[cliffhall]

Nothing will drive you crazier than trying to get into the head of a trout but I think you can trust your intuition on this one. Those big trout know they have to feed before or after their brains click into spawning mode. Jon Miller did a seminar one time talking about how laws of conservation of energy apply to trout behavior. Any animal will die if they expend more energy than they intake. Spawning requires a lot of energy, both to produce the eggs and the spawning process, so fish need to load up around spawning periods.

That’s one reason I think we don’t see Texas or Florida sized speckled trout here. Our trout have to cover large areas and evade predators throughout the year where some of the best big trout fisheries in the world (Guana River, IRL, Mosquito Lagoon, Baffin, Rockport) have trout populations that spawn and feed year round in the same bays.

[cliffhall]

I can’t contribute much due to never fishing that area but I do have a buddy who did well around four bayou this weekend.

[cliffhall]

Great job of making something happen when things were cooling down everywhere else.

Also, the same could be said for you! Great guy and tons of knowledge on GI.

[cliffhall]

I’ll be down this weekend as well and I don’t mind sharing intel. Look me up on Facebook and I’ll give you my number

[cliffhall]

Absolutely awesome. I love that yalls success bewildered the googanville folks. That’s always special lol

[cliffhall]

Not trying to hijack your thread, Neil, but does anyone know if the beaches in east bay are wadefishable? More specifically the beach just west of south pass.

[cliffhall]

I’ve only fished fourchon once so I don’t have tons of intel but I can say you want to be mindful of the waves in that beach/pocket spot just west of belle pass. Those barges push some gnarly waves that nearly swamped me.

The barges may be worth a look as well. I’m gonna give Elmer’s a look tomorrow mid morning so I’ll let you know if it’s worth heading east.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by  cliffhall.

[cliffhall]

Great job as always on running into those big fish!

[cliffhall]

What time did the bite shut off for you guys? Things slowed down for us around 10-10:30 (On 5/24 Elmers). I chalked that up to us moving spots but maybe thats when the fish stopped biting in general.

Also, where is public access for the GI beach? Ive only fished elmers so far but I may go stay down there this weekend and give the GI beach a try.

Thanks for the report!

[cliffhall]

“Thought experiment: even if you did have space to slide into at the Long Rocks (or wherever) and you whacked the daylights out of the trout, what did you actually learn? Something you already know?”

100% correct. I would have learned how much I hate being around other boats….something I already know very well lol.

Not fishing as much and having shorter windows of time to fish have made me want to stick closer to home, which is one reason I keep returning to familiar spots. I’m beginning to realize that I’d prefer a shorter trip to a new area over a longer trip where I am just rehashing old patterns. For now, I have my sights set on Grand Isle and the northeast tip of Biloxi Marsh, but Venice is definitely on my list of places to explore.

[cliffhall]

I don’t have a VHF but we could start a group text to chat about what we are seeing.

[cliffhall]

I think there were a few factors and the tide switch was definitely one of them. We were clearly out fishing the guys in boats, especially on Saturday, so the presentation certainly helped.

[cliffhall]

I appreciate that, Levi. Putting that on the list of things to try for next year.

[cliffhall]

Thanks for the intel. You going to be down there this weekend?

[cliffhall]

You bet! Happy to give back to a fishery that’s given so much to me. Thank you for your support as well.