Took a trip to Louisiana this past weekend to visit my brother, Austin. On Saturday, myself, my brother and his buddy Scott took Scott's boat out to Delacroix Island to do a little fishing. The water was fairly murky after all the rain Louisiana has gotten lately. We got there around 8 a.m. and expected the bite to be best early since we were catching the last few hours of the incoming tide. While we caught three trout and a few redfish in the first few hours, the bite was really slow until after lunch.

This was only my second time fishing in saltwater, with the previous time coming about 10 years ago in Port O'Connor. That trip was in mid-November and the weather was cold, nasty and windy, but I caught a 20 inch redfish and had a great time. Hopefully it is not another decade before I go back. Luckily for us, this time the weather was perfect as it was sunny with a high of 82 and a just enough wind to keep the gnats at bay.

I hooked up with the first trout of the day about 30 minutes in. This one was just under the legal size limit and came on a 2-inch Vudu Shrimp under a popping cork.


Scott and Austin each caught a trout as we drifted across Petit Lake before we headed a bit shallower and started throwing gold spoons for redfish. My brother caught the best redfish of the day, which was 26 inches long and weighed just shy of 7 pounds.


Shortly before lunch I caught my only redfish of the day.


And here is a nice action shot of Scott netting my fish, which was 22 inches long and weighed 4.22 pounds.


Scott wasn't having much luck with redfish, but he did land a nice Louisiana green trout who wasn't having any issues in the brackish to salty water of the marsh. This fish got a thumbs up.


While he was at it, Scott added a hardhead, which he didn't approve of, giving it a thumbs down.


Scott ended up getting his redfish, but for some reason we didn't get a picture. However, it was a trout he caught while my brother and I were eating turkey sandwiches that signaled the start of a great afternoon. For about an hour the action was pretty steady as we followed a big school of trout across the marsh.

During that stretch, I hooked into something that decided it didn't want to move. While I could feel a headshake, my brother was wondering if a fish had me wrapped around a crab pot since the fish was not moving. Eventually I got it off the bottom and after about a 3 minute fight (which felt like 10 minutes) I landed a black drum that weighed just shy of 5 pounds. As an angler who typically fishes community ponds for smallish bass, it was the toughest fight of my angling career. And while it wasn't the biggest fish I have caught, it definitely was the most memorable battle.


Before we lost the school, we ended up catching more than a dozen trout, most of which were keepers. The biggest was a 20-incher my brother landed, and we had a few more that went around 17 inches. When that bite was over we went back to fishing for redfish and landed a few, plus another green trout that hit my spoon.


All in all, we ended the day with 28 fish (6 reds, 18 trout, 1 hardhead, 1 black drum and 2 largemouth). Plus we also saw a ton of alligators (first time I have seen them up close) plus my first nutria, which really are as ugly in real life as they are in pictures. Somewhat surprisingly, the best fishing was when there was no tidal movement. However, the solunar tables said the best fishing would be 12:42-3:42 p.m. (the first fish of the afternoon hot streak came at 12:48 p.m.), so I guess the solunar table was right for one day at least.

Here is a video of the trip, which I shot with a chest-mounted GoPro.

Plus, a few more pics.

That place is incredible and will ruin you

Nice post and fish. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the kind words. The whole day was awesome so I need to get back to visit my brother sooner rather than later.

Great catch pictures and story...thanks for sharing...

Sounds like a fun trip.

I love Louisiana. Awesome post!