Year 2000 has come to an end. It went by fast, yet we had our best year ever thanks to our customers and the great fishing here in the New Orleans area. We had our share of slim days as well as an abundance of fish most days, a got through the year without a single complaint from our Customers. We filmed 6 TV shows some local and some national, and we will film at least 12 this coming year. We are now booking for 2001 and already it looks like a repeat of the same. Once you experience the fishing here all you want to do is come back. Thanks again to all our customers we hope to see you all again this year. 
 

December 7th

What a day, a busmen's holiday. Went fishing on my day off, you guessed it. A friend mentioned that he had been catching Crappie on the bayou and I couldn't help myself. Wait, I did help myself to about 200 of them with the help of a few friends. This was a great change of pace for me, and certainly a treat for my friends. We had a fantastic time using the ultra-lite equipment and a blue and white jig under a cork. These fish are still a little on the small side compared to specs and reds, but the challenge of catching any fish is every bit the same. Its back to work tomorrow though gotta put some clients on big fish out of Myrtle Grove.

December 1st

George Traicoff drove 7.5 hours to fish the marsh out of Myrtle Grove in my Beaver Tail mud boat. He wasn't disappointed. The morning was cool but not cold, and we had a beautiful sunrise, with a moderate wind out of the NE. Our fishing day started with 3 redfish in a couple of different ponds. Then we hit one of my favorite trout spots and within an hour or so we had 50 trout. I wouldn't go in without a limit of reds so we headed back to the ponds and finished out with 5 reds. Now George is no stranger to fishing, his freshwater experience wasn't much different then the way we fished the trout and reds, so when I took a break he just kept pounding them. George you're a great guy to fish with, I feel like I've known you all my life, come back and see me with your son soon.

November 27th

Just returned from spending Thanksgiving in Orlando Fla. We were over there visiting my 8 month old grandson. It was a great trip, and my wife and I really enjoyed the visit and the mini vacation. So today it was back to work for me, and a big surprise this morning. BIG TROUT 2 to 3.5 lbs, and a lot of them. I'll be filming a TV show tomorrow and everyone will be very happy to get some of these big trout on film. This winter is stacking up to be a great one for Trout, and Redfish. If you are planning a trip to New Orleans don't forget the guided fishing trip you will always treasure.

October 20th

Fished today with Charlie Smith and Mark Hodges. On the way to the fishing spot I saw the birds working in the mouth of an oil field canal so we shut the boat down and imediately got into the trout. We managed to put 20 in the boat when a crabber ran through the school so we continued on to what was going to be my original spot. Look out we hit them again and they were bigger than before. We were full of trout and on our way in when I saw a large school of reds thrashing the top of the water. We cut the motor quick and cast to the school. Baam!!! a tripple hook-up. It was hard to tell who had who when Charlie Smith Hooked a Bull Red. We managed to stay with them for over an hour with some short breaks. Only able to keep a few the rest were released to fight again. (see pictures here) This is a trip these guys will never forget. 

This is what Mark had to say:
Yesterday we had what was probably the best fishing trip I have had in a long time. Charlie Smith (Lobbyist for the Charter Boat Association), Papa Joe Bush (President of the Charter Boat Association), and myself went down to Lafitte and had a line-stripping great time. After fishing most of the day for specks W/ yozuri's and plastics and boating a great catch of specks , Papa Joe motored over to an area where we would watch for the water to start boiling and then it was open season on reds over 10 pounds each. We threw Top Dogs into the rapid water movement and twitched the bait a couple of times and then held on for a great time. We did this for a couple of hours until we couldn't do no more. Anyone looking for a great time and a great guide should give Papa Joe a call. He can be reached at 504-392-4409. Thanks Papa Joe for a great time.

October 18th

I had the good fortune to fish with Mike MaGee and his Grandfather on today's trip. The morning began a little slow but the pace picked up quickly. Even to the point where we had a couple of double hook-ups on the reds. At the end of the day we wound up with a great mess of fish, and three tired fisherman. Mike I hope to see you and your grandfather back reel soon. Try a few curls for those arms in the meantime. 

