Devin
Forum Replies Created
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“If anyone runs up on a 3# hardhead under the causeway his name is Jeremy.”
LMAO
“Southshore of Lake P on some of the reefs and seabrook would be my ideal place to get wet this weekend but I don’t want to mess with the powerboat races or their patrons in donzi’s full of liquor bottles.”
Man, it’s hard to argue with this. I don’t really wanna be around a bunch of dummies in speed boats and jet skis. Thank goodness pleasure boating isn’t anymore popular in Louisiana than what it is. With that said, it’s never stopped me from catching fish along the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
But, with that said, the conditions could set up well for it. That southeast wind will have you somewhat protected on the south shore where you can execute Plan Fishing Things That Stick Out Of The Water That Are Not A Bridge. And I don’t see anyone racing directly next to those things for fear of striking them.
It could also be a bust, but you will have a good deal of fishing spots to include the catwalk, sea wall and scoop at Seabrook, then the Causeway and other things that match the description above. It’s obvious.
Simply put, if I had to go fishing on Sunday, that is where I would go.
What Hopedale report are you referring to? I don’t see any good Hopedale reports. Good for me = smashing limits.
I don’t think Hopedale is gonna be worth a shot, but let’s entertain it anyway. The MRGO south of the Rock Dam will have wind coming straight up it, so that’s off the table. You could fish the north side of the Dam, but so will everyone else and it’s a boring community hole.
#1 and #2 will more likely than not be a butt whoopin’ and a PITA to fish. If it’s not, you should definitely fish it and fish it hard. It will probably be a waste of time if that wind is dead nuts SE (and it’s predicted to be).
#4, 5, 6 and 7 are ideally protected but that’s not a lot of fishing spots. I understand you’re taking your kid.
#8 used to be a go-to for redfish, but I can only imagine that the local bow fishing charters have vacuumed that place clean of anything with a dot on its tail. Ever since they showed up, I haven’t had much luck catching redfish in the area. Now I go other places for that.
If I absolutely had to fish Hopedale with that incoming tide and wind, I’d fish points, flats, oyster reefs, and ponds with grass in it. I’d throw a hail mary at the Biloxi Marsh, because no one has reported on it yet.
I’d cover a lot of water. Start out by running across Lena, out of Bayou St. Malo, bang a right and start fishing the rocks and grass mats there like what I suggested in Nate’s planning post. Then I’d run up the shoreline and make a right turn through Grande Bayou into the Biloxi Marsh to fish Biloxi Lagoon, Pete’s Lagoon, Stump Lagoon, Muscle Bay, Crooked Bayou, Magill Lagoon, Bayou Biloxi. I’d cover a lot of water because I’m starting from scratch and drift those spots with a cork and jig the deeper water.
Otherwise I’d fish:
- Lake Pontchartrain’s south shore
- do a night trip to Eden Isles
- Lafitte: north side of Couba Island, south side of The Pen and wherever else I saw rocks/grass to pique my interest.
- Pointe aux Chene: fish the ponds north of the Sulfur Mine for redfish (consider launching out of Galliano)
You will have higher water levels, making navigating those places much more forgiving, that and the fish will move up the stairs to those ponds. The Long Rocks fish better when the water is lower.
The upside to fishing new places is that you’ll come away with tracks and experience. Fishing the same ol’ places when you’re not confident that you’ll catch leaves you with zero new tracks and what you already knew: the fishing is tough. And, even if you do whack ’em, you still don’t have new experience and tracks.
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That’s a bad-to-the-bone boat. It was practically made for Venice.
“Had good results in California and American bays a few weeks ago”
Give us a heads up next time!
“But damn that’s a run from Venice Marina.”
You’re in a Magnum with a 400. Turn on the flux capacitor and fold space-time. lol
But you would be driving past a lot of fish.
If I were you, I’d go to the rock jetty at the end of SouthWest Pass. I would also fish the wing dams inside the river there. Don’t let the dirty water discourage you, it’s probably not dirty underneath.
After that, I’d look hard at that beach next to South Pass, fish the jetties at the end of South Pass and fish the west side of the jetties, too.
If you like bull reds you won’t have any problems at those spots.
It won’t be super windy, but it won’t be calm, either. Fortunately, you have the boat for it.
Breton Island could be good if it’s calm enough.
After that, if it is too windy, I’d pick bays in the lee of the land and fish against roseau and cane stubble for slot reds.
I don’t know how much experience you have, proven tracks on your GPS, etc. If you do not have those things, then you absolutely must make safe routes on GED. You are seriously playing with fire if you do not.
Do you have a satellite communicator? Because you’re gonna use it if you go screaming around down there with that 400 and no safe routes.
If you do need to make safe routes, post them here and we can look them over and give you detailed feedback. Is it extra work? Yes. But it’s nowhere as much extra work as spending years learning it the hard way. You know how I know.
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Bumping this to the top.
Remember last year’s reports are the best.
Don’t sit around and wait for someone to spoonfeed you. That is not the Elite way.
