[Devin]

Man, what a difference.

The old pads looked like they were pulled off the bottom of Lake Borgne. LOL Like…wow.

Trailers are so overlooked. I’m glad you got yours squared away and, to be honest, you probably saved yourself a buttload of work and money by just doing it yourself.

Some people working at boat shops are room-temperature IQ with the pride of their work to match. I hate it’s that way, but good work is hard to find on the first try.

Plus, when you do it yourself, you know exactly where everything is.

Thanks for coming back and letting us know how it went.

[Devin]

The game plan for this trip was to fish island points in the East Biloxi Marsh for speckled trout, then carry on eastward to try for snapper at some shallow wrecks in northeast Chandeleur Sound (keeping a heavy rod rigged for ‘targets of opportunity’ during the open water crossings), and then look for tripletail on the ride home.

That’s brilliant, love it!

I noticed four boats fishing the big Lake Borgne Block-22 platform as I passed, wondering if there were really any trout in that close

It’s possible, but if they are, then they are surely getting hammered by everyone and their mom. That rig is just so close.

I dodged rain showers for the next 45 minutes or so, steering for the clear skies at the edge of the storm, and eventually make it back to Deepwater Pass.

Wow, that’s a legit adventure right there. Straight up! You don’t see that at the bowling alley!

For that alone I love those long treks into the middle of nowhere. I’m probably gonna cave and just get another bay boat just for that.

Anyway, great report, thanks for posting!

[Devin]

Welcome to the forum and thank you for posting an intro.

I don’t know if you come down I-59 at all, but if so, then Gus’s Tackle in Slidell has a lot of the inshore tackle we use here.

I’m ready for this weather to cool off and fall to kick in.

[Devin]

Hey Jesse, welcome to the community!

Do you not go to Lake Decade during the winter? I’m not sure if that’s a shorter drive or not, but it looks like it on a map.

That and Vermilion Bay! Vermilion Bay is on fire right now, if you make the run out to Tiger Shoals and I guess the oyster reefs on the south side of Marsh Island.

The Cove will be good here in the next 30 days if it’s not already.

Either way, I’m glad you posted an intro.

Thank you, Jesse!

[Devin]

I’m 99% positive I can.

Tomorrow morning I am addressing app development and debugging. At that time I’ll look into it and see what can be done.

Thank you for bringing this up!

[Devin]

If it works and especially if it’s cheaper, then why the hell not?

[Devin]

What year is your Simrad, do you know?

I am guessing that it’s a newer model that has some kind of .USR type that GPS Babel doesn’t recognize or can’t work with.

<insert cussing GPS manufacturers for making things harder than what they need to be>

This URL provides a lot of technical specs from GPS Babel that I don’t expect you to use, but maybe someone else who searches this in the future will: https://www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-development/fmt_lowranceusr.html

If you give me some time I can figure out a solution.

For now, I would investigate if your Simrad can export files in .gpx format instead of .usr.

NOTE: Everyone should shove their proprietary file format where the sun doesn’t shine and just use .GPX!!!

After that, try GPS Visualizer: https://www.gpsvisualizer.com/convert_input

Let us know how it goes.

Also, thank you for posting about this. I love this kind of content/discussion and hope more people do the same so we can solve these technical challenges. You don’t find this kind of discussion on FaceCrap!

[Devin]

Excellent find. Thank you so much for sharing this.

[Devin]

I thought I replied to this!

Well, welcome to the forum! I know it’s hot as all get out right now, but once it cools off the fishing ought to pick up even more. I’m hoping there’s gonna be a helluva shrimp run on that side of the river. I can’t wait to see what it’s like.

Thank you for posting an intro!

[Devin]

You got an Avid Rogue? How do you like it?

Well there’s no doubt that Venice is on fire, but if you go out of Rigolets in the next 30 days or so, consider hitting Mud Lake (aka Little Lake) on a hard falling tide. Look for jumping shrimp and diving birds.

There’s a chance right now that Lake Pontchartrain could have another run of shrimp and fish like she did in 2016. Or it’ll be like last year where they are concentrated in various patches across the basin (and you’ll want to trailer to The Jump in Venice).

Thanks for posting a report and welcome to the community!

[Devin]

There are plenty of spots holding trout besides the ones that constantly show up on Facebook and Youtube. I just gotta do my homework and go scout them out.

The artificial reefs in MS Sound are a good start. Grand Banks and Cabbage Reef, maybe West Karako (inside the marsh).

I am really exploring night fishing around the islands and away from the docks where it has mostly been undersized trout and hard heads.

There’s gotta be something to it. I’ve heard things about the casino lights, wherever those are. I’ve also heard of great flounder gigging reports.

Either way, welcome to the site, thank you for posting an intro!

[Devin]

Sounds good. Just let us know.

Don’t forget to try GPS Visualizer, either.

[Devin]

Sort of.

I’ve been meaning to make it awhile. The pictures and video for it was shot awhile back, the text just needed to be written out.

The dredge down by LaPlace does a much better job marking their discharge line than the one in Lake Catherine.

[Devin]

Superior surely has what you’re looking for. I’m about 100% positive they have all the same manufacturer’s reps as Puglia’s, Chag’s, Gus, etc.

[Devin]

Thank you so much for posting those!