Devin
Forum Replies Created
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That is amazing. What in the hell are they doing all the way out there still? LOL Hey man, if they’re there, then they’re there. Most water, least fish.
Sounds like an epic trip! Great report, thanks for posting!
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It ought to be good. Tide looks great. Martello will be bumpy, Doulut’s should be about perfect. The east side of Lake Borgne ought to be good, too.
East side of Lake P could be covered in birds.
Venice will be slam-jam-home-run friggin amazing.
I’m 99% positive I’m not fishing.
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I’m pretty sure I found it via GPS tracks from 2016:
30° 3.671’N 89° 38.819’W
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A picture for your convenience.
In return, I want fishing reports. 😀
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I have no idea how I didn’t see this, but welcome to the forum!
Well, triple tail in Mississippi Sound and Biloxi Marsh are pretty straight forward. I wrote about it some here and shot a video of it here.
But those fish get raked over pretty often and you will find mostly throwbacks.
The king ding-a-ling of TT fishing is Venice! I’m sure you knew that already. East Bay is where you want to go, but anywhere north of Venice in Breton Sound is also worth your time, as close as Battledore Reef or as far as Central Rig.
But East Bay is where it’s at and navigating there is tricky. I understand folks are taking Joseph Bayou to get into there, but that’s all I recall off the top of my head. So, do this: knock out 101 so you’re gravy on what to look for and, when you come to fish, let us know and which route you want to take and maybe we can vet it for you.
Tight lines, and thanks for saying hi!
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Oh, and one more thing: any soft plastic would work for Texas rigging, but I like Missile Baits D-Bomb like in this video.
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“I’m also newer to planning for these trips, so still learning a ton!”
Thank you so much for posting this!
“But I’m guessing this is an indication of less river water and more gulf water.”
There’s a stiff southeast wind that’s been blowing. Saltier water has been blown in, it will leave once it stops blowing and the water levels out.
“Am I correct that this would be a good indication of clearer water?”
It could be. Open bays roughed by the wind will probably be dirty.
I wouldn’t read into the salinity or water clarity too much, I would look at the wind and water levels. You will want to be protected, and fishing that area you pretty much are protected from the predicted SE wind. You will have plenty of water to get into those ponds, or anywhere else it would be deemed “too shallow”.
I think your best bet is to fish the rocks and ponds, as depicted in the attached graphic. Jig the rocks with a light jighead, like 1/8oz, and jig the deeper edge of them with something like 3/8 oz or 1/2 oz if the current is really ripping.
For the ponds fish whatever you like to use to fish shallow for redfish.
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Talk about consistency and sounds like a solid win on a non-shrimp spot.
Great report and thanks for posting!
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Last year I found flocks of birds in Lake P that produced consistent keepers. You can watch that video here. IIRC, out of 97 keepers I caught only three were throwbacks, or something to that effect. The year before they were on the east side of the lake. My solution was taking a boat ride, but that can be daunting for some.
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I went to a larger group size battery but I think doing what you mentioned is a better solution. I’ll do that. Thanks for bringing it up, John!
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Like in Lake P itself or elsewhere? Do you think Bayou Thomas are just a bunch of throwbacks?
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“along that same line of thought…do you think it’s possible we’ll start seeing 6-7lb+ trout in the pontchartrain estuary now that the freshening has been over for a few years?”
I hope so. That would be great. But I still think that trout are struggling to get back to where they were because Louisiana folk at large kill everything they come across. The proof in the pudding for me was last year when everyone complained of the 11.9″ throwbacks then the limit changed and it turned into 12.9″ throwbacks. Well, river water, freezes, “porpoises” and discard mortality limit don’t select for length, but we do.
If/when people catch a four pounder, they usually kill it. Well, that’s a surefire way to make sure it never gets to be an ounce heavier.
But maybe with the Saltening and the new limit we can get back there or get back there faster. It depends on which day you ask me. Some days I’m optimistic, other days not so much.
The thing here is that I don’t know what happens after a Freshening of the magnitude we experienced because I never lived through one before. And all the old timers really only talk about the usual “we used to count the coolers we caught, not the fish” and “there was more land”, blah blah blah. There’s some old fart somewhere who distinctly remembers the last time we had a freshening (whenever that was, I don’t recall off the top of my head) and could shed more light on it. Maybe Kenny Kreeger Sr. or Dudley Vandeborre or Chink Sumas. But if anyone does they have not written it down somewhere.
I know it’s been a few years, but in that same few years the fishing still sucks compared to what it used to be. If you go catch 20 trout with two people today, that’s a good box. If I only caught 20 trout by myself pre-Freshening then I would have said the day sucked, or it would have been a “grind”, a massive cold front hit the day before, my arms were taped behind my back, or whatever.
“I’m hopeful that with the increased awareness of releasing 20″ trout / size and creel limit changes / higher salinity, we’ll start seeing them. I’d much rather catch an 8lb trout in my back yard than have to drive to Texas or Florida.”
Me, too! That would be amazing. It could happen.
While the general mentality of Louisiana folk is “fill the box”, the RO20 movement, CPR, etc. is pretty much new and has to have a positive impact. All we can do is hope.
Also, quick disclaimer: there’s nothing wrong with keeping fish to eat.
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“but I did enjoy the surprise bass every now and then.”
For sure! I think most did.
What changed is that it got salty again. It unequivocally became saltier across the board. I have some good graphs for this in the Saltening blog post linked earlier.
10-12 ppt is high for bass. You may be recalling 10-12 ppm, or parts per million. Even if bass could withstand 10-12 ppt, they certainly don’t spawn in it.
I couldn’t give you a read on what the exact salinity was from before the Freshening, during and after in the Biloxi Marsh, but I can tell you that milfoil prior to 2015 was pretty much non existent. There were no grass mats in the Biloxi Marsh. You won’t find them on GED, either. But they did grow with the Freshening. Same thing for a lot of east Lake Pontchartrain, Rigolets, MRGO, etc.
Venice is just indeed a different animal, a lovely beast with that beautiful river (well, when she’s low lol). We did really well flipping last year and I can’t wait to get back out there!
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“Admittedly, that may largely be due to the fact that I’m in a kayak and limited in terms of how far I can travel.”
Now is the time of year to really capitalize on the fish being closer. I commented on your Delacroix planning post. I hope that helps. The best thing you can do is leverage this forum. Get help. Let us know what you need.
I understand that you can’t get on plane at 50mph in a kayak, but you really don’t need to. Play to the strengths of the kayak and enjoy not burning $$$ on the boat note, insurance, truck to haul it, gas, etc. lol
I think fishing those rocks in Terre aux Beouf could be banger.
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+1 on this