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Man, given all the tough reports out of Delacroix, I would not go there.
I surmise this forum became fixated on Delacroix after the good reports that came out of there last month, but this month is shaping up to be different.
The reports that have been posted recently have been tough, but they’re still valuable because they clearly show where not to go. Did you see those?
After that, the wind forecast is tough. At least it will raise water levels.
Otherwise, I would find someplace that plays well with this east wind and fish there.
I’d go to Seabrook. You’d be very protected there. The catwalk will probably be covered in waves, but you could fish the scoop and sea wall.
I’d even try Biloxi Marsh over Delacroix, and that’s saying a lot. Not because I think there’s a bunch of fish there but because it’s something different.
AAAANNDD I just noticed this planning post is for today. Well, that wasn’t much heads up, but I appreciate you posting it. Hope you’re making out alright out there.
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Venice is nothing like Hopedale or Delacroix. Both of those places are static while Venice is dynamic. Both those places have soft forgiving bottoms, Venice has a hard sand bottom. Places that were open bays 15 years ago are now solid land with trees. All it takes is a sand bar that was built up last year to stop you dead in your tracks.
One would be foolhardy to free-navigate on a mapping card. Because mapping cards lead anglers to believe certain water is navigable when it is not, as explained here.
There are a ton of planning posts and discussion regarding Venice in this forum. There are safe routes and even .kml files in them. That will do the majority of the homework for you. But nothing beats doing homework on GED. Nothing.
If there was a better way, I would be using it.
That Venice is so difficult to navigate is one of the reasons we love fishing there. What was an open door last year, demands a new safe route this year.
If we know exactly where you are going, we can give exact feedback on what’s shallow, what’s not, what’s rocked off, what’s clear, etc.
I’m not saying you can’t roll the dice and get lucky. You absolutely can. But I wouldn’t do it.
Okay, so with that lengthy disclaimer out of the way….there are routes somewhere around this forum detailing how to get across Zin Zin Bay, into 1st Spillway and from there you’re pretty much home-free to SW Pass. There are more routes displayed and discussed to get you elsewhere.
“No satellite communication but a cool thing I did last trip is put my Starlink on a ram mount and started carrying my iPad.”
That is legit! I have a Mini, @Boyce does, too. If you can do wi-fi calling then you’re good. I would just check that whoever you’re calling the event of an emergency can in fact be contacted through data and not cellular. I’ve used AT&T, Verizon and MVNO’s and have not found one that gives reliable service across the entire across the entire birdfoot. So the Mini is the cat’s ass.
And for anyone else reading this, I cannot say enough good things about the Starlink Mini. It just needs to see the sky and you have Internet. I’ve ran mine from California to New York suction cupped to the windshield (or sunroof) and not had a problem with it aside from occasional overheating. Otherwise, absolute amazing tool.
FWIW, I also carry a Garmin inReach in case I get tossed out of the boat.
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There’s a lot of local experience between these three to include some pretty impressive reports out of Venice and yet here they are. The River has them in a headlock delivering a vicious noogie. lol
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“But I have fished Delacroix/hopedale extensively with success the last 16 years, so I would consider myself adequately capable of navigating the marsh.”
Yeah I fished both those places longer than that and still ended up with what you see below.
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Great question.
They’re the wooden dams consisting of pilings inside the mouth of the river on either side of it. You can see them very plainly on GED in the screenshots below, as well as Bill Dance fishing them and the rocks next to them here in this YouTube video.
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Probably a dredge pipe. Which (I could be wrong) has been removed. I think they’re done dredging in that area.
I think you should consult this article.
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Looks like a wild reef. That is worth checking out.
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Use it. Begin on your next trip. You will learn best by just using it. Turn it on and look at it.
Start with known stuff like the dock pilings at the slip. Watch it and you will become comfortable with it.
If you had been using it you would’ve spotted those pilings at Doulut’s. They stick out like a sore thumb.
As for that oyster reef across from the fort….well, sidescan will quickly determine if it’s still there or not.
I would pull up, graph it and (if I don’t see anything like a hard bottom, oysters, bait, fish) leave.
Most people would waste time trying it anyway while I’m already on to the next spot. That’s the difference between how I fish and how everyone else fishes. It works and it works well. And I’m using casting tackle to get higher quality and higher quantity presentations to catch the fish they don’t.
That’s the difference in how I fish and everyone else does. The other difference is that I share that and, to my utter amazement, people still don’t implement it. lol
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What kind of Humminbird do you have? If it’s a Helix, you will need HumminbirdPC. Here’s the course for it.
If you have a Solix or whatever other new model they have, you only need to upload a .gpx.
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Sheepshead are gonna be on those rocks and adjacent oyster reefs more than anything.
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If the water is high and you are absolutely not seeing them on big shorelines, then go to smaller ponds. I bet those guides had some big shorelines they wanted to fish, but the wind was blowing and/or the water was high.
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Are you equipped with sidescan sonar?
Yeah, sounds like I saved you a bad day. This is why I recommend going over GED, even in places you think you already know.