October 2nd

Kevin McDainial and his buddies Harry and Jim had a great day with the redfish in little lake. The east wind and cloudy water didn't stop these guys. It was a great day for everyone, I enjoy watching my customers catch fish more than catching them myself. Thanks Guys and hurry back.

September 26th

The first real cold front of the season came through the night before David Waikem was to fish with me. We were going to fish the duck ponds in my mud boat but the weather was too bad for that. 20 knot  NE winds and a 25 degree temperature drop made the day very challenging. However, we did better in the first hour than either of us thought we would all day. The largest red was close to 10 pounds, and we managed to catch fish in all but one stop. 

September 23rd & 24th

John Cotton, and his buddies Jim and Bill made the trip from Jackson Miss. To fish Saturday and Sunday. Our target was redfish. The weather wasn't real bad, but good fishing weather was far from what we had. We caught enough Trout, Reds, and Black Drum, to fill the large ice chest they brought with them, and they bought my 64 qt. that was filled on the secound day. All and all a good trip with plenty of laughs, antics, stories, and good fighting fish. Thanks guys and I look forward to seeing you again.

September 18th

1st cool front of the season scatters Trout and slows the Reds, but we managed to keep 10 Reds, 10 Drum, and 2 Trout in overtime. In addition we had 6 more smaller Reds we returned to the water to fight another day. I Fished today with Rick and Greg Raymond, and their friend Max. Here is their email to me the next day.

CAPT. JOE

     JUST WANTED TO SAY WE HAD A GREAT TRIP WITH YOU THIS MORNING. EVEN THOUGH THE REDS DIDN'T COOPERATE, THE BLACK DRUMS WERE A GREAT FINISH. 

SORRY WE KEPT YOU OUT SO LONG THIS AFTERNOON, BUT THAT REALLY SHOWS ME WHAT KIND OF A GUIDE YOU ARE. WILL RECOMMEND YOU TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND CUSTOMERS. LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR NEXT TRIP.

RICK RAYMOND
PRESIDENT RAYMOND'S JEWELRY CREATIONS
KENNER, LOUISIANA

September 2nd

What do you do when all you have is lemons? You make lemonade and that's what we did today. Yesterday, I found some large trout and was prepared to go get them this morning with Dr. Berenson, his daughter Laurie, and son-in-law Dale. But the blow that came through last night ended those plans. So up into the marsh we went to catch Reds. We wern't there long when on his third cast the Doc. caught his very first redfish. Laurie was not far behind with a Black Drum. That was only the beginning. We wound up with 18 Black Drum between 3 and 8 lbs and several very nice redfish. I have pictures and will post them on under fish pics as soon as I figure it out. Thanks guys, I hope to see you all again.

August 25th

What a day to forget the camera. I didn't have a charter so I went out of Myrtle Grove alone after several phone calls looking for a partner. Left the launch at 9 AM. Caught 9 reds, (only kept 5 and gave them to Mike at the launch) and was back for 10:30. There's no secret, there baaack, and they want the gold spoon. Now Saturday might be a little tougher with the added boat traffic, but there are so many reds that you could see them in the Myrtle Grove canal between the camps and Barataria Bay. The Reds should be schooling for another month or so. 

August 23rd 

Great day today. 1st we beat the storms, 2nd we beat the heat, and even more important we beat the fish. John Davidson, Gordon Ludtke, Jimmy Simmons, and Bert McGinty from Texas had a great time and caught a lot of fish. These guys were experienced fisherman and it was a pleasure to fish with them. We kept a 4 person limit of reds and returned at least half that many again to the water, along with flounder, and a few black drum. Every color bait we tried caught fish. Plastics, gold spoons, and spinnerbaits, but no reds on the top water for some reason. If a huricane doesn't change anything this action will continue through September and into October. 

