“Redfish, two o’clock!” Captain Brett Novik called outover my head into the afternoon distance.This call and several other variations of areas on the clock were hollered by Novik himself and his wife and fellow guide Cpt. Sue Talbot Novik as theyfished Dan and I in the bayous of Louisiana.Fortunately for Dan and I, the Noviks are close friends so we were given the red carpet treatment for merely the price of a cold bottle of brown water, aka. Clown Oil, aka. whishky.Our fish camp was in the small coastal town of Cocodrie, LA,located an hour and a half south of New Orleans and deep in redfish country.Fishing for them with a fly rod, however, was more novel than the norm.
Dan and I were lucky enough to have three and a half days on the water.Conditions were less than favorable so the more days we had to hook up, the better for us.The first afternoon post-flight was our best weather conditions for fishing and both of us hooked extremely large bull redfish.The next day, a cold front moved through the area.Fortunately for us, after living in Wyoming, we were prepared for anything and out we headed again.The redfish certainly had the advantage in the murky water and wind.Dan was guided by Brett Novik and hooked up several times with some nice reds and a few great black drums—a similar variety to the reds.I headed out with Sue Novik and finally got a great fish landed.
The next two days got tougher with high winds, dirty water and low tides.We definitely worked for the fish we hooked and landed and were thankful for the opportunity to experience a different species of fish, spend time in a very different culture, learn from our passionate friends and eat lots of fresh oysters!
