cliffhall
Forum Replies Created
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Topwater limit?!?!
These are the things that get my heart rate up, among other things. Great trip!
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World series trout will be here before you know it. If this fall truly does line up like 2024 then you can expect to start bumping into them in a week or so. I some of my best days on the lake October 24, 25, and 27 of 2024.
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Starting to get a little tickle hearing about trips like this. I’d imagine things explode any day now.
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Love mirrolure Lil John’s and Lil John XL’s
I throw them exclusively on Texas custom screw lock jigheads 1/8-1/4oz jig heads when wading but you can go heavier than that. Straight tails are very versatile and can mimic fish or shrimp well.
I generally do a steady retrieve with intermediate pops. Vary speeds and pause time after pops.
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I’m assuming you are launching soon but the areas I mentioned in this post are worth a try if you are gonna be around Coquille: https://www.lafbelite.com/forums/discussion/9-07-2026-fish-plan/
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As crazy as this sounds, sometimes I believe there is too much bait in the marsh. I feel like a good front with some consistent NW winds help to dump some bait out so the fish have to consolidate at choke points instead of finding a meal in every nook and cranny within the marsh.
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Well done! It still blows my mind that you can find trout around Bayou B this early but that has been the case for the last handful of years. It should only get better until the first couple weeks of October until the armada moves in.
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In my opinion, wade belt and boga would be my top two priorities. You can get a cheaper version of bogas but the actual bogas will last forever and are very accurate. It’s a buy once cry once type of gear.
This is what I usually bring on a wade:
Wade belt
Plyers
Boga
Snippers
Yard stick on a bungee string
One versatile rod with a long leader
Plano 3600 with various baits (I tuck the box into my wade belt)
I will experiment at times but these are the baits I throw 90% of the time:
-screw lock 1/4 and 1/8 jig heads
-mirrolure lil johns & lil john xl’s
-soft dines
-topwater (skitterwalks and One Knockers for me)
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You make venice remind me of the favorite parts of my childhood. Duck hunt in the morning, set trot lines for catfish with duck gizzards mid morning, rabbit hunt in the afternoon, deer hunt in the evening, and then frog at night. Seems like you can do all that and more in Venice. Well done on the adventure!
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Book it…..Shooter gonna catch a blue marlin on his next wade.
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It’s cool to see that the outside patterns end up setting up like the inside patterns when it’s comes to flats fishing. I have to have incoming water for the topwater fishing I do in the winter/early spring as well.
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I do not have experience doing that so this is speculative but I am sure there are some “match the hatch” scenarios where that would be effective. Ive had luck barely crawling baits while fishing the causeway before and heard from guys I trust who say letting the bait just sit on the bottom can elicit a bite at times. I know others who have had luck mid strolling the lake reefs with straight tails before. Having said that, I throw a ultraviolet matrix 95% of the time to figure out a bite and will occasionally adjust from there.
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I am the farthest thing from a sheepshead expert but I saw a recent report of someone hammering them at the trestles. He was getting really tight to the poles and dropping shrimp straight down them. That validates what @Devin mentioned above.
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It’s at trolling motors unlimited right now. They are the ones who shaved my shaft down and I’m assuming something messed up when they re-wired the head. Hopefully I’ll have it back before too long because I’m absolutely dependent on spot lock, especially this time of year.
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To be clear, I have not fished these areas in years. I could be really good during the freshening because it was absolutely loaded with grass and it would be protected/clean up quicker after fronts. I am not sure how things are over there right now but it was a very consistent area back in the day.
Like Devin said, you can start much further in during the fall bite.
Deep Jig 1 & 2: Bayou Bernard dumps can be excellent. Lots of cool features on the bottom. Go find the scoops and work the ledges on falling tides.
Bayou Jig: This bayou almost always produced a few trout by fishing the crab cork lines and drop offs.
Sunken Islands: This particular spot is a little deeper than what is behind that island just to the left of it. Its a good spot to drift fish around the points.Drain with ledge: Used to be good for a few trout and reds. I had a trip where we caught 48 in that drain before.
GCP: Grand coquille point. Worth a stop for sure. Just fish the tide lines and look for bait.
(Pic 2)Island point: All of the points on that island can be good and the bayou that splits them has some nice features but we always caught them best at that point on a falling tide
Drift cuts: We used to drift that shoreline and would catch some stuff at the cuts.
There is a good bit of stuff around the Bayou Bernard area and some of those bayous and open areas that is worth a try but its fun finding those on your own. Lots of things have changed in the last few years but these were our best spots and should give you a decent idea of if that area is still producing. Let me know if you find grass over there.
