Devin
Forum Replies Created
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Hey Jeff, thanks for posting.
Some more information would be good. Conditions? What boat are you in? Equipment? Can you jig casting tackle, suspending baits, etc.?
What are we working with here?
After that, based off the reports we’ve had, I wouldn’t launch out of there at all, not unless the wind is laying down and you can get into Lake Borgne. I’d also start looking at the Long Rocks, if the wind is right.
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Yeah, I’m looking at Buras Bayou area (because it’s more like a bay/lagoon now) and think that orange route you have is good. Checking out those bayous to the north of your orange route would be worth your time as well.
After that, I’m looking over that bay/lagoon area and you will want to go over that with a fine tooth comb. I see lots of oil field trash.
Your GED homework will cause you to shine like a rockstar here, or fail miserably.
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Okay, thank you for posting this. I love solving navigational puzzles.
Here’s my initial reaction looking at these routes on my phone, until I can get a better look on my laptop.
“This was recommended by a guide as the safest route.”
Assuming this is a competent guide (I don’t see why not) then that’s your answer.
Is that route convenient for you? Nope.
But that’s fishing. It isn’t meant to be convenient, nor will it ever be.
However, I do find it hard to believe that there isn’t a shorter route. That’s because not all guides are navigational wizards and we all know what assumptions are.
The thing with bayous like the one you highlighted is that they tend to deliver silt to the end where it fills in. So you can be running down the bayou, doing fine, then nail hard sand.
But what I find interesting about that bayou is that it gets wider over time. It’s moving more water and it has defined edges.
I think you can run that bayou.
BUT I would come off plane 100 yards ahead of the end and graph it out past its mouth.
I would not run it at speed in the dark wanting to get to my first fishing spot. I’d slow down and probe it out.
Look at the past imagery and see how the river has been forming that land and water. There could be a navigable channel there.
And you would be smart/prudent to patiently explore it.
Because that’s exactly what I planned to do last year: make a safe route that keeps me protected from the wind as much as possible, going from Beshel’s to South Pass.
I do not have access to that file right now, and won’t for some time. But I do recall going over the body of water in question and thinking it was navigable.
The plan was to set aside a day to run those routes in a forgiving hull, but it never came to fruition due to weather.
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Well that wind certainly didn’t help.
With the river having gone down I’m sure the fish spread out.
Gotta go looking for them again.
Great report, thanks for posting!
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“Water temp: 64 early, rose to 69.5.”
Hol’ up.
Did that come off your transducer?
I’m not doubting your observation, but maybe see if something is off. Or maybe we’re about to lose another two NDBC stations on top of SHLB1
lol
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“Would see the occasional “flick” as well – but just spread out everywhere.”
Probably menhaden or shad (threadfin or gizzard).
How many pilings did you fish? A dozen?
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It’s in a couple days, are you excited?
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Nice report. Not bad given the conditions.
The south shore of Lake Pontchartrain should shape up soon. You’ve got a great boat for it.
Thanks for posting!
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The Spicer’s area, I have not fished that part of Calcasieu, so this is new territory for me.
Obviously you want to stay protected from that wind. So I would focus on that.
What does interest me are the powerlines west of Spicers. Is that shallow water? I assume it is. If it were deep, that could be something worth looking at, especially if you have sonar.
What about that bridge? Do the pilings/walls ever hold anything? Lots of boat traffic?
I would stay out of West Cove if I were you, but that bayou running south of the pubic launch could be good, as well as the weir itself. Have you fished those before?
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It’s too bad about this wind, if those are rocks on the shoreline of West Cove, those could be great.
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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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Okay, thanks for replying. 20 pilings is good.
Yeah, I’m just trying to get a better handle on how your trip went in order to discern if that part of Lake P is worth checking out or not.
I know that I’ll run as far as 3 to 5 miles west of the launch.
Also, I’m guessing there was more east than south in the wind. New Canal Station and Shell Beach aren’t pulling up, but it looks like the case at Grand Isle.
I’d try it again on a day the wind lays down a little more or comes more from the south. There is a lot of stuff in the lee of the land thats worth trying.
After that, jig and sonar is what I use out there. A suspending bait or cork works well for the shallower stuff.
I’ve given slip corks a fair shake over the years and found they work best around lots of snags (i.e. Trash Rig) for people who can’t throw a bait caster (i.e. Mardi gras tourists who flew in from Seattle). If I don’t see action on the graph, and I don’t get bit/followed on the jig, then it’s probably a ghost town.
Finally, you probably would’ve caught the same or similar in Hopedale. So you saved time and gas to see new stuff. That’s progression in my eyes.
Great report, thanks for posting!
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“I saw that non-ethanol is at $4.59 at the shell so I’m sure my wallet and wife would appreciate a quick trip.”
Dude, no kidding. I’m hoping it brings bay boat prices down.
“I thought you thought I was just picking on the pleasure boat people.”
As long as they stay away from where we fish.
Thank goodness they don’t do their shenanigans down the MRGO.
I’ve fished bass lakes where that’s all there is: get skis, ski boats and pontoon boats and it’s a nightmare.
Anyway, I think you’ll be protected well enough and you can start fishing as soon as you exit the boat launch.
Good luck!
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Yes I am aware.
I read back over my post and apologize for not being clear: launch from the Williams Blvd boat launch and execute Plan Fishing Things That Are Not Bridges and don’t sweat the crowd/races because they’re not racing west of the Causeway.
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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.
