Louisiana Bound
by Richard Simms
posted January 8, 2009
) Photo by Richard Simms Capt. Anthony Kyzar with Cajun Fishing and Hunting Charters |
Folks enjoyed "riding along with us electronically," in spite of rather lackluster hunting results. I believe normal hunters could really relate. We usually only hear about those exotic road trips that are just incredible. Few people talk about (or write about) the so-so trips... although that's the way most of them usually go.
Well here we go again.
Capt. Kyzar kindly donated one day for auction at the October Chattanooga Ducks Unlimited Fundraising Banquet. We bought that and "upgraded" to two days.
This is the second trip to Houma for me and Ross. You may remember reading about it last year
We'll be hunting & fishing with Capt. Anthony Kyzar with Cajun Fishing and Hunting Charters. It's what some call "cast and blast" .... duck hunting in the mornings, and then swap shotguns for fishing rods to catch redfish in the afternoons.
Before last year's trip to Houma I had redfished in Florida, and loved it. However Florida redfishing will never be the same. The Louisiana swamps and bayous are teaming with numbers of redfish I never imagined possible. And they dearly love a dead shrimp impaled on a black jig beneath a popping cork.
Here's some video:
The duck hunting was only "fair" by Louisiana standards, although we shot far more than I've killed in the Tennessee Valley this year.
With a Mud Buddy-driven ride through the overhanging Spanish Moss of the Houma swamps and bayous, it was an incredible outdoor experience. I'm am always reluctant to believe that such hunting and fishing fantasies can be repeated... but we're going to try.
As per norm, I will post updates as time and computer connections allow.
Stay tuned.
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Thursday, 7:30 am (EDT)
Must hurry... the Duck Wagon should be pulling up any moment. Tried to pack light... I overdid the trip to Arkansas. Plus, with four people piling in Duck Wagon this time, it will be "cozy."
Will check in somewhere between Birmingham and New Orleans. Safe travels (to us).
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Thursday, 1:10 pm EDT
We've just passed Meridian, Miss. Temperature is a "hot" 68 degrees. We're wondering why we bothered packing long underwear? Lots of high water all along the interstate. We saw quite a few ducks in flooded fields near Ft. Payne earlier today. We should perhaps be duck hunting there??? But there are no redfish in North Alabama.
Conversation has flowed heavily... although we are all bemaoning our apparent age. In days gone by conversation would have centered on wine, women and song. Today we've been comparing notes on various medication and maladies. Oh, how the times have changed.
Conversation currently is on the intricacies of various college football teams. It's a good thing I'm writing... about all I know (now) is that tonight Oklahoma plays Florida.... and sadly before I wrote that I asked, "It's Alabama and Florida tonight right?"
The Duck Wagon erupted in laughter. I'm not a football guy:(
No matter... I am a duck and redfish guy, our ultimate target.
Be back later.
Oh yea, prompted by the e-mail below from Erik A., I must add that if you have any questions or smart-a** comments, feel free to Send Me an E-mail.
What the h***! No request for smart-a**'ed comments on this story? I was hoping to oblige... Erik A.
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Thursday, 7:10 pm EDT
We are here (in Houma). I am always flabbergasted as I drive across Lake Ponchatrain north of New Orleans.
"Lakes" are simply not supposed to stretch across the horizon. This one does.
And how they build bridges across such huge expanses boggles my brain.
After Katrina, a second bridge is going up along this I-59 bridge so that more people can escape the city, faster. However driving through New Orleans we can definitely see that there has been much recovery from when we were here a year ago. More new apartments and houses where life is returning to normal. However there are still large expanses of town where businesses still lie vacant and abandoned. There are years of recovery still ahead.
Howard Johnson's seems like a decent hotel. Temperature is in the low 70's... predicted high tomorrow of 76. Good grief... we're going duck hunting in the AM.
Capt. Anthony tells us the redfish are in a different pattern than last year and it sounds like we may have to work for them a little harder this time around. As mentioned previously, you should never expect fantasies to be the same the second time around.
No matter... the weather is going to be wonderful and the company grand.
Oh yea, we did suffer one casualty on the way down. Ed McCoy attempted to enter the rear of the truck a bit too aggressively and the camper cover removed a few layers of skin from his poor little bald head.
He is patched up however and eagerly awaiting the opportunity to inflict much worse injuries on a few waterfowl tomorrow.
