With low winds and full sun forecasted for a Saturday late March, I loaded up my kayak and headed to Leeville, Louisiana. I had a good trip down there in 2020 right after getting my kayak, but hadn’t been back to that same area since. Hurricane Ida ran right up Highway 1 in August of 2021, and I was curious to see the damage done to the marsh. I had seen on some satellite imagery that the north bank of a pond I had caught redfish in before had been completely wiped out. It was surreal to float over what was once dry land and see some remnants of the vegetation under water. The pond itself was still a shallow flat and was loaded with blue crabs. I saw numerous sheepshead, but surprisingly only a few redfish, and I never got a clean shot at one. Around midday the winds totally laid down, and I came nose to nose with a huge black drum. I plopped a fly over the side of the kayak and the fight was on. 10 minutes later I had him in the kayak, my first black drum on the fly! I landed him in order to get a picture for the RSFF Jambalaya Challenge, but next time I’ll save myself some slime clean up and leave them in the water. Video of the fight, and other pictures from the trip below.