Bergeron brothers catch two unique reds out of Buras
It doesn’t take much these days to have a very pessimistic view of life.
The oilfield is in a big slump and lots of folks are out of work. It feels like it’s 105 degrees outside with 1,000-percent humidity right now. And to top it off, we’re all about to endure non-stop attack ads from a presidential election featuring two candidates with the highest negative ratings ever.
Couldn’t you use a smiley-faced redfish about now?
Luke Bergeron, 20, and his 17-year-old brother Zachary of Marrero caught just such a red — plus one with no spots — within about 25 minutes of each other late last month on a trip near Sable Island east of the Mississippi River out of Buras.
“The first one was the no-spot,” said Luke, a future guide who will be taking the written exam to get his captain’s license next month. “I immediately noticed it because I’ve caught many of them with one spot and then no spot on the other side, but this one had no spot at all.
“I noticed that right away.”
Minutes later, again using a purple haze Vortex Shad on a ¼-ounce jighead a couple of feet under a popping cork, the red with the optimistically-inclined tail spots hit.
“It was an upside-down smiley face,” Luke said. “When I saw it, I was like, ‘Look at this spot.’ They were amazed because no one had ever seen that before.
“That’s something that I look for immediately. A lot of them have different spots. Not everyone is just a dot. You notice when they get a little bigger the spots either shrink up or spread out — that’s what I’ve noticed sometimes.”
The two unique reds made for a great day of fishing near Sable Island.
“A lot of birds were working that day, and there was a lot of bait working on top the water,” Luke said. “Every now and then we were actually catching trout. We’d catch two trout and a bull red, then two more trout and a bull red. That’s how it went the whole day.”
Ironically, Bergeron — who plans on naming his guide service Dead Reds Unlimited — released the 30-inch smiley-faced redfish to fight again another day.
“He’s in the water swimming for other people to catch him,” Luke said. “When they’re that unique, definitely throw them back.
“That’s how I feel about it.”
