Devin
Forum Replies Created
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It looks like you’re using the Shell Beach forecast. Use Comfort Island and Bay Gardene since those are “outside” areas that more accurately reflect where you will be fishing. When you do, you’ll see that the wind is gonna be a tad bit bumpier. The tide timing is also different by about 5-6 hours. That’s a big deal.
After that, there’s a hazard (with more information about it linked here) that’s near Platform 2 and Oyster Reef 2.
After that, there’s no problem with fishing shallow water. If you think some place could be shallow, then come off plane further out and idle/trolling motor in and fish it anyway. I caught some nice trout yesterday in water that was as shallow as 18 inches. They are there. Stop throwing mud everywhere, slow down, be as stealthy as you reasonably can and fish them anyway. Your boat can do it.
Bring a cajun anchor or Danforth if you don’t have Power Poles. I don’t have a jackplate or Power Poles and I can make it happen. You can, too.
I think your plan is good and worth executing. If I were starting from scratch that’s what I would do to begin learning the area. That’s because the spots you picked out are protected from a SE wind and that’s what has been blowing this whole time and would have been blowing the whole time by the time you get in the water (if the prediction doesn’t change).
But it isn’t my first time fishing that area, so I’m actually going to recommend something a little different than what you’ve got planned.
** Plan 1 **
I think you should shoot straight out further than what you’ve got planned. If I were you, I’d be at the Long Rocks first thing in the morning and fish against the rocks with an 1/8oz jig and Matrix Shad in Ultraviolet. Then I’d fish off the rocks in the deeper stuff (~5-9ft) with a 1/4oz or 3/8oz jighead. Start somewhere further southeast and let the wind blow you down the length of the Long Rocks. I’d also try the end of the Long Rocks. There are three “ends”. Even consider fishing the middle of the break in the rocks.
Then I’d shoot to Raccoon Island and pop corks on the lee side of it. Then I’d scream to Platform 1 and fish that. I’d be on the trolling motor aggressively fishing around it with a 3/8oz jighead. Then I’d have the throttle punched through the dash to fish the Trash Rig in Bay Eloi. Then I’d go to the rig southeast of there and do the same thing. Jig both spots. If you have a helpful person with you, then that helpful person gets to throw a cork with a 40″ leader. Then I’d pop corks at Deadman Island. Beat them with a stick if they try anything else. It’s also that helpful person’s job not to fly out the boat. It’s a bass boat, it eithers idles or screams at top RPM. There is no inbetween.
Then I’d scream to Comfort Island.
I could also condense this trip to Long Rocks -> Trash Rig -> Comfort Island. I’d even consider doing that in reverse order because the Long Rocks is probably gonna have everyone and their mom there on a Saturday.
When you fish Comfort Island, know the shallow water on the west side usually does best. Cork it with a 40″ leader.
If it’s too bumpy because the weather man sucks at his job then go inside to the MRGO and fish those spots I picked out. Cork ’em. Or you can do what you picked out from Trout 1 to Trout 9. I think those could work but do not dilly dally. You are moving with a purpose.
You need to be mentally prepared to forget the Long Rocks in the event the river is splooging crap all over it. If you get there and see garbage water, LEAVE. Jump to Warp 9 to clearer water. I would not fish the rigs southeast of the Long Rocks (Five Wells and 32 Block) because they are most certainly covered in crap river water.
** Plan 2 **
Use this plan to guarantee calmer water and where water is definitely not gonna be threatened by river water or having been dirtied by that strong SE wind for days on end. Plus the wind is predicted to be calmer out this way. Bring bug spray.
I’d go straight to the rocks on the east side of Lake Borgne. Fish a topwater against the rocks for quality trout, have your helper fish a cork with a 24″ leader.
You will see there are coves in breaks in the rocks, definitely fish in those and fish the end of the rocks.
You will also see bright white shell banks on GED. Fish those.