The Mystery Man says, "I'll sleep good tonight."
We're headed to Mike's Steakhouse for dinner... and Ed says, "Hurry!"
Gotta go.
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Friday, 6:30 pm EST
Day One of pursuing Louisiana wild creatures is in the books. A long day in marsh, or the bayou, whatever they call it.
As for the duck hunting... it was.... how can I put this.... LOUSY.
We were done in by fog. How our guides found their way in the fog to even get to the blinds was amazing in itself. Although we actually did run aground once. But we got there... good blinds, great decoy spreads. But thick fog that kept the birds grounded.
Capt. Anthony Kyzar watches the morning sun try in vain to burn through the morning fog. Very pretty... but it didn't help our duck hunting. Even the very best waterfowl guides can just do so much... the rest is up to the weather and the birds.
We did get burned a time or two... and when fog finally started to lift about 9 am (CST), several ducks moved around. But then we had high, bluebird skies and aggravating gadwalls would never commit. A couple of long missed shots, and we did scrape down a spoonbill that scooted across the decoys. But by 10:30, it was time to go fishing.
Shawn Kyzar escorts Ross Malone and Ed McCoy across the marsh after a fogged-in morning of duck hunting. Beneath their boat is about six inches of water and six feet of gumbo mud. You do NOT step out of the boat here.
The Louisiana marshes are mostly owned by oil companies. They are actually considered private property and can only be hunted with permission, usually under lease.
As Capt. Anthony had already hinted... redfish were scattered. Lots of water in the marsh where last year extreme low water had the redfish ganged up in isolated deep canals. I say again as noted previously, fantasies are rarely repeated ... especially hunting & fishing. Mother Nature always has the last word.
With plenty of water, redfish had to be "hunted a lot harder.
We started out on speckled trout and caught quite a few. Several keepers but a lot below the 12-inch size limit. Fun nonetheless.
We started hunting reds and our boat managed to scrape together some good fish.
Four or five good keeper specs and ten big redfish won a free ride back to Chattanooga. Including a couple of fine fish for the Mystery Man.
Ross and Ed had to work harder with Guide Shawn Kyzar, Capt. Anthony's brother. They caught a lot more trout than we did... but only managed four good keeper reds.
As always, new water, new wildlife, new scenery and new friends made for a great day that passed too quickly.
A huge flock of pelicans rides the winds over the marshes that stretch along the Louisiana coast. Although we were fishing salt water today, we were at least 20 miles from the actual coast. Captain says 15 to 20 years it was mostly freshwater were they caught lots of largemouth bass and crappie. However changes to the environment... some by man and some by hurricanes... have allowed saltwater to encroach farther and farther inland.
Capt. Anthony Kyzar shows off a good-sized, and good-eating, black drum that fell victim to a shrimp-tipped jig cast under a popping cork.
The Big Sky of the Louisiana marshes is quite a sight for us hillbillies.
And I guarantee you will not navigate this water without the right Mud Buddy-equipped boat... or without a guide who can somehow tell where he is in this maze of alligator-infested swampland. We did see about a half-dozen alligators, but they were camera shy.
Mystery Man and me debated on whether we could find our way back to the trucks alone. As we departed the marsh for the day and the Captain headed in the exact opposite direction we both would have picked, we knew the answer was "No."
Sadly, right now Ed has taken Ross to the urgent care clinic with a bad earache. We've been having really bad luck, healthwise, on this year's road trips. Ross will be fine... he's tough and I hear they have good medicine in Houma.
Mystery Man has had a shower and is already over here snoring away... literally!
We'll do it all again tomorrow with new weather. Sixty percent chance of rain and thundershowers. It could get interesting on the marsh.
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Saturday 4:30 pm EST
Day Two of pursuing Louisiana wild creatures is in the books. Back at the motel with cold liquid refreshment, a slightly sunburnt nose and the satisfasction of having enjoyed another great day afield in a brand new place.
Ross got good medicine for an outer ear infection at the quick care shop last night and was ready for action today.
Last night Wunderground.com told me we should expect a 60% chance of rain and thundershowers by Noon today. Wunderground.com lied. It was another bluebird day, fortunately without the fog. We cruised across the swamp in the predawn hours under the light of setting full moon. A 6-foot alligator glared beneath the bright beam of Roland Cortez's headlamp.
