vacation question

[Flying Trout]

Sept. 24-Oct. 14 of this year I get a vacation. I teach at a year round school so I get these nice three week breaks. I would like to take about a 4 day trip to fly fish the salt. Any suggestions as to were to go and what would I be fishing for? I might not be able to afford a guide the whole time so some beach/wade time would be nice to have. Thanks for any suggestions.

Flying Trout

[ijsouth]

Not to sound like the Louisiana tourism board, but that time is a great time to come down here and get some nice reds...IF there's nothing going on in the gulf, storm-wise. The bull reds school up at that time and spawn, at all the major passes heading from the interior bays to the open gulf. The speckled trout action can be a bit flaky; they stop their summer-long orgy of spawning and feeding, and tend to scatter across the larger bays and lakes. The bulls make up for that, though - the water can literally turn bronze in some places. We're talking fish from 20-60lbs.

[Flying Trout]

Thanks for the suggestion. It does not seem like many other people have a suggestion. That tells me one of two things. LA is the best option or people are keeping whole coasts a secret. I've never been to LA and would love to come down.

How far is the drive from Maryville. What are the major towns that I would look at staying at and do you have any suggestions as far as guides you know.

[ijsouth]

Well, it's a 9 hour drive for me to get up to Townsend from here, so you're looking at about that...about an hour further into New Orleans - it really isn't bad, and you gain an hour when you cross into Alabama. As far as where to stay - plenty of choices there. If you want to explore New Orleans, it's open again. If you want to stay a little closer to the fishing action, many of the guides have (or had) lodges right on the water; now, a lot of that was wiped out by Katrina, but I know some have rebuilt.

I have only gone out with one guide, and that was as part of a group from my church. Captain Charlie Thomason is his name, and he definitely can put you on fish. Now, our church trips haven't been fly trips, but I just checked his web site and he apparently does take fly anglers out for the reds...here's his web site:

www.captaincharlie.com

He operates out of Hopedale, in St Bernard Parish, which is due east of the city. His lodge was wiped out by the 30-ft storm surge of Katrina, but I know he was rebuilding; in fact, he might have his new place open.

I know there are other guides out there who are starting to specialize in fly fishing for reds. You might want to check out this web site:

www.rodnreel.com

Again, I really can't make much of a recommendation, since I've only been on one guided trip. One thing is for sure - you will catch fish. Louisiana is home to 40% of our country's wetlands, and the vast marshes are fish factories. We produce fish in far greater numbers than our neighboring gulf coast states, because of the superior habitat.

[Flying Trout]

The rodnreel site is great. It should provide enough information for me. Thanks, I'll let you know how it goes if I come down.

Flying Trout

[ijsouth]

Glad you got some info. Hope you have a good time down here.