Beat of a different DRUM

Chasing redfish is a whole new game

By Buddy Gough

Posted: August 27, 2009 at 5:11 a.m.

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LOS ANGELES — Second of two parts

HAPPY JACK, La. - An introduction to marsh-style fishing for redfish the first evening of a recent visit to the Louisiana Delta established the pattern for the rest of the four-day trip.

Targeting redfish first and foremost, Matthew Carter of Rogers and 10 of his friends made sure to be out in the marshes at sunrise and sunset of each day.

In the mornings, they took advantage of high tides to reach remote backwater ponds, blind-casting to the edge of salt grass with Cocahoe Minnows while being constantly alert for the chance to sightcast to prowling reds betrayed by their wakes or their tails showing above the surface.

Facing falling tides in the evenings, the fishermen focused on the mouths of the ponds and the little sloughs around them, where the current was pulling baitfish from the shallow marsh.

Compared with the prime months of September-November, August is a slower time for redfish action. Still, everyone was getting shots at roving reds, and some were getting their first taste of marsh fishing.

Experience and skill, of course, helped, with Carter's brother-in-law Larry Priceof Calico Rock providing the example to emulate.

A seasoned trout-fishing guide on White River, Price has enjoyed personal getaways for redfish in the Louisiana Delta for more than a decade. While some among the recent group were hooking only one or two reds per outing, Price was regularly catching a half dozen or more.

He described the pursuit of redfish as a "staIking" game. "It can make your heart jump up in your throat," he said.

Price also generously shared his experience by acting as a guide for first-timers like Jerry Vest of Rogers and his son-in law, Tommy Wyatt of Rogers.

Steven Meador of Bella Vista, however, proved that bass fishing skill transfers easily to sight-casting for redfish. A serious and successful competitor in bass tournaments, Meador became instantly captivated by redfish. No one caught more or was more excited about their power and stamina.

"Redfish fight like bass on crack," he said.

BATTLING BEASTS

Between the morning and evening bouts with redfish, the long hours were far from boring.

Relative to fishing, midday was when the real heavyweight action took place along the big bayous, where the "bull reds" and giant black drum roam. Both species are members of the drum family, and both commonly attain weights of 30-50 pounds.

Since they are not considered palatable table fare, black drum are invariably released. But for sheer power, they are the battle tanks of the marsh, especially when fought on the light tackle used for the smaller redfish.

As we learned during an afternoon outing with Carter, Wyatt and Ken Warden, fishing for bull reds and black drum involves anchoring near a deep hole, where tidal action creates an eddy, and baiting lines with chunks of crab or pieces of mullet.

"We have caught many, many monstrosities out here," Carter assured.

Considering his personality of constant good humor and optimism, the quest seemed more like a companionable way to kill some time in the middle of the day.

That opinion lasted only about three minutes before something began ripping line from Warden's reel, initiating a 10-minute tug-of-war culminating in the netting of a black drum estimated to weigh about 40 pounds.

The next one was even bigger and stronger as it made long runs and short lunges and shook its head and shoulders mightily before grudgingly yielding to the net to exclamations including "awesome." Estimated at more than 40 pounds, the big drum was quite a handful for Carter to hold up for a photo.

Altogether, we caught and released five bull drum, with the smaller ones averaging about 20 pounds.

Under the threat of a massive blue-black and lightning streaked thunderhead bearing down on us, the action was sort of like combat fishing.

Nevertheless, our results were not the exception, as several others in our group also caught black drum weighing 20-50 pounds.

ENJOYING FEASTS

When we weren't out fishing,time spent at the camp was far from laid back and lackadaisical.

Everyone had designated chores in the continued restoration of the cabin, which Hurricane Katrina rendered a roofless wreck four years ago.

While the upstairs living quarters had been nicely repaired, renovated and furnished, the open lower level was still a work in progress. It provided the essentials of a commercial ice machine, big fish-cleaning station and extra refrigerators, but there was still repairing, painting and upgrading to be done. There was also a new roof and deck over the boathouse and docks to be built.

It was the initial cost of the restoration that led Carter to make the cabin available at a modest cost to other groups of fishermen accustomed to fishing from their own boats and learning the ways of the marsh on their own.

"If you are a good fisherman with your own boat, you can come down here and follow our maps and some advice and have a good time even if you've never fished saltwater before," Carter said.

One can also eat like a king, which obviously was the main agenda for the time spent at the cabin.

There were many pounds of large-size shrimp to be headed and stored on ice. Bought directly from shrimp boats for $2 a pound, a large portion of the fresh-caught crustaceans were peeled for a giant-size shrimp scampi that would be the main dish for the crowning feast of the trip.

A dozen or so redfish also needed to be cleaned each morning and evening. Some were completely filleted and went into the skillet for impromptu fish-fry lunches, but others were filleted with skins and scales left on one side.

The latter were perfectly grilled skin-side down by "chefs" Warden and Meador to provide a delectable dinner entree known as Redfish on the Half Shell. It didn't seem like the dining could get any better, but it did.

Further evidence of the marine riches of the marsh came during a two-hour timeout one morning to run a crab line with Teddy "TMAC" Macenroth, a lifelong resident and fisher of Delta marshes around Happy Jack.

He pulled up dozens of crab traps to harvest 10 dozen blue crabs, which many consider to be the finest delicacy found in coastal waters. The crabs were being collected for the owner of a canal-side fish camp, where they would be kept alive to be sold to local residents. Six dozen were reserved for us.

It turned out that Macenroth was locally renowned for preparing incomparable shrimp-and-crab boils for visiting groups of fishermen. He showed up at dinnertime of the final night to lay out the most awesome cornucopia of seafood and fixings imaginable.

The gargantuan " boil" stretched a foot high along the full length of the dining table and featured numerous shrimp and crabs, pounds of locally made sausage and a wide variety of vegetables, including corn on the cob, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, cauliflower, celery, green beans and more.

We ate it all, except for a small pot of leftovers that a couple of early risers finished off for breakfast the next morning.

When the group began to pack up to leave, they had one question in mind: When were they coming back to Happy Jack?

More information about fishing the Louisiana Delta can be found at redfishlouisiana.com.

Outdoors, Pages 25, 30 on 08/27/2009

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