TUBIN' IN CAJUN COUNTRY

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Well, as promised, here is some stuff on tubin' down in da bayous. Actually, we did most of our tubing in the open canals originally dredged by the oil companies, when they were exploring in the early years. These canals have turned into great fisheries. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]This is actually a back channel for boats in Buras. Unfortunately, this scene is no longer there. A 20 foot wall of water washed through there during Hurricane Katrina and washed all of the boats and buildings away.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]This is one of the old manmade channels. It gets about 10 feet deep, has a clean bottom and is sometimes full of sea trout and redfish. You just drive right up and launch, with no boats able to come "inside" and give you any grief.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]During the cold months redfish, sea trout (specks) and flounders go up into the canals out of the open Gulf and feed on the abundant shrimp and minnows. This is a typical catch, minus the C&R. The top fish is a speckled sea trout, the two middle are redfish (red drum) and the mottled flatties on the bottom are small flounder.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The canals are a lot better for tubing than the green, muddy swamps of the bayous, with fewer "nasties" to watch out for. However, you can still see some of the "wildlife" in the warmer months.[/#0000ff][#0000ff][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]Cottonmouths are one of the most aggressive of the poisonous snakes. You really don't want to be tubing where they are common.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Gators can also be dangerous...especially big males over about 8 feet long. As long as you can see them on the bank, you are okay. If they dive, you might wanna think about getting out of their dining room.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Alligator snapping turtles are rare these days, but a biggun can take off your hand...or other parts of your anatomy. They are less likely to be in the brackish canals than in the swamps.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Pelicans are common in Louisiana. This one showed up everytime I launched in the boat channel. Whenever I snagged a mullet, or some other "undesirable" species, I launched it toward the open beak of the pelican. True love.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]This is the main attraction...redfish and sea trout. The largest red was 33" and 13.5 pounds. Great fish for tubing. They hit hard, fight well and are great eating.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Redfish all have at least one big "eye spot" near their tail. Some have multiple spots. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On some trips, the canal was full of sea trout. It was difficult to fish for reds when the specks smacked your jig before it could get deep enough for the bottom hugging reds.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sea trout must be 12" to be legal. These are all bigger. The 24" one is good sized for those waters, but they get quite a bit bigger.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]TubeBabe with a basket of sea trout. Yes it was cold and no she was not just padding against snakes. Nice outfit, huh? One of her finest fashion moments.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeDude putting the fillet knife to some redfish for the table. Yum. The scraps are usually cleaned up pretty good by blue crabs.[/#0000ff][#0000ff][/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Blue crabs are plentiful in the canals in southern Louisiana. They will often attack lures and sometimes get hooked. Other times they just snip off your plastic. TubeBabe and I had great times fishing for the crabs with a baited jig and then lifting them over a waiting net. We had a couple of great crab boils down there.[/#0000ff]
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[zonker]

Well, I'm surely glad now that I behaved myself. That is quite a spread of pics. I've been watching some of the redfish tourneys on ESPN lately. They have nothing on you! Looks like those would be a hoot to catch. I really can't imagine, though, how I could ever put my pink body inside a tube in the same water with those gator or snapping turtles.

I assume that the false "eye" on the redfish is a defense mechanism Perhaps a preditor would strike at the tail rather than the head, allowing the prey to escape?

Those are really good pictures. And tell TB that she looks great in waders.

What kind of tubes were those?

zonker
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[theangler]

WOW Pat!
What a great spread of photo's looks like it was a blast!

That picture of the Cottonmouth is one of the coolest I've seen! KUDO'S to the steady handed camera man with a striking cottonmouth close by!!!!!![]

