Devin
Forum Replies Created
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Welcome to the Community and thanks for posting an intro?
Where do you normally fish or plan on fishing?
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Saturday is doable, just understand it will probably be a grind.
Where are you launching from and which boat are you taking?
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Fishing from a kayak is just a different game. It’s a tool that should be used accordingly. An advantage of a kayak over a boat is the launchability: you can kick it out off the side of the road in places boats cannot. Using a hammer like a screwdriver isn’t best use of a hammer.
Now, with that said, right now is one of the toughest times of the year to catch fish. So don’t get discouraged if your fishing trips are a grind. That’s kind of to be expected, bay boat or not.
If I were you, I would look hard at fishing the Rock Dam in Hopedale, or the canals/ponds across the bayou from Hopedale Marina. That would be a great start.
It seems like every year during spring some kayaker lands a giant trout at the Rock Dam.
Yellow Cotton Bay off of LA-23 could be good, too.
Then I would look hard at going to Grand Isle and Elmer’s during spring.
You absolutely can catch fish and do well. Leverage this group and 101 to that end.
Thank you for posting an intro!
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As far as crappie go, I really can’t help you. My experience fishing for them has been in impoundments out of state, not in the marsh or rivers here in Louisiana.
I think the MRGO is a good choice. Stick with what you know, and the fish that were at or near The Wall, or at least the deeper water of the MRGO, is worth trying. Get on the rocks and do your thing. Drift that flat, too.
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Yeah, it sounds like its tough out there. Thanks for reporting back and letting us know how it went.
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Losing the trolling motor and anchor is rough.
If it makes you feel better, last year I tossed out a mushroom anchor (used only for shallow water) and guess what? It wasn’t tied to anything! It just kerplunked into the water and is gone forever. LOL
So, top that.
“As I was heading there I began to notice the heaps of dead fish on the banks.”
Ugh, I hate hearing that.
“Hypothesis: I think everything in 10 foot of water or less died during the blizzard”
I believe that.
Well, great report. Thank you for posting.
This time of year I take it easy anyway and focus on maintenance, but am with you: I’m definitely not gonna be on the water any time soon.
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Okay, great. If you’re looking to get a little fishing done, I would look hard at drifting the east side of Lake Pontchartrain, especially wherever you see rows of crab traps. I’d also fish the mouth of Chef Pass and Treasure Isle Point. Maybe Hwy 11 bridge on the south side of the lake.
I would not expect to find and whack the fish in a couple hours. You’re going on a bite ride to scratch an itch. lol It’s just that time of year and when it warms up the fish can be anywhere.
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“what I was told is that this fish kill was not as bad as we might think.”
I’d rather be wrong on this one. I hope that’s true. There’s things I hear that make me believe this could be the case. I certainly hope so. That would be amazing. I just wanna catch fish and keep some to eat. That’s all.
“On a little bit of a better note, I have had some friends smash the trout the past few days even in areas that reported fish kills”
I love hearing someone’s catching.
Also, that brings up a good point: let’s not equate the toughest fishing of the year to “all the fish are dead”. There’s a reason I do maintenance now and in August: the fishing is slowest during those times.
So, I’m remaining optimistic. But, given my position, the onus is on me to say something, especially when no one else is. I’d rather be safe than sorry.
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Hol’ up, I didn’t say that! I said I heard that someone at LDWF said that 2-3 years worth of redfish were wiped out. That’s not even for-sure confirmed yet.
Either way, no doubt we got whacked real good by this cold.
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Yeah, and those people will never join LAFB Elite, even though they don’t have the fishing reports to back up their “expertise” or make off the wall claims about trout biology, etc.. Also the same people who were talkin’ mad sh*t about the Taliban in 2021 but somehow missed the war for 20 years. Also the same people who “suPpoRt tEh vEteRaNs” but can’t restrain from saying awful things about me whenever I voice anything that’s remotely sensible about conservation.
Well, the gloves are coming off today. I woke up pissed off this morning. lol Just hopped out the cold plunge, warmed up and am writing the video script now.
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They’re going to take a minute gathering data, mull it over, then kick it up to the LWFC, more back and forth. They’ll follow a politically safe practice and in the meanwhile people will fish like nothing happened. lol
It’s my understanding (I’m probably inaccurate) that the head of LDWF and/or the governor can take executive action.
And why not? Show some damn leadership. But IIRC, the current head of LDWF isn’t even from Louisiana, is a political appointee (“but she has the best intentions!”), probably can’t point to Delacroix on a map. I’ve eaten more trout than she’s looked at. Sometime last year she was confused between what a red snapper and redfish were. And she has dinner with CCA. lol So I’m not confident in her at all. lol
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I’ll consider it. There’s some more content/info I need to do it. My biggest concern is people subscribing for the rage bait and I’m just not into that. I’ve seen that happen with bass fishing content creators who get a following by complaining about tournaments and forward facing sonar and that’s just not my cup of tea. But you’re right. Who else is gonna say anything? Masson isn’t. Chas ain’t. They’re both good dudes but they don’t come out of their comfort zone, or what benefits their bottom line. I get it.
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LOL
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I dunno, I got some radical fish kill video from the islands off the MS Gulf Coast. It’s not looking good. I’ll have to get it published, just waiting on some things to come through.
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The atom bomb analogy is an accurate one. Redfish take 5 years to reach maturity. They grow way slower than speckled trout and I feel there’s been more pressure on them in the last 10 years.
It’s really hard for me to say if this one is “the worst” because I don’t have numbers to go off of from previous years. I’d definitely say it’s the worst based off the information I do have, and that we really won’t know for another few months or so. If the fishing sucks in May, then we know something is up, for sure. Otherwise my boat trailer is in the shop and I haven’t had the opportunity to take a tour. I am confident in my angler’s network and what they are reporting.
I definitely don’t feel good about it. Those fish over 20″ became a semi-protected class from the meat haulers, and now it seems they’re mostly wiped out. That’s tough.
The silver bullet we have is laying off the trout. They are incredibly fecund. Anytime we laid off them they bounced back big. For example, Katrina pretty much took out the #1 trout predator: us. She literally took people out (pour out some bubbly for our fellow inshore angler), displaced survivors to other stats, annihilated boats, boat ramps, roads to get there, etc. I remember the road to Breton Sound Marina was literally ripped away. It was gone. Like a giant ripped it up and threw it somewhere.
So, the fishing pressure on trout was pretty much gone after Katrina, especially in the Greater NOLA area. And the trout fishing after that was amazing. Same thing after the BP Oil Spill.
If the trout bounce back then people will lay off the redfish. That’s why so many people went to redfish (guides included) during the Freshening, because the trout became relatively scarce, but redfish were available.
You, me and anyone else reading this knows that there is not a single person in Louisiana who will starve to death if they can’t eat a f*cking trout between now and when their spawn is over. If we can lay off the trout during that time we would have done ourselves an incredible service. But enough Louisiana folk are stunted enough to throw a fit, bitch, moan and howl if they can’t keep a speckled trout. These same folk drive right past crappie, bass, sheepshead, blue cats and umpteen other species that are good (or even better) to eat just to struggle to fill the box with trout.
Ultimately, it is what it is and time will tell. People will make their bed and they will lay in it.
In the meantime, I am struggling to not make a bunch of content that will amount to rage bait (like for YouTube). lol
