On February 11, 2019, Joe French, Dennis Auger, Nicolas Lestrer and Joe Nicklo travelled to South Louisiana with hopes and expectations of fooling those wily big bull red fish with feathers and tinsel at the end of a 30-pound leader … and with the help of two seasoned guides.

Weather is always a factor at this time of year and it proved to be uncooperative. We got blown off the water the first day by a fast moving storm that blew thru with thunder and lightening for most of the day. Fortunately, the next day arrived with blue skies, sunshine and 15 to 20 mph winds. We arrived at the Hopewell marina at 8AM where we met guides Miles and David. Shortly, we were underway with French and Auger fishing to the South and Lester and Nicklo fishing to the North. Eight hours later we met back at the marina only to find that French and Auger kicked butts with several good red fish. French hooked and landed this huge 41” bull along with several others. Auger also caught several nice reds as seen in the attached photos. Sad to say, Lester and Nicklo had none.