Between the gators and the snakes I think that would be a fishing trip to bring the trusty GLOCK!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Hey Z...and Mike...please be assured that I included the pics of the "wildlife" strictly for sensationism. None of those are MY pics. I have seen all of those critters up close and personal, but never from a donut dinghy.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was sent down there, on a temporary work assignment, by the company I was working for. They had an office in Metairie, on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. I arrived the first of October 1989, and left in April 1990. I just happened to be there during the cooler months of the year, so the "cold blooded" reptilians were mostly inactive. But, there were warming periods when both the snakes and the skeeters came out to soak up some sun. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Those big marsh mosquitoes are the state bird down there. Nasty. Even worse were the "no-see-ums"...pinhead sized gnats that would land on you unseen and then bite out a chunk of flesh the size of a golfball. At least it felt like it. Burned like fire. The best remedy for them was not DEET but Avon Skin So Soft. It was a hoot going into a bait shop in the early morning and having all those burly Cajun dudes smelling like they had just been to another kind of "house".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The really good news is that my visit was timed perfectly for some of the best "inside" fishing. During the warmer months, the reds and specks stay in the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In the cooling waters of fall, many of them move into the canals, channels and inland waterways (shipping channels). That makes them easy targets for bank tanglers and small boaters, with light tackle. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I strongly suspect that I was the first and only ever float tuber to fish many of the spots I hit down there. I saw very few shore fishermen and probably only a handful of boats during the months I explored the backroads along those canals. I gotta tell ya I got some wierd looks and heard a lot of laughter. Of course everybody who saw me out there had to warn me "Bout dem snakes 'n gators".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There were some serious fishermen in the office I worked in. Some of them helped me by suggesting good spots, and others took me on their boats to help teach me how to fish for the local species. Strange, I usually whomped 'em with my own jigs and tackle.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I only found one other coworker who was brave/stupid enough to go out in a tube with me. And, he was the company computer geek...a tremendous guy who actually designed the company's complete computer and software system.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]This is Mike, with part of the catch from his first day in a tube. He admitted that he had never caught more fish or had more fun than on that day. I think we both caught over 50 "reds" that day, to keep a limit of 5 each.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hey Z, you are probably right about the "eye" on the tail. Quite a few species have a similar color pattern, with apparently the same function...to distract predators. And, if you ever get a chance to fling feathers for those reds, in shallow water, you will never be the same. They hammer the fly and then put the line over their shoulder and boogie. Probably one of the greatest fish ever to fish with a fairy wand.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Those tubes were many generations ago. The green one was one of the first Caddis tubes I bought. The brown/orange one I believe was a Bucks Bags craft. In those days I usually had about a half dozen different models in my garage. That was several years before Outcast came on the scene. Donuts only.[/#0000ff]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Hey Mike, nice to have you drop in and make sure we're mindin' our manners. As you can see, we have a pretty good group in the playroom.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By the way, you do need to carry "protection" down there...but not for the reptiles. The main problem is the human "snakes" that like to prowl the backroads and victimize vulnerable fishermen. I had a couple of "interesting" encounters myself, and if I had not been armed, and BIG, I may not have ever been around to post this report.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It's a situation, but there are few places you can go anymore without having to be cautious of everyone else around you. I can't think of anyplace I have lived and fished that there have not been places that you just could not go without fear of potential trouble.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]How do you like your new digs in Colorado? Is the environment any better than the one you left behind?[/#0000ff]
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[theangler]

[size 2]Hello Pat,
We all know it to be true but it doesn't make it any less of a real shame when the human element is worse then the gators and cottonmouths.

Yes Pat, I have to stop by from time to time to remind myself how fun it is hopping in a tube and reaching those hard to get to spots(you have built an incredible resource here). Its been a while but I may have to give the float tube a try in the spring at Eleven Mile. Those Pike have eluded me since I moved here but I haven't brought out every trick in the book yet. I'll get'em in the spring or possible on the ice (I have yet to give that a try and think this may be the year).

We love Colorado!!! Of course we loved sunny Southern California but its different, but equally as wonderful here. I worked into my first Elk archery hunt this year and had an absolute blast!!! The trout fishing is second to none (at least compared to my trout experiences), The musky and pike are here which I have yet to really nail down but am looking forward to finding a good fishing hole for them. As you know it takes an awful long time to settle after a move that big so we still have a lot to see of what Colorado offers but so far its all GREAT![/size]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Is it too early to start hatchin' up a plan for "hookin' up" on Eleven Mile in the spring? I think I would like to get in on chasing some of those toothy critters with ya. Of course it would not hurt my feelings to be abused by some rainbows too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glad you like our "tubeatorium" here.[/#0000ff]
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[theangler]

Hello Pat,
Not at all! That would be awesome. I am sure we could round up Don(in denver, the Co. mod) to join in.

There is some great fishing in that area, and we could work into 3 different water ways within a half a mile of each other.

I have lots of room in the new house and you'd be more then welcome!!!!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Let's see if between us we can get a consensus of opinion on when the best time would be...weather permitting...and then we can PM communicate to get a plan going.[/#0000ff]
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[theangler]

SOUNDS GREAT PAT! I find out what I can.
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