A fall bull red trip to Venice, and what to pack

Fall in the Louisiana marsh is the trip people save up for. Bull reds in the delta out of Venice, Hopedale or Cocodrie, in water that goes on forever and offers no shade at all. It is also the trip people show up for dressed for a lake.

The run is the part nobody plans for

A Venice trip often starts with a twenty or thirty minute run in the dark, into spray, at a speed that makes seventy degrees feel like fifty. Then you stop, the sun comes up, and within an hour you are looking for a way to get cooler.

A hooded long sleeve covers both ends of that. A jacket does not, because you have to take it off and then it lives in the bottom of a boat that has no storage and is about to have a bull red in it.

There is no shade in a marsh

No trees, no bridges, no dock to duck behind. Whatever you have on at eight is what you have on at two, and the water throws light back up at you the whole time.

The specific Louisiana problem is that the fights are long. A bull red on light tackle can keep you standing in one place, facing one direction, for ten minutes at a time. People burn the back of their neck here without noticing, because they were busy.

Mud, cane and bugs

Marsh mud stains and it does not come out of light grey. Darker or patterned fabric is the practical call. The cane will find bare arms when you are running a cut, and the bugs are worst at dawn and dusk, which is when you want to be fishing.

Fabric is the only insect repellent that does not sweat off, so the long sleeve is doing two jobs before the sun is even a factor.

A short packing list

Hooded performance shirt, gloves, a hat that stays on at speed, and a change of shirt in a dry bag for the ride home. Rinse everything the same night, because marsh mud sets and salt in a hat band turns the front of a dark cap chalky white.

The short version

1. Hooded long sleeve on before the run out.
2. Darker or patterned fabric, not white.
3. Gloves within reach before the first fish.
4. Rinse it all the same night, mud and salt both set.

Gear for it. Have a look at the Louisiana marsh, Wavy Fishing Gloves or more on marsh days.