Delacroix Report – 1/12/2019

Breezy and cool this morning as we headed out into the Delacroix marsh. We hoped to get into some fish before the expected cold front passed through with rain, strong winds and colder temperatures. The fishing was slow as expected with all of the freshwater from the high Mississippi River in the estuary. We hit points along windward shorelines and soaked live and dead shrimp on the bottom. We picked up redfish, sheepshead and largemouth bass for our efforts. Several bands of rain passed through throughout the day, but the rain was short in duration. My guests were prepared with rain gear and we fished right on through the weather. The last front passed early afternoon and the sky cleared and the sun came out. It was nice to dry out a little and warm up as we took the ride back to the boat slip. The fishing has been challenging and the trout have been particularly tough. The weather looks good early in the week and deteriorating toward the weekend. Good luck out there!


Captain Jeff

Duck hunting report – 11/18/2018

The excellent hunting continues in the Mississippi River Delta. We had hunts Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each hunt had full limits for the group. The species composition has shifted to more GreenWing and BlueWing Teal in the bag. We are still harvesting Pintail, Gadwall and Mottled Ducks too, but they seem to be more skittish right now. The weather has been good with the recent cool down and the winds have kept the birds from rafting up on the big open water of the Gulf of Mexico. The property is still in great shape as the ponds are full of feed and we have been moving to different ponds each hunt to limit pressure in any one area of the marsh. The Mississippi River is high and still rising. It looks like a small weather system is scheduled for tonight and into tomorrow morning. Might move more birds into the system, time will tell. We are back at it in the morning and will report. Good luck out there!

Captain Jeff

Delacroix Report – 7/23/2017

We hit the water a little earlier this morning to try and beat the crowd to spot “A”. Well, we did not win the race. We passed by the spot and there was already another boat. The boat was not on the spot right, but was too close for me to slip in. We decided to head outside to work some submerged reefs that are typically good this time of year. The West winds were marginal for going out, but doable. We set up to take advantage of the rising tide across the reef. The West wind was complicating, but we were able to pick up some nice sized speckled trout, white trout and sheepshead. The fish were caught using live shrimp Carolina rigged and artificial cocahoes. The wind picked up to the point that it was overpowering the tide and we lost the right boat position so we headed back inside to check on spot “A”. It was again occupied by another boat and would not allow us a chance at it so we ventured further in and worked a point in large interior lake. We slammed the redfish, must have caught 30, but not one was over 14″. Good fun, but the fish box was getting lonely. We hit another spot on an adjacent large lake and hit speckled trout gold. The trout were smashing both live and artificial baits as quick as we could get them into the water. In scanning the skies, there was a significant storm closing in on us and the trout must have sensed the change in barometric pressure and turned on. We stayed as long as we could and took a slight beating getting across the lake. We made it most of the ride home in the dry, but it rained for the last few miles of the run. My guests put on rain jackets and I hid behind the center console and we took it like men. Proud of them! Good day again in spite of challenging conditions. Good luck out there!

Captain Jeff

Delacroix Report – 7/19/2017

Early start in the Delacroix marsh this morning. We left the dock before daylight to cover much of the run before available fishing time was spent travelling. Good move as we hit the spot right as it was light enough to cast to the point. Not as much bait moving around as yesterday, but the action was soon hot. The trout were not quite as big either, but numbers count too! The fish did not want corks today and would only respond to live shrimp carolina rigged in the current. We worked over the specks until the skies started to loom dark and close. We decided to head out a little earlier this time to try for some redfish before we got soaked or run in early. We hit a cove with a small little cut that leads to a marsh pond. It typically holds a few reds. We worked the cut with live and dead shrimp 3 feet under corks. The redfish responded and we caught a pile of reds just over 18″. The weather moved in and finally we called it for a run back to the dock. Great day in a magical place – Delacroix! Good luck out there this week!

Captain Jeff

Delacroix Report – 7/18/2017

The fishing is fantastic right now in the Delacroix marsh. The only issue is that you have to be there at daylight to catch the speckled trout bite and avoid the lines of strong thunderstorms that have been covering up the sound. We found a good bite this AM along an outside shoreline. It had water moving around the point and plenty of bait. Big specks were awaiting our offering of live shrimp both carolina rigged and 3 feet under corks. The trout were in the 15-22″ class and were getting bigger as the weather deteriorated. We stayed as long as we could and hauled it out just as it started to pour on the motor. We were close to limits and thought that we could stop at other spots a few miles away, but the weather had other ideas at it basically ran us all the way back to the dock. We will be back after them tomorrow. Good luck out there!

Captain Jeff

Delacroix Report – 7/14/2017

Afternoon trip today out of the Delacroix Marsh. We got a late start leaving the dock and only had a couple of hours to fish. We headed to the areas that I have been doing well only to find hardhead catfish. we decided to run to another area and work some drains along an outside shoreline with the falling tide. That proved to be the ticket for a box full of redfish in the 18-22″ class. These fish wanted dead shrimp 3′ under corks thrown right up against the marsh grass. As usual, the best action was right at dark when all my guests were hooked up at once as the reds were in a feeding frenzy. I like fishing late, but do not like the run back to the dock in the dark. The good fishing continues out of Delacroix! Good luck out there this week!

