You’ll be hard pressed to find action any better than that in Reggio in November.
Did you ever have a craving for a certain thing? You know what I mean; sometimes you just crave something in particular, like Chinese food or Mexican food. Or ice-cream. Or a Snickers bar or an Almond Joy.
And once that craving gets a foothold, it’s hard to get it out of your mind until you satisfy it.That’s what happened to me recently when a craving for redfish on the half shell kind of snuck up on me. I suppose everybody has a favorite recipe for it, but mine is hard to beat. Fresh redfish on the half shell, marinated in Italian dressing, and placed on a hot grill with the fire turned down low, smothered in onions and minced garlic, and sprinkled generously with lemon pepper, Mrs. Dash and Tony’s. I pour melted butter over the whole concoction, and then I keep pouring white wine Worcestershire sauce and fresh lemon juice over it, keeping it continually moist until it’s completely done. Mama mia, I’m craving it again, just thinking about it.
Anyway, I was well into my second week of craving when I learned that Capt. Darren Schaff had rebuilt his camp on the Reggio Bayou, and was back up and running his charter service. I gave him a call, knowing that in November there are few places that can match the redfish action that Reggio offers.
Schaff grew up plying the waters of the Delacroix and Reggio area with his dad, and he has been a professional guide down there for 10 years or more, so I knew he knew the area well and was familiar with running it post-Katrina. I’d heard that last year’s storms pounded the area severely and turned much of that marsh upside down, and I didn’t want to venture out on my own and get stuck on a mudflat somewhere.
It had been awhile since I’d fished with Darren, and it didn’t take much arm-twisting to convince him to take me out specifically to target some of those hard-fighting redfish for which Reggio is famous.
We met before sunup at his new camp, one of those new modular models that come preassembled. His former camp was obliterated by Katrina, as was almost all else in the Reggio-Delacroix area. The new place sits about 17 feet off the ground on a solid foundation of thick pilings and stout timber, and the interior was very nicely finished. I knew when I saw it I was looking at the new face of lower St. Bernard. Now we all hope the new buildings stay around awhile.
It was still too dark to run in the marsh, so we sat inside away from the voracious mosquitoes, and Schaff showed me his latest trophy — the almost 6-foot-long snakeskin from a thick timber rattler he killed in the Reggio Marina parking lot just a few days before. The big snake showed up on a weekend when the parking lot had several adults and kids nearby fishing off the bank.
Schaff dispatched the venomous beast with a shovel, skinned it and hung it on the wall in the camp. It reminded me that Katrina brought us more than wind and waves; it brought us some new critters as well.
I loaded my gear into Schaff’s boat, and we headed down the Reggio Bayou soon after sunrise.
Schaff commented on the things he’s noticed that are different since Katrina.
“Besides more reports of things like timber rattlers, I know the nutria population has been decimated,” he said. “Before the storm, on an average boat ride from the camp to Lake Amedee, we’d see a dozen nutria or more. They liked that particular area, and were always thick in there. Now, we might see one nutria every dozen trips, if that. But the furry marsh eaters have proven to be prolific breeders, so they’re certainly in no danger of extinction.
“The alligator population seems to have fared pretty good. I haven’t noticed any real decrease in their numbers, so I guess they survived all right.
“And look at the needle grass, how tall and green and thick it is. There’s lots of mums coming back, and the three corner grass looks good. We were worried the marsh grasses might all die from the salt water, but it actually looks healthier now than it did before.
“And I’m seeing some new grasses that I didn’t see before. This walters millet has a seed top that the teal love, and I’m sure the ducks will too. And the bull tongue is all over now, whereas before you didn’t see much of it. And there’s stuff in here now I don’t even recognize.
“I was also concerned about the aquatic grasses that grow underwater along the shorelines and in the ponds. I didn’t see much of it for awhile, but now its showing up good again. It’s aggravating when you’re fishing and you keep grabbing that grass with your baits, but that grass is important. It filters the water and provides forage and habitat for fish and bait, and if you want reds, that’s what you need to look for. They’ll be patrolling along those grassbeds.”
Our game-plan was to hunt redfish in the ponds. We figured we’d start out in the Reggio marsh and gradually work our way over toward Delacroix if we didn’t find any good action. The winds had been brutal for the prior few days, and this was the first decent window of opportunity to get out and try.
We found that the tide was up and the murk in the water had settled down from the previous days winds, and actually looked pretty good. It wasn’t quite that dark clear water that is the optimum clarity, but it wasn’t bad either.
We made our first stop at some of the no-name ponds off Bayou Juanita — a place you want to fish only on high-tide conditions.
