Devin
Forum Replies Created
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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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You are the man for taking the lead on this. Unstoppable.
I may or may not be in town, I just don’t know at this point in time. Many things are in limbo.
The river will probably be high, even the highest it will be all year. What if you get blown out by the wind and can’t make the rigs?
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Don’t forget this hazard in Lake Eloi:
https://www.lafbelite.com/forums/discussion/lake-eloi-underwater-hazard/
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“in case there is still trout out there on their summer pattern”
They are 1,000% still at rigs in saltier water across Louisiana’s coast. FWIW, I’ve caught speckled trout at those rigs near Hopedale in December. Just no one fishes them because you’d have to pass up a lot of speckled trout on your way there. That doesn’t make any sense.
Okay, looking at your plan:
“My main concern is the depth of Eloi Bay”
It runs 10-12ft deep. What would make you think it’s shallow? You can’t see bottom detail in any of the imagery on GED (or anywhere).
“Some of my spots might seem stupid”
Actually, they’re not bad at all. You can run your fishing trip as planned and I think you’ll figure some stuff out. But, I do have some thoughts.
First, this trip is very different from your other planning post with the neap tide: you now have a tide that will absolutely be screaming.
This is good.
You also have a lot of white shrimp out there, and they will be riding that tide out. Personally, I think you’d be crazy not to fish Martello Castle sometime around lunch. I’d be out there at 11am. Diving birds are a dead giveaway.
I do think you could do the same thing in the area you planned, and you will probably see diving birds somewhere around there. I think you should include Treasure Bay in your Hopedale plan.
Remember that the tide falls first on the Hopedale side, so you can fish the falling tide there then scoot to Martello if you have the time and stamina for an all day trip.
Next, I’d scratch the blue route. Forget the Long Rocks. It’s gonna be yesterday’s news soon, IMO you’re better off finding next fish somewhere else. Scratch the blue route and trade it for Point Lydia and Treasure Bay.
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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%.
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They really are. Imagine staying a few nights out there dialing that area in.
But it’s also a ghastly reminder of what man has done to Louisiana’s coast, and it kinda bums me out. Like, that camp used to sit on a shoreline.
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I stand corrected. With a fishing report like that…well, that’s why we keep fishing reports.
Hopefully I’m around.
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Just spotlock next to the castle or somewhere between that and the mouth. Literally just do this video.
