The Chicago Trout Bum: Redfish Reprieve

Although it hadn't really felt like winter until recently, sometime during the (typically) long Chicago winter it's a nice reprieve to try to get away to somewhere warmer, if even for a couple of days. Of course, I prefer these mid-winter trips to be fishing based, and last year we explored the White River in Arkansas. This year I wanted to go somewhere warmer, and had in mind a fishery that I have wanted to experience for a little while now, Louisiana redfish.

As excited as I was to set off into expansive wilderness of the marsh in pursuit of bull reds, I was equally excited to spend the evenings in the French Quarter. Best known for the debauchery of Mardi Gras and Bourbon Street, New Orleans is otherwise a wonderful city full of history, culture, and delicious cuisine. Of course, all of this makes it an extremely desirable destination, a point that was hammered home when I left the securing of lodging until after booking the guides and plane flights. It turned out that the weekend chosen was the same weekend that the city was hosting a Saints playoff game and, of some consequence, the BCS National Championship game between LSU and Alabama. Oops. After this realization followed some choice words and tense moments, but we persevered and ended up finding a room (instead of two) and enjoying a fantastic, in not a slightly more cramped, weekend.

The food was good, the fishing was better, and the juxtaposition of the marsh to the city was shocking for their geographical proximity and stark contrast. Both are wild, but wild defined differently. New Orleans is wild with people, partying, and tireless, bustling activity. The marsh is wild with wilderness, and even though the launch is filled with boats and trucks and trailers, once you are out in the labyrinth of islands and channels and bayous and bays, you are alone.

And in that maze, without the proper knowledge and experience (and GPS), you could be alone, lost, for a long time. In this, we were fortunate to have excellent guides. I got in touch with Capt. Greg Dini who sent us out with Capt. Doug Henderson and Capt. Lucas Bissett. They picked us up from our hotel in the mornings, motored, poled and put us on fish all day long, and dropped us off in the evenings. It was a sweet deal, only made sweeter by the bull reds we were able to put in the boats.