I sent you an email earlier, too, asking a few more questions.
OH – I would love to go fishing with you BW!! I want to hear how you laugh and squeal when you see those beautiful flowers, because I KNOW you do!! I think you may even clap your hands! LOL I have always loved to fish and thats thanks to my grandpy and Uncle Henry…. both great men and awsome fishers! Glad that the salt water didnt hurt everything!
Geez, I don’t know what’s purtier…the fliers or the fish! (Spell check will be sooo confused with this post) LOL The purple Iris is one of my favorites. It’s food for the eyes. Not to take anything away from their beauty, but….those Redfish would look purty good on my grill!
Those irises are a favorite of mine! I love it when the marsh is filled with them.
I want to do the outdoor woman thing with you! I’m sure you’ve guessed from facebook that I’m a tad girly (do they make waders with heels?) but my Grandpa took me hunting and fishing when I was little. It sounds like fun. I really need to learn to back the boat/trailer into the water, I have big issues with that but I can trailer any boat without issue lol.
Waders with heels? I’m laughing my bootie off!!!!!
I want to attend when MrsCoach does, I HAVE to see those waders with heels!!!! BW, what I would love on the bayouwomans event would be bayou cooking, bayoucrafts, would love great bayou stories, that would be so cool to have different story tellers retelling wonderful humours and enlightening tails of bayou life, cleaning your catch, maybe some canning, and altho I do fish, I would love some lessons on different techniques…I learned from what I picked up, would love to get a better understanding of why you pick what kind of lure, where to look for fish, different techniques, but my most need…now dont laugh, but I have n e v e r….restrung a reel. This may sound silly, but I usually just handed it over to someone…now..theres no one to hand it too and raising a boy…we need to know who to do it for our selves. So in a shorter version…lol (do I know shorter versions?) I would love to learn, how to launch/load a boat, how to navigate the waters, rules of the way, where to look, how to photograph what I see, casting techniques, more about lures/bait, how to clearn, cook and preserve what I hope to catch, and enjoy learning about the heritage from real bayou folks. Thats pretty much my wish list…lol Thanks hon.
Deb