In October 2024, I spent four days around Venice Marina in Louisiana fly fishing for Redfish and Black Drum with the one-of-a-kind Captain Jake Meier (Insta: @capt_jake_meier) as my guide. Venice Marina is a couple of hours from New Orleans and serves as a major fishing port for deep water fishing, so we were in the minority as fly anglers.
I used 9 and 10 weight saltwater rods (the Sage R8 was particularly great) with just a few different flies, stripping them to the fish to try to get the strike.
We had three great fishing days and one quiet day. I caught my first two bulls ever (35+ inches) which were both thrilling, and my fishing partner Andrew caught four bulls, so we had lots of great fish thanks to Captain Jake's eagle eyes and great coaching.
I captured the video footage using the @DJI Osmo Action 5 which performed flawlessly for me. I captured the drone footage with the DJI Air 3S which handled the wind easily and followed the boat very effectively. I edited everything together with the amazing @DAVINCIRESOLVESTUDIO from @BlackmagicDesignOfficial.
Big thanks to @SimmsFishingProducts and @Fishpondusa and @Sageflyfish1980 and @ScientificAnglers and @RIOPRODUCTS and @GalvanFlyReels for making the great fishing gear I used on the trip.
And a huge thanks to @redsflyshop in my home state of Washington, and to @Madriveroutfitters out of Ohio. These two fly shops produce the highest quality fly fishing teaching content on YouTube and Instagram (and they also run great online retail operations). Madriver hosts trips to Woodland Plantation, and they introduced me to this great fishery. Both Reds and MadRiver, along with Andres Fly Fishing (@lobitospro) have improved my fly fishing by leaps and bounds and I'm grateful!
Timecodes
0:00 - Introduction
01:02 - First Black Drum
02:20 - My First Bull (42.5 inches)
03:58 - Andrew's First Drone Footage Catch
05:31 - Andrew Breaks a Rod
06:23 - Andrew's Bull (42 inches)
07:56 - Andrew's Bull (40 inches)
08:26 - My Second Bull (38.5 inches)
10:15 - Andrew's Second Drone Footage Catch
11:23 - Andrew's Bull (41 inches)
12:32 - Andrew's Bull (41 inches)
12:59 - My First Drone Footage Catch
14:41 - Drone Landscape Montage
15:46 - Picture Montage