By Capt. Raymond Griffin

The first weekend of April is always busy down here in south Louisiana and this year was no exception! What was a little different is that we had an Alabama invasion! Seems like everyone that was at the Birmingham Boat Show who said they were coming to fish, did. In fact, we're thinking about changing LA to stand for Lower Alabama!

Our first guests of the season were two brothers and a cousin from Birmingham, Enterprise and Mobile. Now if you think that's diverse, try this. Dr. Bill Pittman whom I met at the boat show is an emergency room doctor in Birmingham. His brother, Craig S. Pittman, is a court of civil appeals judge from Mobile and cousin, Stafford, is an attorney from Enterprise!

When Bill and Stafford arrived they had a 100 questions about fishing the Louisiana marsh, this being their first trip down this way. I could tell both were seasoned fishermen by the questions that they asked. Over a chicken and sausage Jambalaya dinner at our camp we talked about patterns, techniques and the different lures that we would be using. The Judge was a late arrival, but brother Bill promised to save him some Jambalaya and fill him in.

The next morning I headed out to an area that had been producing big numbers of speckled trout and the fish gods smiled on us! As soon as we set up and started throwing 1/4 ounce jigs with a purple and chartreuse cochahoe tail, the Judge shouted, "Fish on!" The action was hot and heavy.
The judge and the doctor were catching a fish on nearly every cast! After about two hours of steady catching, the trout school broke up and we had a chance to take stock a what we had accomplished. The trout count was 42, some over two pounds. Not bad for the first stop of the day. But Stafford still had a lot of catching up to do.

Our next stop was about 20 minutes south toward the Gulf of Mexico and we were looking for schooling redfish. Once I located a likely shoreline, we changed to gold 1/4 ounce Johnson spoons and started throwing about a foot from the shore. After about the third cast, the Judge hollered, "Fish on!" Now is when the instruction from the evening before comes in handy.
When you're working the shallow waters of south Louisiana it's important to remember that you cannot force these Red fish in. They have powerful tails and can use them to dig into the mud to make long strong runs. The first red fought for about 10 minutes and when we finally landed it, the fish tripped the scale at seven pounds! We caught eight fish on the first shoreline that we worked and my friend, Stafford, still had not landed a fish.

Here's a tip for all anglers. When you go on a chartered trip and if you bring your own equipment, be sure to have your reels serviced and new line put on your reels. Stafford didn't. All morning long he was having line problems and reel problems.
When you're spending big bucks to have a pro take you out, spend a few dollars to have your equipment checked out by a friendly professional at Marks Outdoor Sports. It may even be time to invest in that new rod and reel that you've been thinking about. Don't lose that trophy fish because you want to use your "lucky reel" or line that you only used once, but has been sitting on your spool for 6 months.

As the day progressed the wind got stronger and we had to switch to cork fishing with bait. Don't laugh, we caught five more big reds. We ended the day with 42 Trout and 13 redfish and headed back to the dock with some great stories and some great new friends! That evening we had a Cajun feast of fried fish, fried oysters, fried shrimp, redfish smoked on the grill, gumbo, Cajun corn, salad and French bread! My new Alabama friends said that they would come back just for the groceries! The next day was almost a copy of the first, except for one thing, I did a little tune up on Stafford's reel that night and let me tell you, he put a "yard-dog wuppin'" on his cousins that day!
I said we had an invasion that weekend, we did. We also had groups from the Miller Brewing Company in Birmingham and Mr. Larry White from "Larry's Outdoor Adventures" who was shooting some footage for shows that will air later this summer. Larry is from Sylacauga.

Y'all take care, this is Captain Raymond Griffin from LA (Lower Alabama) wishing you tight lines, big fish, and great memories.