Captain Jeff

Delacroix Report – 7/8/2017

Good fishing conditions in the early morning out of the Delacroix marsh. The rain held off just long enough for my guests to get a few hours of a good trout bite in before sprinting for the cover of the dock. We hit the edge of a large interior lake where a deep bayou enters and set up for an incoming tide. The bite was slow at first, but got better as the spot set up. The trout started to inhale live shrimp carolina rigged in 5 feet of water. The speckled trout were in the 13-18″ class with very few undersized fish in the mix. The fish box was starting to fill up when the skies around us started to get dark. We kept at it as long as we could and ended up having to run for our safety as lighting started to crack all around us. We got home dry and had a great, but a short trip. Good luck out there this week!

Captain Jeff

Wild Turkey Hunting Report – 3/25-26/2017

The Louisiana Turkey season opened this past weekend. A strong line of storms moved through the area in the early morning hours of opening day. The storms had the birds in full on lockjaw mode. We looped a good portion of the property only seeing a hen and 1 gobbler way off on the neighbors property. We did harvest a big hog and a cottonmouth snake. Sunday AM was a different story. A gobbler sounded off in a bottom about 6:45 AM. We got within 200 yards of the bird on the roost and set up. We started calling, but the bird never responded to us. It was gobbling on its own and to crows and owls. Must have been henned up. We slipped out and drove to another spot, walked in and started calling. We struck a way off gobble. We waited 10 minutes and called again to hear the bird had closed significant distance. We moved slightly to a better vantage point and called again which was answered even closer. I could already smell the turkey cooking! We moved again ever so slightly and set my guest up in the kill zone. The long beard came into the set and started gobbling, spitting, drumming and strutting right in front of me at 55 yards. Unfortunately my guest could not see the bird. The bird moved off still gobbling and looking for action. We let him move off and we repositioned again and called him back, but not within range. Bummer. He eventually eased off the way he came in still gobbling. We walked out and drove to another area for some cutting and running work. We walked down a dim logging road stopping and calling every 100 hundred yards or so. After a mile or so walk, we struck finally a gobbler! We eased off the road and into the woods toward the bird and set up. Periodic calling would elicit an immediate return gobble, but this bird was taking his sweet time working his way toward us. We made a slight move to a better vantage point and waited him out. I worked soft calls and tried to throw the sound behind me so he would think that the hen was walking away. It worked, after 30 minutes the long beard was standing in front of my guest. He shot and then shot again as the bird was running away. Never cut a feather. He was really deflated as we relived the shot. We got back to the tree he was on and saw the reason for the miss – a yopon tree about 4 inches in diameter was cut in half about 3 feet in front of the tree. I guess he was focused on the gobbler and never saw the tree right in front of him. That is turkey hunting! We will be back after them. Good luck out there!

Captain Jeff

Duck hunting report – 1/22/2017

Back to the Mississippi River Delta today. Supper foggy this morning and made it quite challenging to get to the blind. We arrived in a big pond close to the river and got set up. It was slow at first due to the fog and intermittent rain. The weather cleared up a little and the birds started working the pond. I had 2 kids in the group and they were taking all of the shots. Very impressing shooting by the 11 and 14 year old boys. The action was hot and we started to fill the duck strap with Gadwall, Bluewing Teal, Greenwing Teal and Mottled ducks. The wind started picking up to 20 mph and unleashed rafts of floating water hyacinth. These rafts started to take out our decoy spread and we had to chase and reposition the decoy spread several times. We kept taking ducks, but the wind continued to pick up and water started to splash over into the boat from the waves. Time to get out while we were still good to float out. We were short of full limits today, but it was a great shoot and a great way to end the season! The Coastal Zone is done for this season, but we will be working the Eastern zone for another week! Good luck out there!

Captain Jeff

Duck hunting report – 1/21/2017

I got picked for a lottery hunt at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sherburne South Farm Wildlife Management Area today. I had applied for this hunt and got picked last year for the same weekend. The hunt had to be cancelled due to flooding. The hunt was rescheduled for this year and we were on. We arrived at the check station early and sat in the rain until the station opened at 4:30 AM. We checked in and drew Unit #2 to hunt for the day. We got to the Unit and waded out into the pond dragging our gear. We got the blind set up and decoys out and waited for that magical time. It was super slow and we only had 2 birds fly within shooting range. The pair of mallards passed over about 40 yards out and both hit the water and were added to the duck strap. Great shooting by our group, just wish that we would have had more opportunities to shoot. Interesting that we left consistent limits in the Mississippi River Delta to try something new in the Atchafalaya basin, but it was still fun. We will be back at it again tomorrow! Good luck out there.

Captain Jeff