Fresh water is all over our area right now, and to redfish, it’s like finding the fountain of youth. Along with all that sweet water has come a super infusion of bait that has caused the population of spot tails to explode.

To take advantage, I hopped aboard with my longtime fishing buddy, Jonathan Ryan of Jefferson, and we rode his low-draft aluminum boat into some really skinny water, much of which was as clear as what comes out of your faucet.

Along for the day was Andrew Boyd, who spent 41 years as a photographer at The Times-Picayune and late in his career became FAA-certified to fly drones. Several times throughout the trip, he sent a remote-controlled craft into the heavens to get a helicopter-level view of our immediate fishing area and surroundings. It was enlightening and, also, breathtakingly beautiful.

Clear water is critical for consistent sight-fishing success, and we had that in abundance. Although some of the water we pushed into was tannic-stained, many areas were like fishing a swimming pool.

Clear skies are also beneficial, and other than a brief period when high, wispy clouds forced us to blind cast, the unblinking sun consistently illuminated the shallow ponds, exposing the redfish that live there.

In addition to that, winds never exceeded 8 knots the whole day, which kept the surface unruffled and allowed for clear lines of sight.

Check out all the incredible action in the video below.

Like the video? Please give it a thumbs-up, and subscribe to the Marsh Man Masson channel on YouTube. Also, leave a comment below or on the YouTube page. Do you like to get way back in the marsh and sight-fish reds? Have you ever done it? If not, does it look something you’d enjoy?