Fishing Shell Beach with my Pop and little bro.
Well the last two days I got to do one of my favorite things in the world. Fish with my Pop, and my little brother. They were down from Shreveport staying with me for a couple days and we made a couple trips. Day one started out windy so we motored down to the rocks to see what we could get rolling. Water was dirty and bite was slow at first but managed to start putting a box together under birds in Athanasio. We just fished DOAs on jig heads to try and target more of the bigger trout that were below the schoolies. Birds tapered off but just as they did the wind started to lay down. Bow southward and we were headed to the fishing grounds. We headed out into Breton with high hopes, and we were not let down. First stop was on the rocks where we picked up some pretty speckled trout, 1 red, and a 35lb+ drum which was one of our missions for the day, getting Michael a BIG fish. After the bite slowed we headed out for a rig and first stop was on fire! We iced 2 nice eating size bulls 28-32 inches right off the bat. Followed by triples and doubles until we decided it was time to go find some trout. About 5 more miles offshore and we hit paydirt. Every cast action on big Breton trout, and in no time we could not shut the lid on my 94q cooler. Realy fun day on the water with my dad and bro.

Day 2 was a 1/2 day. We spent the first half working on my boat and repairing my radio and some other loose ends. So just about high noon we put her in the canal and headed down to Campos. I have not fished it all year but decided to try the lake since we didn't have the time for a long run south. Not a bad choice as it turned out. We were slinging big sow trout in the boat within 15 minutes. Just fishing the bank east of the cut into Borgne. Tide was dropping so we fished the drains into the lake. Also fished Jankies reef for a few nice fish. We were coming to the end of our time limit and I wanted to get Pop on some marsh reds so we went a little further north to an area I have caught them before and found a little grassy point absolutely covered in reds. It was every cast for about 45 minutes! Best marsh red bite I have been on all year, with a bonus slab flounder Michael caught and airborn jumping gator gar that sampled Pop's spinner bait. Talk about a way to wrap up two days fishing! We thanked the fish gods and motored back to the dock all smiles.

To view the entire report, check it out on my site!
http://www.saltydogchartersllc.com/Home/tabid/39/EntryId/149/Default.aspx

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
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Breton Sound Sweep Thursday
Had a great couple of guys fishing with me yesterday. Stan and Chad are long time friends and fishing buddies and were in for a treat out there Thursday. We had almost perfect conditions with calm seas, and nice strong incoming tide. Water was a little dirty but the fish did not seem to mind. Made a long run like a shot out the barrel into the Sound for our first stop. Couple fishermen already on the grounds when we arrived but we set up just far enough not to mess up their bites and joined the party. Was not fast and furious by any means but we worked away at our trout limit with mixed fish up to 3 1/2 pounds. The guys really dialed in on the tight line method feeling for the thump. Limit of plump trout were in the box by mid morning and it was on to stage two of the mission; Get'um a big fish. And it came after about 4 stops on empty structures we hit paydirt. Drag pulling big ol'brute Breton Sound redfish. The guys caught a few smaller bulls for the box and released quite a few afterwards. Then Stan hooked the fish of the day. A big'ol fully grown drag screamer. Fun lengthy fight later the monster was photoed and release, and after high fives all around we considered that a great way to end it and headed to the dock.

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
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Breton Sound Bullred Fishkill.
A few days ago I was motoring across Breton Sound and came across a horrible sight... Thousands of big mature redfish flying dead on the surface. They went on for miles and miles. I know anyone out there recently can confirm this. I took pictures and video. The fish were stacked up in a rip line with 'pogie foam'. That nasty brown foam that is a byproduct of pogie ships harvesting. The miles of dead redfish were also a byproduct of pogie harvest. Tell me how it is ok to protect the mature fish with our ,one over 27' limit, for fishermen but these boats are allowed to kill TONS of weight in mature spawning size redfish. I don't know what can be done but I think everyone should know the amount of waste going on out there just to make a buck off the pogies. Not to mention all the trout and other small fish ground up along with the pogies... We need to figure out a way for these ships to safely release bullreds or we can expect a big negative impact on redfish populations when our brood stock drops every summer from this slaughter...