August 15th 

It was a hot one today. Both the weather and the fish action. Frank Stewart and Mike Masters drove down from Mississippi on Monday evening and spent the night at the C-Way Marina. The target today was Redfish. We had an early start and arrived at the first stop just in time to get a great view of the moon on one side of the boat, and the sun on the other. Got into a few Speckled Trout but they turned off quick. Next stop - 4 Flounder and a Red. Decided to head for the Myrtle Grove Marsh, BINGO. Just about the time we were finishing up with the Redfish, the largest of which was 8.5 lbs, ( see picture on pics of the best www. rodnreel.com) we ran into a large school of Black Drum and inside of an hour we had 10 of them. (largest 8 lbs). Needless to say Frank and Mike went back to Mississippi with a chest full of filets. Thanks guys, hope to see you again in October. 

July 31st

Papa Joe -- Alex, J.R., and I want to thank you for the great fishing trip on July 31. Even though the rain got us, the boys had a great time, and are still talking about it! The specks have made for some good dinners, and I'm looking forward to eating the redfish. We will definitely be back for another trip during the next year. Thanks again for a highlight of our vacation in New Orleans. Jimmy Caire 

July 13th

Filmed another local TV show today, and I wish everyone could see it. The young lady I had on board was Mia Husser. She caught her first red about 2 minutes after I droped the anchor, and before the camera crew was ready. Her arms were very tired by the end of the day, and thanked me many times for the great time she had. We had all the fishing footage we needed in an hour, but we continued to fish with the rest of the crew for a couple more hours. Everyone had their share of fish, and a lot of bloopers. 

July 12th

REDFISH, REDFISH, REDFISH. The wind is still out of the west and the reds are still biting hot and heavy. My clients have caught over 90 reds in the last 5 days. It has been unbeleavable since my last posting on the 6th. There have been many Black Drum, Speckled Trout, and Flounder mixed in with the reds. This weekend some time the wind should change back to the SE and change my pattern again. 

July 6th

Fished with Jim Miller and his buddy Kim from Baton Rouge. We had a great time and caught over 15 red fish in a little more than an hour. I had been into the speckled trout big time for about a week, but when I returned today the fish were gone. That is why they have tails you know, so they can move. The wind changed fron the SE to the NW over night an changed my pattern. We hunted for fish for the next 2 hours only catching 1 here and their, when I arrived at a lee shore to the west wind and WHAMO redfish after redfish. That's the way it works sometimes. The fishing and the catching parts don't always come at the same time. 

June 13th 

The wind finally laid down and Charlie Smith was on board to reep the rewards. 6:00 AM we took off for Barataria Bay to catch the BIG trout. Boy were we right on. 26 trout between 19" and 23". Several reds and Jacks striped our 12 pound test spools like nothing. I managed to catch a 20 pound Jack on the light tackle, but we had to move after that because it scattered the trout in that shallow water. It was a great day on the water. 
 

June 11th

Myrtle Grove/ Lafitte marsh still holding redfish, but Barataria Bay accessable from both places has the large trout. Let me give you examples form 2 recent trips. Sunday, wind blowing strong muddy water in Barataria Bay. I left the dock at 5:45 with Dr. E. D. Wilkinson from Memphis Tenn and headed to the ponds for a few redfish. Our first hookup was at 6:15 and had 8 reds in the boat at 8:00 AM, when the Doc. happened to mention to me that he had never caught a speckled trout. "Well" I said, "today is your lucky day". We headed to Barataria Bay and anchored on a lee point on the west side of the Barataria Waterway, and within 2 minutes had the first of a dozen keeper trout. The Doc. had to be at the lakefront airport at 1:00 PM so at 10:30 we headed back to the marina. cleaned a few fish, bought some shrimp and at 1:00 PM I helped him load the fish on his plane. 

