[Devin]

Also, I had a friend go deep into Breton Sound and smash a 2-man limit of nice trout for 7:50am. No throwbacks.

Also got another report of trout limits on the outside.

Virtually all the trout I caught inside yesterday were males.

So, until we get cooling weather, I think the majority of the trout are still outside.

[Devin]

“I rarely fish the matrix on 1/8th or 1/16th jigheads as I feel the tails don’t move.”

Well, a paddle tail isn’t going to kick much on the fall with a 1/16th oz jighead.

But a quality Matrix absolutely does.

And that’s the rub: I’ve heard that some Matrix shad are made at one factory and others are made at another.

I’ve been told that one is Chinese, and that one tends to be tougher/stiffer, and the other is American, which is softer and has more action.

I only fish the “American” Matrix, and I’ve ordered those straight from Chas or found them at Gus’s. I’m sure they’re at Chag’s, too.

Anyway, the benchmark for me for a good paddle tail is kicking on the fall with an 1/8oz jighead.

If not, they tend to spin, get tangled and introduce line twist.

[Devin]

I absolutely love this post.

Hell yeah.

Let’s nerd out.

So, I use a worm bag for keeping my soft plastics, and these little plastic jars for jigheads.

I like the worm bag because I can keep the soft plastics in their respective bags. This is especially good for scented lures.

I also use deep Plano trays for my bass soft plastics. Everything is labeled accordingly.

I do keep a tackle tray of jigheads assorted according to size, but if I am doing lots of jigging, I just keep one of those jars out since I’ll probably be breaking off and re-tying regularly.

No picture of the jighead tackle tray, it’s in the boat right now.

And that’s not the worm bag I normally use, it’s just a spare with extra soft plastics. The actual worm bag is the one I screenshot below.

+2 More Photos

[Devin]

[Devin]

[Devin]

Okay, so that was you on the end there. Yeah, I wanted to fish there, but just punched to the middle and then the other two ends.

Nothing but one big black drum and a whole lotta mullet. lol

Water was moving, though!

[Devin]

“I was tying hooks when Devin passed both times going out and coming back”

If you ever see that, then that means things aren’t going well. LOL

[Devin]

Both of you are completely missing the point of using any of these three lines.

They’re just tools in the toolbox.

Monofilament, FC and braid all have pros/cons and traits that make on excel at one thing and not do so well at another.

Monofilament casts phenomenally better than braid. If it doesn’t, the deficiency isn’t in mono, it’s in your skill. Sorry. Just some tough love.

Not to mention it’s cheaper, but that’s not the chief reason to use it.

Mono is neutral buoyant and will allow a lure to track higher through the water column.

FC sinks and causes lures to track deeper.

For example, yesterday when I was fishing grass beds with 15lb FC, my lures kept snagging grass. Snagged grass = no bites.

But switching to 15lb mono solved that problem. I started getting more bites and caught more fish.

This is how I can be next to someone and catch fish while they don’t.

That’s just one example.

That mono stretches is a plus.

It allows you to use faster action and keep fish pinned.

Braid tangles easily and is notorious for pulling treble hooks.

Many inshore anglers get around this by using a slower rod, but that’s a bandaid.

Mono also doesn’t cut into wood. Braid does.

Mono doesn’t pull into itself on the spool. Braid does.

Mono doesn’t pack loosely onto a spool. Braid does.

I can go on and on.

Of course, braid has properties that makes it better in other applications.

It’s much better for dropshotting, flipping, frogging, punching, but those are mostly applications you are never going to use in inshore fishing.

I do use it for sight fishing around heavy grass.

But if not, I’m throwing 30lb mono because it doesn’t snag itself or wrap around the rod tip like braid does. And sometimes all you get is one shot at that redfish. Gotta make it count.

Go ahead. Use only braid. You will still catch some fish and have fun. But if you ever truly want to get better at inshore fishing, you will use all three fishing line types.

[Devin]

What Keith said.

Lowrance is the easiest to work with of all the units out there, IMO.

You are looking for an “export all” function on your tracks and waypoints, probably somewhere under the system settings.

ChatGPT is actually not bad at this, as I’m sure it indexed all the user manuals and discussion forums regarding Lowrance data transfers.

Literally just tell it the models you are dealing with and ask it what to do, then it will take you from there.

Or take pictures of the screen and share them here, we can help you walk through it.

[Devin]

I think you could do well fishing Lake Eugene, Muscle Bay and Bayou Biloxi, since you will have some decent tide range first thing in the morning.

Try to get on a good shrimp pattern bite if you can. I think something might be there. It’s worth trying.

[Devin]

Bumping this to the top.

When I get to a stopping point I will give you some thoughts and ideas on what you’ve got here.

Also, bump this thread to the top so I see it, in case I forget. Thank you.

[Devin]

Excellent, and thank you.

Also maybe put that .usr (or .gpx, or whatever you used) on a free cloud drive as a backup. Like Google drive.

You might thank yourself later if anything ever happens to that GPS unit.

[Devin]

Intracoastal Z520C

I couldn’t bring myself to get into another bay boat.

[Devin]

That is indeed a 72mph boat. It’s an absolute monster. A Ranger Intracoastal Z520C.

It passes other boats like they’re standing still, and I love it.

[Devin]

Good tip.