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
http://www.saltydogchartersllc.com/YeOlVideos.aspx

Father-Daughter team none stop action out of Shell Beach.
Had a great day of fishing yesterday wtih a Father-Daughter team. Jennette is from New Orleans and Her father came down from Shreveport to do a little fishing. With nice calm conditions we knew it was going to be a good day. First stop was corks down from teh first cast. Only problem was gnats were insain and the trout were throwbacks. Carry on towards Eloi. First stop nada. Further out, second stop, paydirt! We were throwing in trout as fast as we could get the line in the water. 1/4th oz tight lined drifting with the tide with live shrimp. We limited in no time and then had to decide what to do with the rest of our fishing day. We made a more after offshore redfish and found them on the second stop. Drop after drop hooked into big ol'drag smoking redfish. Had a couple take us into the rig so we started doing an Amberjack style perch jerk pulling them out of the structure with the trolling motor, good times! After we had a few for the box and some sore arms we took it to the barn.

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
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Shell Beach Springtime Specks!
Had some three time Salty Dogs back aboard with me today. These guys are trout fishermen and with trout just firing up we made that the plan for the day. Got a tip on a bite Captain Jacques had been on in Eloi the last couple days so we headed there for dawn bite. It was on from the get go, but the small fish had invaded. We did manage around 20 keepers with some good fish in the mix which was a good start (thanks cap) when we made a run to stop number 2. Another quick 10 or so fish but still fighting the throw backs. Rhett, Mike, and Steve were catching most of their fish on plastics but with the number of small fish we were starting to go through our live shrimp pretty fast. We tucked tail and ran east looking for clean water and found some lees and started fishing. First stop was just bullreds and small trout, but the next was paydirt. It started out with some good action on big mama's with a couple going up to 3.5lbs, then continued with an every cast frenzy on solid keepers. The guys continued to work the trout over on plastic shrimp and minnow baits in the shrimp creole color. Doubles and triples to end the day. We got the guys limit and put few more in the box for the house, ended up with 85 beautiful speckled trout.

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
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Pre-Storm Marsh action out of Shell Beach.
Had a good group of guys out with me yesterday from Michigan before all that rain. The guys had to catch a plane and we needed to stay close in the iffy weather, so we went straight after redfish. We were not disappointed by the big hungry drag pullers we found in the ponds and lagoons around Lake Robin. Lots of redfish and drum were caught and released as the guys did not want any fish. Felt good letting a bunch back to grow and make babies. Each one of the guys caught a big drag pulling redfish. Most our big fish today came off a gold spinner/plastic cocaho rig. Had a couple stops where bait shrimp did not produce for a bit then one cast of the spinner, WHAM big red. I'm guessing we caught in the area of 30-40 fish. We watched the storm come in on my Sirius Weather on my graph and boogied in just ahead of it after a great morning of marsh action. Fun day with some easy going yankees.

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
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None stop drag pulling in Breton Sound
Had yet another father son team down to fish with me Monday. JT picked up his Dad Shawn from Mississippi and drove down for a day of catching out of Shell Beach. Guys really wanted an offshore trip so we made it happen. Forecast was for calmer seas then we ended up with but guys were tough and it was fishable. We hit rig after rig deep in Breton Sound and found large redfish, slot redfish, drum, and sheephead at every stop. Big drag pulling fish, one right after another were coming over the side of the boat. Caught and release quite a few big bruiser reds and ended up with a limit of puppy drum, 7 reds, a few big mama trout, and as many sheephead as were needed to top off two 94q coolers. A lot of fillets were going to be headed back up to north Louisiana and Mississippi. Great day on the water with these guys, they were just tough enough to get it done out there in choppy conditions.

