South Louisiana Flyfishing

[FishnDave]

@Ham and I just spent the better part of a week in south Louisiana, flyfishing.  Sun, heat and sweat were endured, multiple days of rain and being soaked didn't slow us down.  We fished saltwater, brackish, and freshwater spots.  (My) main targets were Alligator Gar (to finish out the 5 U.S. gar species on fly), and Rio Grande Cichlid (because... they're pretty.  ).  Other species were very welcome catches as well.

I want to give a huge KUDOS to @Ham for genuinely helping me catch an Alligator Gar.  He had no problems catching them.  I lost fish after fish for at least 3 days.  He actually STOPPED FISHING for long periods of time to allow me to try to catch one.  Really appreciate that.  It finally DID happen!  

Hamilton can share his pics here if he chooses...and I hope he does. 

Here's some of the fish I caught and maybe other pics I took.

Here we are the first evening, being shown some spots in the salt marsh to try the following day, by Ham's buddy Kelly.  That's me up front.  We hadn't thrown our fishing stuff in the boat yet.

Here we are fishing dock lights at night.  We caught a bunch of Spotted Seatrout, Sand Seatrout, and little Gafftopsail Catfish:

 

[FishnDave]

We spent some time in the salt marshes, looking for Redfish, Black Drum, and anything else that would hit.

 

[FishnDave]

In a deeper channel near where we stayed, we also caught Hardhead Catfish and Ladyfish:

 

[FishnDave]

In a salty roadside ditch, we actually caught more Redfish than we did in the marsh!  Also some more Ladyfish, Atlantic Croaker, a Spotted Gar, some Gulf Killifish, and Hamilton caught his 2nd Sheepshead on fly for the trip (the first was in the marsh).

 

[FishnDave]

We hit a few freshwater spots.  I caught Hybrid Sunfish, Warmouth, Rio Grande Cichlids, Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, and a Largemouth Bass.

 

[FishnDave]

We headed west across the state to finish out the last few days of the trip.  Here we largely fished canals and ditches from shore. @Ham caught a nice Flounder!  We mostly caught more Redfish, Ladyfish, another Spotted Gar, as well as some smaller prettier Black Drum, and small Alligator Gar.

Spotted Gar:

Alligator Gar:

[FishnDave]

Great trip!  @Ham did a lot of research pre-trip to find us great spots to fish and places to stay!

Here's some "other stuff" we saw.

Mediterranean Geckos:

We accidentally caught Blue Crabs:

Accidentally foul-hooked Mullet:

BIG Golden Orb Weaver spider:

'Gators:

Toad:

Some sort of cetacean (whale/dolphin/porpoise):

 

[FishnDave]

In addition to gulls, herons, ibises, bitters, egrets, marsh hens, pelicans, osprey, etc.... I saw a Crested Caracara on top of a roadside utility pole.  I didn't get a pic, so this is one from the web:

We also saw...what I think may be called... Indian Blanket flowers?

 

[Foghorn]

Awesome trip, boys!

[Quillback]

Thanks for the pics, neat stuff.