Fishing Report: Summer Bull Red chase is ON!
July and August are some of my favorite times to fish Reds. I have fond memories of long summer days, loading up the boat with my Dad & Mom, with my Paran & Aunt in tow on a mission to push South and chase the majesty and sheer excitement of landing a massive Bull Red! Mom would make the lunches, Dad would ready the gear, we’d leave before dawn to make the trek South to Grand Isle to fish the passes and try to land on the schools.
Back then, we’d often anchor out on small isolated islands of grass that at one time were spanning swaths of green marshes as far as one could see. Many of these Islands that I fished as a child have succumbed to the unrelenting swells of the Bays. While the surrounding ecosystem is one in constant flux, one thing has remained the same, and that’s that this time of year, you can expect some of the most exciting Redfishing this land has to offer!
August marks the beginning of the Redfish spawn and as droves of Reds reach maturity( around 3-5 years old) these young adult fish make a push South en masse through the passes and eventually further offshore to join the rolling schools of voracious Spawning Bulls where they live out the majority of the rest of their life.
The trick is catching these newly minted Bulls as they begin their mass exodus and hooking on to the fight of a lifetime! I still remember the fight like it was yesterday, the sheer strength in a fish of this size was unreal. As a young man, I may as well been reeling in a whale, because to me, it was all the same. This was no ordinary fish, this was the stuff of legends, surely there had been some mistake, my folks may have been fooled, but I knew it. Unbeknownst to my parents, I was about to pull in Moby Dick. I remember the three of us taking turns reeling it in, Mom, Dad, and I for nearly 45 minutes, while the 24 ft Bay Boat was pulled around in whatever direction the beast wanted it go. Once we, and the fish were finally spent we celebrated the opportunity to share in such an awesome experience!
This past Friday would have been Capt. Theophile’s 56th birthday and to celebrate, the boys and I hopped in the boat to do what he would have been doing: Getting on some fish! We didn’t make a push for Bulls but we still got on a few nice size fish and celebrated Paw Paw and all he taught us!
That’s what’s so special about this place, the vastness of the experiences that await just outside our back door, here. The Redfish spawn is just another fascinating aspect of life here on the bayou. One that we look forward to each year. Chasing the schools of bulls as they head off to deeper water to become the progenitors of the next birth class in a life cycle of this truly remarkable creature has become a pillar in the foundation of an industry.
What better time than now to get your family onboard and get out together on the water to make memories to cherish for a lifetime?
We’re still taking all of the precautions we can to ensure that our facilities and practices are safe for all of our guests so you can rest easy knowing that when you come down here, you and your families safety is in our best interest!
Come on down and GETCHYASUM!
Capt. Theophile Bourgeois IV
Posted in: Bourgeois Fishing Charters News