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
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Hawiians invade Shell Beach!
Had a couple of Hawaiian fellows on the boat Friday. We had Chuck and his father Gene on board for what turned out to be a great day in 20mph winds. We headed straight after redfish. The guys wanted something to pull hard on the line and also wanted to see some of our natural beauty. I have never been to Hawaii and loved talking to the guys about the islands and fishing there. We fished the ponds and points around Lake Robin. Great bite all day with lots of throw back but lots of keepers as well. HOARDS of small redfish in the marsh right now. Love seeing that and thinking about seeing them again in 3 years. Guys were really a pleasure to fish with, easy going but still putting fish in the boat at the same time. I think its easy to spot someone who grew up on a tropical island, they have a certain easy going nature. As for the fishing, the usual tactic prevailed with bait shrimp under a cork right up on the grass in the high water. Remember it helps to fish the down wind bank to keep your corks right up on the grass. Got a call on the radio from Captain Rory saying he was on a nice trout bite, but guys were having so much fun on the reds we just kept reeling in beauties even with a limit on ice. We had 15 reds with half in the big drag pulling catagory, 5 drum, some trout, and a sheephead. The guys are already planning to come back, and I hope to show them a little bit of the outside in our next Louisiana fishing adventure.

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
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One tree.
Jerry posted about this tree a couple weeksback and I realize I had never seen/noticed it. Found it still standing proud the other day and snapped this photo.

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Still catching in Shell Beach despite the wind.
Another breezy one, but I had a blast yesterday with a group from the far north. They were down in the city and wanted to make a run out into the marshlands and chase some finned critters. I was able to oblidge... With the 20mph SE wind we hit the bayous and ponds around Lake Robin over on that side and got on a few good redfish bites. The girls were killing the guys on both numbers and big fish... I don't know what the final tally was but I would have to say girls won. Had a couple biggest fish evers with some really nice sized inshore redfish. Just fishing points and ponds under a cork with Campo's live or dead shrimp. Even ended up putting a few trout in the boat before it was all said and done. I think we had 10 reds, 3 heads, and about 25-30 trout. Crew had a great time, so did the captain.

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
http://www.saltydogchartersllc.com/YeOlVideos.aspx

Friday inshore trip out of Shell Beach.
Had a rather breezy morning to go fishing when I met Keith and Roland at Campo's Friday morning. Guys were excited to give it a shot and once baited and gased up we hit Mr.Go. After some white caps and bouncy ride we hit out first spot in the channel. Had 2 drum and a good start on trout mixed whites and specks by the time we left for the marsh. finished up the day in the Lake Robin area on lee shorelines for some more drum, sheedhead, and specks. And to top it all off right at the end we saw some mullet going berzerk that we obviously didn't spook, and since something obviously did we made a cast... Wake, explosion on the surface as cork was devoured, monster jack then realized cork didn't taste so nice. Spit the cork and ate the shrimp, ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzing game on! Chased him with the boat as he was on a spool with low line and after the longest battle of a fish on my charters he was landed just over an hour later. Mr. Jack Creval and Keith's biggest fish on light tackle. Roland also got his biggest fish ever on a big drum. Guys had a blast and I thanked the fish gods for a good day in all that wind.

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
http://www.saltydogchartersllc.com/YeOlVideos.aspx

Father/Son Slam out in Breton Sound!
Had another father and son team down to fish with me on Saturday. Fred and his son FJ had a blast getting in on this spring action. Nice calm day so we hit the Sound again for more big fish action. Guys caught big reds, puppy drum, and sheephead on just about every drop all morning. The structures are covered in big drag pulling fish right now, all we need is a calm day to get out to them. Ended the day with the front 94q cooler packed to the top. Guys didn't want but a dinner worth of fish to take, so we only kept one box. We could have filled another two if we wanted to. What they did keep was donated to our monthly po-boy giveaways. Thanks guys!

