This past Christmas break, my dad and I traveled to Hopedale, LA to pursue giant redfish on the fly-rod. With awesome weather and forgiving wind, we were able to use the fly rod for three days of fishing with Captain Travis Huckeba. Catching countless numbers of reds on the fly the first two days, we wanted to spend our last day in search of a “mogan” red that would be turn out to be a fish of a lifetime.

After catching several fish over 30 inches in the morning of the third day, afternoon hit and we began to see huge bull reds swimming around in the flats. We turned down one of our favorite bends on the flat, and the glare of the sun was relentless. However, we were able to get a cast in front of “Ol’ Sandy” who was ready to fight us for half a hour on the fly-rod.

I saw the fish coming at 11 o’clock and immediately hit him with a perfect cast – but to no reaction of the fish.  The fish kept coming closer and closer and finally paused about 15 feet from the boat. I casted – he saw it – he ate it – fish on.

Roughly half a hour later, this beauty was landed, leaving my legs shaking and my face smiling for days: