My first Mothership Yak Trip

 

This past week I had an invitation to go on my first mother ship trip.  Mother shipping is when you load your kayak onto a larger, engine powered, vessel and then make a run to your fishing location, unload and fish waters in a kayak that you normally wouldn't have paddled too.
The invitation came from a local charter captain favorite, Rory Rorison of United Charters. Rory is one of those charter captains that is always looking to get into something new, and loading up his 24' Blazer Bay with some bright colored plastics kayaks is likely something he never envisioned years ago when he started his guiding service.  Rory is one of those guys that caters to whatever it is you need, if you need shrimp, he's on it, if the fish aren't biting enough, he will move till he finds them, if your thirsty, he's got something to quench your thirst.  Heck, I was just happy to go fish an area I could never reach by kayak, I never expected the royalty treatment, but with Rory.......royalty is what you get. Along with me on this trip was local icon, Ty Hibbs.  If you are from South La and have any sort of means to social media with a mix of fishing, you will come across Ty.  Ty is a college student headed for a degree in wildlife biology, he is a major player in the TAG Louisiana fish tagging program, and if he isn't sleeping or in school, he has a rod in hand.
We hit the water a little before 7a.m. and headed south and after a little more than 20 miles, we had reached our destination.  We were surrounded by open water, rocks, and marsh galore, it was a taste of heaven to experience being this far south in a kayak. 
As we unloaded the yaks into the drink, we knew our time was limited as a large front was supposed to push through the area around mid morning.  As I hit the water and began peddling it didn't take long for the action to begin.  I was throwing a skitterwalk, and within 3 cast, and several tail swats, the rapala was finally engulfed by the first speckled trout of the day. It didn't take long for Ty to catch up to me and start chunking some plugs, we threw every topwater we had with us, but the bite slowed quickly. 
We eventually made the move to "ole Trusty" a 3/8 ounce jig head and a matrix shad.  Before you knew it, we were battling each other on which one of us would put the next trout in the boat, and one after another the specs were coming in.
As we were focused on the fish, we failed to keep attentive to the environment around us, and the front snuck up on us.  You could feel the pressure drop and the air went up in temperature and then immediately dropped.   It was finally here, and it was here to stay, the wind got so strong at times, we couldn't paddle against it even with the current on our side.  After almost 30 minutes of a world ending downpour, we decided it was time to put the yaks in the boat and head for cover.
Well, at least we thought about that, as soon as we got the yaks in the boat, we looked at the anchor line, looked at each other, and then grabbed our rods.  We continued to fish through the front and the rain and wind, Captain Rory had us right were we needed to be.  Ty and I were landing trout with every color Matrix Shad and Vortex Shad made, it didn't matter, if we put it in the right spot, and held our line tight, the trout were smacking it, apparently it was raining under water, and the fish weren't looking for cover, they were hungry.
As the rain subsided and the front passed, the skies opened up, and Captain Rory pulled out some warm jackets, we bundled up, and prepared for the journey home.
As we arrived at the dock, Captain Rory again took over, he pulled the fish out, added more ice, unloaded everything, and then began cleaning.  This pile of fish would have taken me at least a 6 pack or two drinks to get through, but the Captain on the other hand had them all cleaned and bagged up for us, before Ty and I could even get all of our gear loaded in our trucks.
This was hands down a great trip for me, I got to fish waters I haven't fished in years, waters I have never kayaked in, I got to experience mother nature at her best, and I got to catch a lot of fish.  If you are ever considering a guided trip, or if you ever want to fish true south Louisiana waters from a kayak but don't want to paddle 20 plus miles one way, you have got to get in touch with Captain Rory at United Charters.
You know, I never asked Captain Rory how he came up with the name of his Charter company, but when you look up United in the dictionary, it says.... joined together for a common purpose or by common feelings.  Well I gotta tell ya, when your with Captain Rory, united is what you get, its clear that he is there for the same purpose you are, and his passion for fishing and creating smiles is something so special I can't even put it into words.


Stay Safe
and
Catch1