Devin
Forum Replies Created
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That’s awesome! Great day on the water.
Excellent report, thanks for posting!
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“I updated the built in map and have the navionics app.”
That’s plenty.
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“I fished with a guide a few months back; he had this. It showed the oyster leases amongst other things.”
AKA “lipstick on a pig”
Look, if that mapping card was like $50…well, then go ahead, get it. That would not be the most expensive thing in the realm of inshore fishing. The point here is to not rely on it.
But you may be floored to learn a couple things about the oyster leases on that mapping card:
- There’s a map of them for free right here.
- It won’t help you find fish…at all.
Because if you look at the oyster lease map you will see that Louisiana’s coast is completely covered in oyster leases. So that doesn’t really narrow it down, does it? It might as well be a map of air to show you where ducks fly.
After that, just because a certain patch of water is designated as an “oyster lease” does not mean that oysters are there. It just means it’s a place where oysters can be farmed. That’s it. That’s all that means.
And very few oyster leases are going to be good for fishing, because even if they are actively growing oysters, then they are also being actively dredged, which annihilates any good fishing on that reef.
While oyster leases can be good for fishing, what’s actually best is to find natural oyster reefs that are not subject to dredging. These are not depicted on the mapping chip you referred to. But I do share how I find them inside Inshore Fishing 101.
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Okay, great post. Thanks for making it. Yeah there’s a couple things to address here.
First of all: mapping cards suck. They’re really not that great. You’re better off using whatever stock map and doing your homework on Google Earth Desktop. The below excerpt from this guide titled “Why Your Mapping Card Sucks” explains why:
“Not only do they fail to show you the navigational hazard, they invite you to believe that the hazard you’re looking at is safe. This is a giant problem.“
I’m guessing you haven’t read that guide. You really ought to.
What Timbo said is spot on. The best thing you can do is do your navigational homework on GED and put that information (in the form of tracks and waypoints) on your GPS. That’s the truth. That’s it. It is nothing else. No matter how much you don’t like using a computer, poring over satellite imagery or whatever, that knowledge I teach inside Advanced Inshore Navigation is going to be the very best thing anyone can use to safely navigate Louisiana’s coast.
I have operated numerous boat types and been to the most challenging places to navigate a boat here in Louisiana and gotten out without a hiccup (and usually a limit of fish). The only times I’ve ever had a mishap was when I did not do the homework prescribed in my courses. Those incidents have been painfully documented here inside LAFB Elite so you don’t have to learn them the hard way like I did.
I’m one of the few guys who can safely navigate and catch fish across Louisiana’s coast without help from anyone else. The knowledge that I use to that end is inside Inshore Fishing 101. Most guides, YouTubers, whatever just fish the same places. If you took them out of their home waters they’d be lost, skunked, stuck, etc. If you do see them fishing outside their home waters, it’s usually with someone else.
My point here is that I’ve put a lot of time and thought into what my process is, how it works and the proof in that it works. Anyway, back to the cards.
Now, I do have a couple mapping cards in my boat, and I think they’re good for added situational awareness. But I know the date they were photographed and keep that in mind. I also do my nav homework.
But, I think the worst thing anyone can do is plug a mapping card into their GPS and just go running around like they’re taking directions from Google Maps or something like that. Just…no. Don’t do that.
I also think most people are lazy consumers trained to believe that all they need is a good purchase decision to solve their problems, rather than using their brain and available resources. I’m not saying this is you, but I am saying that many tackle/equipment manufacturers within the fishing industry have capitalized on this, and I think that’s sad.
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Thank you so much for posting this report, it’s definitely great intel to know where and where not to go.
Yeah, I wouldn’t get my hopes up for the Lake’s fall. Last year it was the same thing: lots of bait, dinks, small ladyfish and like no trout. It was so depressing.
It also stayed unusually warm for a while last year and it seems this year it’s already cooled off a little sooner.
But even if the lake is on fire, the Armada will be there to suck the joy out of it. lol That’s why we go to Venice.
Me, personally, I hope the lake has the best year it’s had in a long time.
“Odd since the forecast i checked beforehand said tide was supposed to start falling in the rigolets around 8 a.m. and had a little over a foot range.”
Rigolets Pass is a pass, the northshore of the Trestles is in a big lake. Fluid dynamics. Water is going to move way later there. Today, high tide for Rigolets Pass was 9am, and high tide at the north end of the Trestles is about 2pm.
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Bumping this back to the top so we all know what’s up.
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Your kid’s got some stamina fishing that long across that much water. I’m sure you’re proud of him.
As for the catfish, good for him. Just have fun. A lot of Louisiana folk (I’m guilty of this as well) get into an unofficial trout/redfish p*ssing match and leave all these other fish on the table. If someone is having fun, and the point is to have fun, then let them have fun.
Great report. I’m probably gonna hit the water soon just to op-check everything on the boat and this report helps get me pointed in the right direction.
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Yeah, I think we can say that the freeze wasn’t the apocalyptic end of Louisiana’s inshore fishing. So, that makes me feel better.
“and I could hear the other boat talking shit.”
I could never understand the “tough guys” on the water. You big man, you caught a fish that fits in a walmart bag. lol I could understand if you were motoring through where they were casting, but obviously you weren’t doing that. lol
Pictures of those birds working gets my blood flowing. That just says loud and clear that the white shrimp are getting it on.
Yeah, I’m gonna have to get on the water soon and find these fish.
Great report, thanks for posting it!
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The lack of standardization is kinda annoying. It’d be great if everyone just used one format and translated formats freely.
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100%!!!
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Thank you, I’ll let you know what I do.
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+1 on this
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ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
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I’m battling the voices in my head saying to “keep the boat for one last fall/winter” then sell it in the spring, and the other voice saying “sell it now while it’s water tight and it runs”. Ugh.
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The Tracker and Gnartooth.
Boat Stuf didn’t want to consign the Tracker, so I’m gonna sell it myself. So annoying. lol I need to make sure the trolling motor and everything is good, so I guess I’ll just take it fishing, put her through the paces and fix anything that isn’t 100%.
