# Grand Isle trips 1 & 2 (pic heavy)



## Finn Maccumhail (Feb 16, 2009)

I was fortunate enough to make 2 trips over to Grand Isle to fish with Scott Null in February. February 6-7th I fished with a buddy from work who made the trip with me last year and 2/21-2/22 a college buddy who saw my pics from last year and just had to get out- he's a gear chunker but a great guy.

2/6-2/7: conditions were absolutely perfect. Clear water, low tides, lots of sunshine, and minimal wind. Both days also presented really spooky fish. While the weather, wind, and water conditions were pretty much perfect this trip was not as epic as last year's trip where my partner and I landed 11 reds over 20# in 2 days plus drum & sheepies- all sight-cast on the fly we still managed to have a decent trip.

I landed 3 reds between 8 and 14# and 3 drum ranging from 9-17#. You get spoiled over there- an 8# red on the fly pretty much anywhere in Texas is a trophy. Over there it's a baby.

I don't know if it was because the water was so clear or because we caught the back end of the full moon but the fish were extra spooky. Reds would spook at the shadow of the fly line in the air above them. I've never seen that before.


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## Finn Maccumhail (Feb 16, 2009)

Trip 2:
So I took an old Aggie buddy of mine to Louisiana to do some fishing. He's a newbie to saltwater fishing, never done any sight-casting, and a gear-chunker to boot. But he's a **** good Ag and we've been friends for nearly 20 years.

Conditions Saturday were rough. Cloudy with winds blowing 25+ all morning so we didn't get on the water until 11 or so. I caught a puppy drum on conventional when the wind was howling and I couldn't fly cast. Late in the day I got my one and only shot of the day and stuck this 31# black drum.










But by late Saturday afternoon the winds died and were almost nonexistent in the morning on Sunday and we found some protected water that cleared up overnight and clear skies helped the cause.

My good buddy was giddy as a schoolboy watching these 16# and 20# reds inhale a well-placed soft plastic (he is a bass guy so he can cast accurately) but his monster was a 34# black drum that **** near ran off 200 yards of 20# PowerPro on his spinning rig.
































































Solid 8# fish. Practically a baby over there:










This little bastard went about 6# and robbed me of my best shot at a 20+ pound red. We were poling a shoreline and big honking red was kind of waking along a drop-off about 6' out from shore and I drop the fly a couple feet in front of him and maybe 18" to one side. He swirls and is about to eat when this little drum races up out of the deeper water where I never saw him and slammed my fly, taking it from the big red.


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## rtoler (Apr 9, 2006)

Nice pictures! Good story. How do you like your Hatch? And, do you like you spiked mat?


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## Finn Maccumhail (Feb 16, 2009)

Hatch reels are excellent. Pretty much bulletproof.

IMHO- Tibor reels are the gold standard and Hatch are pretty much on par with them. And Abel reels are just a step behind. Never fished or handled Nautilus though I hear they're excellent. After those 4 it's a big drop to pretty much everything else.

The mat helps a ton in the wind. It's the "Line Lair" made by Carbon Marine. Just wet it a little and it sort of suctions itself to the deck and the little rubber spikes keep your line somewhat in check.


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## mikedeleon (Aug 9, 2010)

Finn Maccumhail said:


> Hatch reels are excellent. Pretty much bulletproof.
> 
> IMHO- Tibor reels are the gold standard and Hatch are pretty much on par with them. And Abel reels are just a step behind. Never fished or handled Nautilus though I hear they're excellent. After those 4 it's a big drop to pretty much everything else.
> 
> The mat helps a ton in the wind. It's the "Line Lair" made by Carbon Marine. Just wet it a little and it sort of suctions itself to the deck and the little rubber spikes keep your line somewhat in check.


Not trying to argue here but I personally saw a hatch reel blow up on a tarpon this summer. It was an 11+ on about 110 pound fish. Talked to a few guides during the week at the lodge and they all said the same thing, Tibor and Abel don't blow up, but they have seen issues with Hatch. I have a Hatch 11+, it's a nice reel, but I have caught more fish on my Tibor's. Maybe a coincidence on the hatch blowing up. Just my 2 cents. Probably can happen to any reel.

On a side note we measured and landed the fish because the guide managed to get another reel and somehow tie the line to the backing of the other reel, or something I dont really remember. I was taking pictures from another boat. It was impressive

Nice trip report by the way. Thanks for sharing. What did you get that big black drum to bite on?


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## Finn Maccumhail (Feb 16, 2009)

mikedeleon said:


> Not trying to argue here but I personally saw a hatch reel blow up on a tarpon this summer. It was an 11+ on about 110 pound fish. Talked to a few guides during the week at the lodge and they all said the same thing, Tibor and Abel don't blow up, but they have seen issues with Hatch. I have a Hatch 11+, it's a nice reel, but I have caught more fish on my Tibor's. Maybe a coincidence on the hatch blowing up. Just my 2 cents. Probably can happen to any reel.
> 
> On a side note we measured and landed the fish because the guide managed to get another reel and somehow tie the line to the backing of the other reel, or something I dont really remember. I was taking pictures from another boat. It was impressive
> 
> Nice trip report by the way. Thanks for sharing. What did you get that big black drum to bite on?


That's crazy. Never heard of that but it may have been a one-off lemon. Lots of guys swear by the Hatch. But I don't think you can go wrong with Tibor, Abel, or Hatch.

All my fish were caught on the Redfish Crack.


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## southpaw (Feb 25, 2009)

Congrats on an awesome trip. As often as I'm in Houma for work, I need to book a trip sometime while I'm over there.


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## Finn Maccumhail (Feb 16, 2009)

southpaw said:


> Congrats on an awesome trip. As often as I'm in Houma for work, I need to book a trip sometime while I'm over there.


Danny Ayo is a good choice. He's based in Houma.

http://www.flyfishlouisiana.com/


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## caddis (Jan 22, 2012)

Wow, great thread. Jealous!

What months is Scott over there?

Todd


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## Ish (Oct 30, 2008)

looks like a very fun trip.



Finn Maccumhail said:


> That's crazy. Never heard of that but it may have been a one-off lemon. Lots of guys swear by the Hatch. But I don't think you can go wrong with Tibor, Abel, or Hatch.
> 
> All my fish were caught on the Redfish Crack.


sometimes, if not most often, reels "blow up" because the drag is cranked too tightly.

why not just fight the fish using the correct technique and save your gear the wear and tear? poor technique is most often the reason rods break too.

just sayin'

reels can also get screwed up if the drag is not properly maintained/lubed, or if there's a leak in a sealed drag. i screwed up a 10 wt. tibor riptide drag by fishing it daily and never lubing it.


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## Boboe (Feb 11, 2009)

Hatch reels do blow up. They bend as well. One of our guides had one last summer that he just barely dropped into the bottom of the boat to set it down. When he picked it up again the face of the reel was bent in. He bent it back out with his hand. This was on an 8 weight. So maybe Hatch has some nice reels, but their quality control isn't awesome.

Nautilus reels are expensive as hell, but really awesome. They're the smoothest reels I've seen.


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