May 26th

I finally realized that the wind is never going to stop. It may just blow all summer to keep us moving around and out of Barataria Bay. We managed to dodge a windy bullet again today when the Favaloro brothers, Guy Favaloro, Jeff, and Dr. Bob caught a large mess of speckled trout that ranged from 12" to 3.5 lbs. These guys have fished with me several times in the past and are good fisherman. Todays catch was the result of shrimp under a cork. Live or dead didn't matter but the shrimp had to be fresh. All of a sudden the fish in near Barataria have touchy pallets. From the talk around the fish cleaning table I think there will be a fish fry going on tonight at someones house. Enjoy the fish guys, as always it was a pleasure to take you fishing. 

May 21st

Fished with Sam, Little Sammy Barnes, and Joe. What a trip, Little Sammy had the first 5 fish in the boat, and the rest of us were looking at each other like what happened here. I love it when that happens because Sammy is 7 years old. I can tell you he is hooked on fishing and will be back. This boy is going to be a great fisherman someday. I quit fishing just to tend to him, and he hammered the specs. Sam and Joe finally got going after the surprise and we cleaned fish for over an hour. The best news is we were just 10 minutes from the marina in Lafitte. The weather has been absolutely great and the summertime speckled trout are HUNGRY. If you are planning a trip to New Orleans this year or next, give us a call. It's never to early or to late to Fish New Orleans. 

May 19th & 20th

Papa Joe just finished a 2 day trip with a fun group from Ala. We had 3 boats fish the 2 days, and wound up with 245 specs and 35 reds, with a few drum and flounder in the mix. They knocked the fish out when they were here in December, and killed them again this week. The group (9 persons Friday and 11 on Saturday) stayed at the Bunkhouse at the C-Way Marina, and can't wait for their next trip. 

May 2nd

PGA Fishes New Orleans. Today I had the pleasure of fishing with 3 great golfers that can also fish. If they play golf as well as they fished today it will be a great final round. The guys I'm talking about are Gary Nicklaus, Glen Day, and Brett Wetterich. We fished the duck ponds for redfish and had excellent success. Thanks to Phil of Phils Guide Service for calling me to help out with this large trip, I had an experience equal to the golfers fishing in the louisana marsh.

April 16th

Joyce, David, and Danial Whaley drove in from Mississippi to spend some time in the Big Easy and fish with Papa Joe. We had a great day, and the weather turned out to be the best I saw all week  I knew the trip was going to be a success when each of them caught a speckled trout on their first cast. The trout bite was early and ended about 9 AM so we decided to hunt for some Redfish. Danial caught one 8 lbs and another smaller one about 17" long. His first , but not last Red. With the beautiful weather, bright sun, and our mission accomplished, it was time to see the gators sunning themselves on the banks before returning to the dock to clean fish.

April 7th

Papa Joe, 

I want to say thanks again for the guided trip you provided to Chris
and myself.  That was my first time I have fished for Reds and Speckled
Trout.  What a blast.  Even though Chris had some troubles with the whole
casting thing!, I know he had a great time as well.  I look forward to
booking with you again, possibly this year, in search of those mighty Reds.
Do you have any suggestions on the time of year to go after them or some
other saltwater game fish?  Thanks again and I am sure I will talk with you
soon. 

Jim Papp, Chicago, IL.

March 18th

I fished today with Jon Sacks, Sean Reay, and Brian Verminski, all here on spring break from Law school in New York. This was Jon's first time fishing since he was a small boy, but I'll bet it's not his last.The other guys are seasioned fisherman. We caught 15 or 16 red fish, released a bunch, and kept 6 for one of their New Orleans friends. Managed to beat the rain back to the launch by 10 minutes. It certainly was a fine day fishing here in New Orleans. I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as I did taking you, have a safe trip back to N.Y.

March 12th

Windy, Windy, Windy, Today in Lafitte the conditions were much less than desirable. The wind had the water very muddy, and the cool front had the fish generally turned off. Fortunetly I had a boat load of good sports from north Lousiana. They managed to catch a dozen trout and a bass. Much to my surprise a 10 ft. gator was crusing the dead end canal we were in. This is the first Gator of the season, there will be many more as the weather continues to warm up. You can be sure he did not escape a photo session. The wind diminished about the time the trip was over , and the rest of the week looks very good. One good day to let the water settle and were back in business. Just an extra observation we made today. There are at least a half million Ducks in little lake and Barataria Bay. Quite exciting to see.