Little bonus on the way in out of the Sound we encountered a huge number of eagle rays, not spotted just brown, flying through the water only a foot or two down. You could watch the 'flocks' swimming by, there were so many of them. Anyone know what type of ray these are? Look just like spotted eagle rays but solid brown.

As for the fishing action in the marsh is heating up with a few trout being caught on the inside and drum and reds running the grasslines. Wind or no wind, its hard to have a bad day out there right now!

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
http://www.saltydogchartersllc.com/YeOlVideos.aspx

Big fish action out of Shell Beach!
Had a father and son team out with me a couple days ago and boy were they in for a treat. Action on big fish offshore continues to be nothing short of insain. Just to start both of them caught there biggest fish ever before the day was over. Ransom with a 40inch redfish and Prayson with a massive Jack. We had drag pulling hook up after drag pulling hookup out in Breton Sound. Prolly caught 50-60 fish with average weight over 8 pounds. Big ol'bull redfish were the major attraction with a 10 minute + fight being a usual occurance. Fishing plastics and baitshrimp we caught numberous monster redfish, with the addition of sheephead and drum. One treat right at the end was that bruser of a jack crevel. We pulled anchor and drifted with it Old Man and the Sea style for over 20 minutes before finally putting it in the boat for the finally fish of the day. They both said it was just exactly what they wanted to do because they did not need fish to eat just wanted to get there line stretched and see what Louisiana coastal fishing was all about. They did however donate a few of their tastier catches to the charity poboy giveaways we do monthly in New Orleans. Thanks guys! Great day, I love watching a father and son team in action, reminds me of all those great days of fishing I have had with my Pop.

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
http://www.saltydogchartersllc.com/YeOlVideos.aspx

Drag pulling spring action out of Shell Beach!
Back to business in Shell Beach! I have been off the water for the winter season so I was very anxious to get back to fishing. Spring bite is in full effect, with large catches of redfish, drum, and sheephead on the outside. On windy days there is also some action on marsh shorelines if we cannot get out into open water.

On the 18th I had the pleasure of fishing with LeAnn and Steve from Minnesota who wanted to experience this Louisiana fishing they had always heard about. They are offically spoiled now. I think we caught around 50 redfish and plenty of sheephead and drum in the mix. Most fish were over the slot but we managed to fill the 94q cooler with with 7 reds, 10heads, and 6 puppy drum that we could sneak through the moster redfish and gorilla drum. LeAnn was the big fish winner with a moster bullred and 2 gorillas. Steve was making groceries on the puppy drum and sheephead while LeAnn battled her trophies. Action is hot on big fish right now, there are not many seasons we get to hear as much drag as we do during the spring. I also hit the grasslines at a couple stops on the way back and found drum and reds on the inside as well. Lets go fishing!

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
http://www.saltydogchartersllc.com/YeOlVideos.aspx

Shell Beach fall action continues.
I had Sandra and Roger down from Shreveport to join me for a day of fall marsh fishing yesterday. We loaded the baitwell with Campo's live skrimps and headed to the holy fishing grounds. Were greeted with fast action on keeper specks, large sheephead, and 14-15 inch redfish on almost every cast. Again working points in the bays under corks. Great morning with the wind up to keep the gnats off us. The only harassment came from these hubby wife team that could not loose a fish without it being directly related to the actions of the other. They had my cracking up all day with their own little private fishing tourney they had going. Sorry Roger I think Sandra did have you beat even if I did kinda keep giving her the upper hand with quick switch of tactics I only told her about. Guys absolutely PACKED the 94q cooler with trout, big slot reds, and sheep head. Guys were nice enough to donate all these fish to our charity Po-boy giveaways and will be handed out very soon. Trout were really nice size yesterday too. Never fast and furious but caught good fish at every stop. All cork fishing did not end up doing too much on the tight line.

Salty Dog Charters, L.L.C
Captain Markham Dickson
www.saltydogchartersllc.com
cmdthree@yahoo.com
(504)481-8216

Check out VIDEOS here!
http://www.saltydogchartersllc.com/YeOlVideos.aspx