Want My Brother And I To Go Fishing - Where ?

[Ffer]

Got $5000 or so each. Want to catch some fish. Like gulf coast for big redfish and trout. Not big on offshore fishing. Looking for a nice lodge and a few days of good fishing .Please, any recommendations ? And, we're old retired guys.-(like do it before its too late) .

[jdmidwest]

Take one of Phil's Alaska trips and have some fun.

[Wayne SW/MO]

A redfish trip in LA would be another thought, it wouldn't be on the big water and you could recover in the Big Easy.

[Bill Jr.]

FFer -- i can't help too much on the lodge as we are staying at a friends relative, but I am going down to LA at the end of the month with some friends and we chartered 2 guides to fish Reds/trout. I've never done it before but it's great for the bucket list. Not sure what to expect but i'll post the experience on this thread after i get back. and yes we have 1 day planned for the french qtr.

[rob1571]

You have got to go down to Venice, LA and try the red fishing. Mike Frenette http://www.rodnreel.com/teaser/

Fishing is great, food is wonderful and lodge is very nice.

Here is a pic of the last time I was down there about 2 years ago. THe crazy thing is we catch fish like this everytime we visit.

[hoglaw]

Venice would probably be my choice as well.

[Justin Spencer]

I would hit the keys for tarpon, bones, trout, etc or go to bahamas or Ascension bay in Mexico for bones, permit and tarpon. With your budget you can make it the trip of a lifetime and sight fishing crytal clear water on the flats is impossible to beat in my opinion. I just returned from ascension bay and there are some nice all inclusive resorts set up with daily guide service for a week. I think you could do this with plane tickets and still have a little money left over. We only got a guide one day and stayed on the beach for $52 a night, but caught bonefish, jacks, and snappers and had shots at tarpon and permit, and this was a half day trip. The scenery is awesome and if you have never flats fished it is a bucket lister for sure.

[Ffer]

Thanks for all the insight gentleman. Have been to the Keys - what a magnificent place. Still there in the back of my mind. The Venice La area for big redfish has to be near the top of what we'd like to do. On a little smaller scale, anyone fished below Pickwick Lake for the big smallmouth and stripers ? Again , both retired and can get out of here fairly quickly. Spin fisherman as opposed to flyrodders (not that there's anything wrong with that). Thanks again gents.

[dembones]

A trip to s.America and fish for big peacock bass is top on my bucket list. Post pics where ever you go....and have the trip of a lifetime. Good luck

[hoglaw]

I would hit the keys for tarpon, bones, trout, etc or go to bahamas or Ascension bay in Mexico for bones, permit and tarpon. With your budget you can make it the trip of a lifetime and sight fishing crytal clear water on the flats is impossible to beat in my opinion. I just returned from ascension bay and there are some nice all inclusive resorts set up with daily guide service for a week. I think you could do this with plane tickets and still have a little money left over. We only got a guide one day and stayed on the beach for $52 a night, but caught bonefish, jacks, and snappers and had shots at tarpon and permit, and this was a half day trip. The scenery is awesome and if you have never flats fished it is a bucket lister for sure.

This is making my pants tight too. Would be incredibly hard to beat.

I was looking at honemooning at a place called Acklins Island in the bahamas. Getting there is the tough part, as it's a totally non-tourist destination other than fishing. There's only one place to stay, Chester's Highway Inn and Bonefish Lodge. It's a big island, roughly 40 miles from north to south I think. There's one road that goes all the way up and down it, and hardly a thing on it. Total population of the island is like 500. No resorts, no cruise ships, total solitude. Apparently there's a lot of good flats fishing there, and you can even get kayaks at chesters so you can access more of it. The place looked awesome.

But we're under contract for a new house, so in the interest of saving money we're going to Vegas instead. My partner's meeting may be at Atlantis (in Nassau) next year, so if we go there I'll take an extra week and go over to Acklins.