Then you’ll see a rig off of Point aux Marchettes at 29° 59.034’N 89° 37.247’W IIRC. Fish that. It will be calm enough. Jig and drop shot that bad boy. Maybe a cork. Lots of snags there, be ready to break off.
Then consider fishing the reef balls at 30˚ 04.283’ -89˚ 35.107’. Due east of that is a big shell bank on Lake Borgne.
Magill Lagoon is Plan Redfish.
There you go. Good luck.
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I also like to see consistency leading up to the day of my trip. For example, if you look at my report from yesterday, I was feeling warm and fuzzy because the wind had consistently been blowing its ass off out of the southeast. If it had been cork-screwing from every direction, that wouldn’t have allowed for areas to be consistently protected and finding good water and fish would have been tougher to accomplish.
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Also, to be clear, I knew it wasn’t gonna be a quantity day. It was a “quality” day. Of course, that didn’t keep me from trying for 15 trout, but I’d take the toilet flushes and potential >20″ trout over a box of 13 inchers.
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“I’m thinking this is a mistake.”
It’s a giant mistake and good on you for having the self-awareness to recognize that. Most people go years without realizing it.
What Levi said is spot on, but FWIW (you know what I’m going to say) this topic is beat ad nauseam inside 101. Specifically in Mastering The Tide and Judging The Conditions.
There is not anything I can say here that will match the completeness and depth of those video lessons.
In a nutshell, the conditions preceding the day of your fishing trip can drastically change the water level so much that it will be radically different from what’s predicted. You want to account for that. The above lessons detail how.
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Some more fish corn.
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I see 13.3v on your graph, so that’s good.
Do you get a similar anomaly in side vu mode or any other mode? Any issues on the chartplotter side?
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Did it work fine before?
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Racoon Island is at 29° 43.277’N 89° 26.106’W
It’s right next to the Long Rocks.
Trash Rig is at 29° 46.177’N 89° 22.701’W
It appears to be the northern-most rig you’ve got marked in Bay Eloi.
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Okay good to go. Let us know what you find and we can get this resolved, then this thread will be here for when the same thing happens to someone else.
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I’ve fished topwater and shallow spots suited for it in that area for years. This is part of my “long term success”. I’ve kept fishing reports to reference and have a good memory of what works, what doesn’t and when and where. I can apply that template to similar spots/conditions and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
No, that isn’t something you can get right this minute. It just comes with time and is part of the reward applying the process of LTS and seeing your fishing trips not as individual events but as being a journey in becoming a better, more experienced angler.
For example, in my Delacroix/Pointe a la Hache reports from last month and January they were hitting a cork better than anything else. I tried a topwater and they just weren’t having it. Yesterday was opposite. Even both areas set up the same, the fish just behaved different. Same thing for Dularge in December.
But sometimes applying the template elsewhere does work.
This is one reason I punch out to new-to-me areas, rather than fish my alma mater over and over (Hopedale).
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Experience.
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“There were a few months in between finishing the re-wire and when I was able to get the boat in the water, so maybe this could be the problem as it never happened before the re-wire.”
We are onto something here. I dunno what size battery you’ve got, but that’s a lotta stuff to have on one battery. I know my electrical issues went away when I either got a larger battery or wired a separate one in parallel.
“The house battery does need to be replaced as its probably close to 4 years old…..maybe that could explain the reason why it somewhat works when slowing down to idle after a run?”
That’s your sign. We are getting warmer. Yeah, after the battery is charged after running the Garmin has the juice to act right, then when you reduce RPMs the battery strains under load. That’s my theory. I bet you’ve got a Group 24 battery in your boat.
You really ought to just have a separate battery ready to go. It’s good to have for testing/trouble shooting and for when your house battery eventually shits the bed.
I’ve got a lot of extra/spare parts I keep for this purpose and it all takes up enough space in my house/garage that I literally write off the square footage in my taxes.
