Hello
all and thanks for checking in at the O’Grady Fly Fishing Adventures. For the
most part, Cat’s and my marriage has been pretty basic over the years. Now
don’t take this the wrong way, I wouldn’t change it for the world, but my job
has kept many new adventures from coming to fruition. After selling the
business last spring, we were really looking forward to adding some spice to
our fishing lives. The new knee slowed some of those plans and then a few weeks
ago, Cody called the house and told me that he had an open spot for a trip to
Southern Louisiana to chase the usually aggressive Redfish. Like most “guys”
outing proposals over the years, when asked my original thought was “sorry I can’t because of work,” and then
it hit me.... I could go!
I was a little apprehensive of doing
anything without Cat, but she kept insisting that it would be awesome, and honestly
how could it be anything else, I was going with Cody after all. Now before we
jump into the trip, I wanted to talk a little about how perfectly timed this
trip ended up. With my Huskers somehow having an unbeaten season, I dared to
believe. Heck, if the Cubs can do it, miracles are possible. Anyway, during the
fourth quarter of last week’s game, I actually started to believe and like
usual, my heart was ripped from my chest in overtime. I think I hid it pretty
well but idle time last week certainly landed my thoughts back at the game. The
amazing thing about fishing trips, a quote from Metallica, “Nothing Else
Matters.” They have to be anglers.
We
flew out early Wednesday and right off the bat, I was worried that a missed
connection in Houston might be a nasty omen, but we only ended up missing about
an hour. We rolled into New Orleans just after lunch and found an incredible
little hole in the wall Cajun restaurant north of downtown. Our ride south out
of Nola was a little surreal with the remnants of Catrina still everywhere.
Our lodge was an old river boat that
sat in a canal. This was not Cody’s first rodeo for redfish, but for me every
experience was a new one. It’s amazing how your senses go crazy when you get
away from your norm. The humidity, the salt, and just the smell of the Bayou
had me on my toes for two days. The first day was a little stressful because
the fish were just not normal. The south has also had a very warm fall and the
warm water temps have kept the reds from moving up into the shallows. The first
day we saw one fish that had moved up and Cody was on deck and made the perfect
presentation. The fish exploded on the fly and on his third attempt he finally
ate the fly. The clouds and wind kept us from seeing anymore and we made our
way back to the lodge.
The second day was a different
story; I think I had four different shots but couldn’t get a take. Cody had one
take but the power of the fish broke the line. We were able to see fish that
day, but for the most part they weren’t as aggressive as usual. We could tell
the guide was frustrated and he then went looking for a school of Black drums.
I had never seen anything quite like it, the fish were big, strong and a
well-presented fly was eaten. We landed several in the 25lb range and the trip
was made. We made our way back to New Orleans last night and since it was my
first trip, we had to make our way to the French Quarter. I’m glad we made it
to Bourbon Street, but if I make another trip I will do my best to avoid Nola.
We
made it home this morning with no problems and I realized that my Huskers play
OSU this evening. Hmmm, maybe a trip to Belize this week. As always, Connell,
Cat, Winston, (Cody, Mark, and Ronny T), and the Drift Fly Shop want to thank you
for reading…..
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