The Chandeleur Islands have tickled the interest of Texan anglers for years. As a popular destination for pursuing redfish and speckled trout, the remote and vast expanse of pristine flats remains seemingly untapped by the masses. And that’s exactly what prompted the owner and operator of Feral Concepts, Darren Jones, to organize a trip to the Chandeleurs with a group of buddies recently.
Jones was accompanied by the owner and operator of Down South Lures, Michael Bosse, as well as the co-founder of Purpose Built Optics, Rob Phillips, and their friend, Chris McKinley. They ran out of Gulfport, Mississippi with Capt. Kyle Johnson, who runs day trip fishing charters to the Chandeleur Islands. Over the course of two days, they caught hundreds of speckled trout, as well as plenty of redfish.
According to Jones, the best action took place from about mid-morning through the late afternoon hours, while wade fishing over grass flats with potholes in knee- to waist-deep water.
“Just about anywhere we found rafts of mullet, there were plenty of hungry trout willing to strike just about anything,” Jones said. “Most of the specks were in the 15- to 20-inch range. However, there were some fish in the 3- to 5-pound range mixed in, as well.”
Jones said that they caught most of the trout on soft plastics, top-waters, and slow sinking, mullet-imitation twitch baits.
“Lures in white or purple color patterns were producing the most fish,” Jones said.
Bosse and McKinley had the hot hand when it came to catching oversized redfish. They both landed bull reds measuring well over 35 inches in length.
“I was catching trout fairly consistently in scattered potholes between seagrass beds when I set the hook on a solid thump,” Bosse said. “The next thing I knew, line was peeling off of my reel as the fish that I hooked had my drag screaming.”
Bosse was able to turn the fish and gain some line, and he realized he had hooked a large bull red. After fighting the brute for several minutes, he was able to bring the massive redfish to hand.
McKinley hooked up with a bull red about 30 minutes before sunset in waist deep water, while the rest of his counterparts were busy catching speckled trout.
“The oversized red honestly surprised me,” McKinley said. “I was catching trout on nearly every cast when the fish hit. My drag started ripping, and at first, I thought I had hooked a jackfish.”
When the bull red finally wore out, McKinley landed the beast and realized he had just caught one of the biggest redfish he had seen in a long time.
Johnson said guiding and fishing with these Texas anglers was a treat for him.
“These guys not only manufacturer and represent brands with products that work, but they also know how to fish, and they respect the resource,” Johnson said. “They didn’t come to fish the Chandeleurs for a meat haul, they came for the experience.”
Phillips described the location as a special place.
“There’s just something about the Chandeleurs that is unique,” Phillips said. “We caught hundreds of fish, and there wasn’t another soul in sight.”