March 9th

Yesterdays trip was postponed at the last minute, and todays afternoon trip was a spur of the moment trip. Went to Myrtle Grove at 1:00 PM to make a Go-Devil trip with Sammy Duvall and his son. I've had a feeling that the reds were turning on in the afternoon since last Mondays trip was so good. I talked to a couple of boats at the marina and the south wind blew them away with only a few fish. It was 3:00 PM when Sammy's son Derk hooked the first fish and at 5:30PM we were back at the launch with a limit of reds. Caught 13 in all. The smallest was 17 inches, and the largest was 25. We released the last three fish which happened to be the largest. The Go-Devil goes to the shop tomorrow for seals and bushings, but we'll be back in action for Saturday. Tide is picking up steam, should be great fishing next week. 

March 6th

Tried an afternoon trip today out of Myrtle Grove in the Go-Devil with Chad and Manny from New England. Neither had ever caught a red fish before, but it will be a long time before the stop talking about today. These fish had shoulders and did some fighting, Light tackle, with 12 lb test line and a 27 inch red is as good as it gets. We caught and released 16 reds from 14 to 27 inches. Thanks Chad and Manny for allowing me to show you one of the finest New Orleans fishing experiences.

February 4th

The fishing conditions were not exactly great today, but the fisherman were excellent. What a time we had today fishing with Joe, and Phil from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. They saw first hand what New Orleans fishing is all about. The wind consistently blew stronger and stronger as the day went on, and the temperature didnŐt get comfortable until 10 AM. It was cold. We fished the Texaco canals for trout and started off great, but the action slowed quickly and we had to move. The very next spot was a red fish paradise. Not only were the reds plentiful but excellent size also. Joe and Phil caught on to the technique fast and we busted some nice fish. All were caught on a white glow plastic bait, and released to fight again. Have a good trip back to Fla. guys and hurry back to fish New Orleans. It was certainly my pleasure fishing with you.

January 28th 

Well up to this week January was going great. The specks were big, the reds were fighting, and the bass were eating like it was their last meal. Bad, Bad, Bad weather. That kind of sums up this week. The better part of this week has been one cancellation after another. The fish are still there, but no one wants to go out and be miserable, including me. In a couple of days when this weather straightens up the Bass, Trout, and Redfish will welcome us with open mouths. Before this weather hit, John Jenkins and his buddy Jim went out with me. Jim is a Bass fisherman from OK. but never caught a speckled trout before. His first fish was a 4 pounder that measured 23 inches. Needless to say he was happy. We ended up with some nice looking trout and a bunch of bass. We only had 3 reds but they were all under 16 inches and were returned to fight again. 

January  1st, 2000

Happy New Year Everyone! We at Papa Joe's are very excited about  the year 2000. To start off, and most importantly, fishing has been absolutely great so far this winter, and there is no reason in sight that would change that.  And we start off the month of January doing a TV-SHOW with the Chevy  Sportsman Allen Warren. It will air on Fox Sports January 9th at 11:30 AM (central time) and on the Outdoor channel Jan 3rd at 11:30PM, Jan 6th at  9:30AM, and Jan 9th at  9:00AM. 

We also are looking forward to seeing the TV-SHOW Papa Joe did for the Discovery Channel later in the year, and the return locally of the JJ Family fishing show currently airing in Baton Rouge on channel 44. In addition we have posted a short video clip under the Pics section on this site. We will have a few other new exciting things going on this year and I'll keep you posted as they happen. 

For those of you coming to New Orleans this year we have some  great  fishing experiences waiting for you, so make plans now to fish with Papa Joe. I will work hard to make your trip both enjoyable and productive!