Capt. Anthony Kyzar apparently had better-paying customers today so Mystery Man and I were teamed up with "The Duck Man" Cortez from the Rich-N-Tone Call Company Pro Staff. Ed and Ross headed back into the swamps once again with Shawn Kyzar.
The day dawned clear with a light wind and at first blush, we feared we were in for another day of less-than-desirable waterfowling. Ed and Ross already had redfish on the brain and had decided they would not be long for the waterfowling world today. As a "Duck Man" should, Roland had high hopes that the pending front would bring some high winds... and some ducks.
He is a wise man.
It was nearly 9 am before we drew first blood. A pair bluewing teal screamed low across the water hellbent for our decoys. Neither escaped.
We were in a radio communications with Ed and Ross who were already putting redfish in the cooler along with Shawn. Sounds travels far in the marsh so with every gunshot, the radio crackled to life with, "What'd ya kill?" From 9 to 11, the radio crackled regularly.
Roland Cortez, a Pro Staff Member for Rich-N-Tone Calls sings a magic note hoping to conjure up a pair of willing gadwalls.
Today, as the wind grew, at least some of the gadwalls acted more like real ducks, falling with locked wings toward Roland's wind-driven, spinning wing decoy... and his persistent gadwall call.
Roland Cortez and the Mystery Man return from a retrieve. We got a little anxious when the boat battery lost its juice. Fortunately another guide in the area had an extra battery and saved us from abandonment in the marsh.
Slowly the duck stringer grew heavier.
Cortez is a competition caller with several titles to his credit... and a self-admitted "coon ass." He has dreams of making it to a world championship someday and his calling was a pleasure to hear. Except when you're hunkered in the blind and hear him call (forgive our language)... "That bitch!"
As most hardcore waterfowlers know, that of course means that a hen gadwall who first seemed to be sliding on a rope toward the decoys, suddenly decided 80 yards out to turn and fly back from whence she came, in spite of the best calling. It is a well-known gadwall trait.
Wunderground lied. We never saw rain clouds scoot across the Louisiana marsh today, although heavy winds encouraged more cooperative ducks. Everyone says, "Boy, we wish you could hunt tomorrow. This cold front moving in tonight is really going to shake things loose." The story of my life... a day early and a dollar short.
But when the Louisiana "gray ducks" would forget from whence they came and slide well inside the 40-yard line, or closer... The Mystery Man or I typically smoked 'em!
Roland would like to have joined us in a trigger squeeze or two, but the birds were working off our end of the blind and when the time came, we normally wouldn't give him the chance.... and the radio would crackle to life.
Nine ducks hit the water with only a couple of forgettable misses. As we added ducks to the larder, Ed and Ross were chipping away at the redfish population putting just shy of two limits on ice. But they said the highlight was watching Guide Shawn trying to retrieve one of Ross's hung jigs... and promptly fall headlong into the swamp.
"He hit the water and bounced like a kangaroo," said Ed. "I've never seen such a reaction time... he was back in the boat in two seconds. He almost (emphasis on "almost") didn't have time to get wet."
Ed McCoy risks life and limb to snap our picture as we scoot back toward the launching ramp.
Reverse angle (or reverse angler) photo by Ed McCoy. Fortunately Mystery Man stayed out of sight.
Shawn Kyzar looks all business as he motors across the bayou.
We all swapped tales, shot ducks and put redfish in the cooler. Not as many of either as our 2008 excursion... but there is a little less wildlife in that particular section of Louisiana marsh this afternoon... and more in our freezers.
In others words, we came, we saw, we caught and we killed. And that means life is good and gettin' better everyday."
Here's some video of scenery on the way back to the ramp today:
Sadly now, it is back to the real world for a while.
A couple of "reader comments" e-mailed today:
Enjoyed reading about your Louisana Bound hunting and fishing, years ago I was there with several friends fishing the oil rig canals around Houma. I remember we would make a long run in a canal to reach the end of it, make a cast and if we did not get a strike we headed off to another canal until we hit one with fish stacked up, then we filled the boat as fast as we could cast. Great country for hunting and fishing.
Harold S.
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Hope u guys r having a good time and Ross's ear is better. Had to share this pic of Drew & his 1st mallard
Tripp D.
If you have any questions or smart-a** comments, feel free to Send Me an E-mail.
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