So be careful going down that rabbit hole. I don’t have a wife telling me what I can/can’t have, either. LOL
“I know the installation manuals say not to run transducer cables alongside power wire to avoid signal interference, but it was already ran like that before and it worked.”
I don’t think that’s the issue. Those cables should have built-in shielding anyway. If they don’t, custom shielding is cheap: tin foil.
“I guess disconnecting and pulling the transducer cable all the way back out from under the deck and plugging it back into the unit would be worth a shot.”
That’s smart and would work, but I’m not sure that’s absolutely important to do otherwise you would have had issues to begin with.
Two final notes: you’re currently offshore and can’t access your boat, correct?
You will want to test your alternator just to be sure. I mean, if you’re getting 14v on plane, you’re good, but if that voltage is every wonky at all, then that may be something you want to replace.
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“When I got to this area the wind really wasn’t blowing that bad maybe 5-10, so I decided to try these but as I got further into the pond it became really shallow really quick. I know logically with a south wind and rising tide there should have been enough to float my boat. It’s a 20 foot aluminum bass boat so its draft is shallow.”
Next time that happens, stop and fish further out.
“As I was reading some of your articles you have one in there that shows two possible routes and the one I took was before finding this video. If I had known I would not have taken the one I took. When I got to the white poles in Lagoon Brady I went to the right luckily there was a boat right behind me and he went to the left around 50mph and the whole way through the route to the MRGO. Dude knew this route and he was in about a 26 foot CC. He never slowed down.”
In the future post your route, or describe it.
“Pass LA Loutre’. Sorry.”
I’m still not following you. Pass a Loutre is in Venice. You mean Bayou La Loutre? I’m guessing you saw popping shrimp at that four-way intersection with Bayou St. Malo, Baker’s Canal and Bayou La Loutre?
If so, that’s pretty common when the shrimp are running and sometimes fish can be there, sometimes not.
“I don’t know where Bayou Pisana is and when I searched GED it shows on the west side of the MRGO.”
Bayou Pisana used to run across the marsh where the MRGO is today. The spot I have marked as “Trout 1” is the “new” mouth of it after the MRGO was dug. So today you have Bayou Pisana on the east and west side of MRGO.
“I will from now on and I don’t have a problem with posting here since I believe in this community and know we all hold the same values. Great bunch of people you have here Devin. Thank you Devin and for the help to everyone who responded! I’m new to the area and steadily trying to learn how to fish it and catch fish.”
You’re welcome and thanks for the vote of confidence. I just want you to catch fish and have fun and be successful. If we can get that done then LAFB Elite will be that much better. I have everyone here to thank for making this standalone forum, far from the familiarity of Facebook Groups, as good as it is. Thanks, guys.
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Okay, so then it’s not your install. We can cross that off the list.
The next thing to do is check components while we wait on Garmin to see what they have to say. Hopefully their customer service is as good as Humminbird.
Do you have spare cables you can swap out? Do you have a unit you can swap out?
Next thing: I’d check those connections for the tiniest amount of corrosion.
Thing after that: is your unit getting good voltage? Some of these units will act wonky if they’re not getting good voltage and *clean* electricity, which I do not know how to measure/detect.
I know my units started behaving better after I put them on their own battery separate from the house/cranking battery.
You can test this by swapping out batteries. Check the battery the units are currently using for full cells. Pop that plastic cap off the top and if the cells look dry then fill them with distilled water. Do not use tap water. Wear protective wear when you do, a drop of batter acid flying in your eye will ruin your day. You do not want that smoke.
In the past I’ve had a Humminbird unit that was by itself defective and had to be sent in to get fixed. It came back a couple weeks later working like new. I backed up all my data and wiped the unit before sending it. You never know, there could be an LAFB-fan at Humminbird and he ain’t getting my spots/tracks. LOL
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You just signed the death warrant of a lot of sail cats.
If the water looks lower next time you go out it’s because umpteen-zillion of them have been removed to make space for far more loveable fish.