“The ponds in the Reggio area all seem to be a lot shallower than those over toward Delacroix,” Schaff said. “These ponds hold fish, but don’t even try to venture into them unless the water is up, really up.”
The water was good and high, so we trolled in and started beating the shoreline with gold spoons and spinner-beetles, but we didn’t find the fish in a cooperative mood. Schaff moved us around the area, working along the shorelines, concentrating especially at cuts, drains, points and coves, but the fish just weren’t there.
“On low-water conditions, especially once it gets cold and those winds blow hard out of the north, this is a great area to find redfish, but you stay in the deeper water,” he said. “Anchor in the bends of Bayou Juanita, and either fish a live shrimp or minnow on a Carolina rig, or fish plastic on a ¼-ounce jig on the bottom.”
Schaff likes to fish grubs in purple/white, glow and solid chartreuse, and when the water is clean, avocado.
It was time to move on, so Schaff pulled up the trolling motor, and we headed over toward Lake John on the other side of the Twin Pipelines, where we repeated the procedure in the large ponds just off the canals.
We didn’t get into any redfish action there either, but the trout wouldn’t leave our spinners alone. The pesky critters would hit a spinner-beetle almost every cast. These were schoolies, mostly undersized with a few nicer fish mixed in, and I knew if we targeted them we could catch a box full.
I made a mental note to come back and hit these ponds in November, when these fish will be keeper sized and so thick you’ll be able to catch them on virtually anything. A shrimp-imitation lure fished shallow under a popping cork would be absolutely deadly.
We worked our way over into Lake John, and when that didn’t pan out, we moved to some ponds off Lake Robin, where we struck pay dirt.
First, Schaff caught a hefty red that ran him in circles around the boat. Once netted, we all started getting solid strikes. The fish showed a definite preference for the spinner-beetles over the spoons, so that’s what we gave them.
“The advantage of the spinner-beetle is that you reel it in slower so it stays longer in the strike zone,” Schaff said. “It has a lot of flash and movement that really catches their attention. The disadvantage is the spinners get caught up in the grass easier, where a weedless spoon has the advantage. A spoon is a fast-moving bait but very effective in the fall.”
You can toss the spoons right up against the shoreline, actually on top of the aquatic grass, and if you start reeling as soon as your spoon hits the surface, and hold your rod up, you can fish weed free. But if you let the spoon sink even for a second, you’ll grab grass. And if you reel in with your rod held down, the spoon will run through the water deeper, and again, grab grass.
When you toss spinners, don’t throw them into the grass at all. Start fishing them just outside the grasslines. The reds like to lurk right there, and can’t resist all that flash and motion.
“This is really the very best time of the year to fish,” Schaff said. “The weather is cool, and it actually feels good to be outside. The air is brisk instead of that thick, heavy, muggy summer air. The fish are in close, so you don’t have to make that long haul outside to Breton Sound, and you don’t need live bait to catch fish. This is just a great time to get out on the water.
“And if I was to emphasize one major factor this month it’s this: The key to success this time of year is to find clean water. It’s that simple. If I had my preference, I’d pick my days so I could fish high water conditions, and I’d look for ponds with clean, moving water.
“If you’re unfamiliar with an area, troll in slow to see if you kick up mud. And I never recommend exploring unfamiliar waters on low-water conditions. Look and learn on low-water conditions; you can note where the flats are, and you’ll also see where the deeper channels are.
“But if you get a good day with high water and you want to fish the ponds, troll the shorelines and cast gold weedless spoons or spinner-beetles or, if the water lacks clarity, live or dead shrimp under a popping cork. Look for points and shorelines with oysters, and don’t pass up coves and pockets, especially if they have grass.”
Schaff’s suggestions are to work the ponds off Lake Robin and Bayou Robin, Lake Amedee, Tanasia Lagoon and Lake Coquille.
“You can even fish the points in Lake Coquille on lower water conditions, and it’s a great redfish hotspot in the fall,” Schaff said.
Over on the Delacroix side, Schaff likes to target Lake John, Four Horse, Pato Caballo, Lake Campo and the ponds just off them. Concentrate on points where you find oysters and clean water, and work any coves and pockets thoroughly.
We finished the morning with a couple limits of reds and about a dozen trout that were just too pretty to toss back. I couldn’t help thinking that this really is fishing at its finest. It’s a short drive from New Orleans, an easy boat ride from the dock to the ponds, the weather is pleasant and the action is excellent.
“The fish are here,” Schaff said. “On some days, you might have to move around a bit to get on them, like we did today. But keep moving until you find them. Just remember the key: clean water.”
So now if you get smitten with a redfish craving, you know where to go to scratch the itch.
Capt. Darren Schaff can be reached at (504) 835-0676.
