Devin
Forum Replies Created
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It seems like the redfish action could be picking up. To break down and “accidentally” come across that many is pretty epic. Maybe we all need less throttle and more casting.
Great report, and thanks for posting!
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Huge +1 on this post. Abso-friggin-lutely. I think February and August are the two times of year you want to be doing maintenance, GED scouting, etc.
Knock it out then before fall kicks in and it’s balls to the wall.
I’m telling you now, there’s gonna be folks seeing all the great reports in Venice or wherever and they’ll be too busy fixing their trailer or whatever.
Daniel Giglio has spoken.
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Thank you so much. I’m fighting for air over here. lol
Also, if it’s not in your profile, what boat you’re rolling out in. That really helps.
Furthermore, what tackle you want to fish with. If you plan on fishing The Jump and all you have are 1/4 oz jigheads, then that’s really good to know. What will you have tied the day of your trip? Knowing that would’ve saved more than a couple folks an unproductive trip.
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“Came up with a theory that the trout have started to make their way back in from their spawn and that they had to stop at Comfort Island on their way back in.”
There’s probably a few further inside than that, but I would still expect to be catching them on the outside, which (IMO) Comfort Island qualifies as. It’s a great choice this time of year, in general.
“to my surprise there was already someone there! They had to have spent the night there or something, lol.”
There’s always that one guy pulling a rabbit out of the hat. He probably just ran in the dark ahead of you, or maybe he fell out of the sky. Who knows lol
“Hauled booty to upwind of the bird and the shrimp were flying out of the water and trout were following. It was awesome!”
YASSSS!! What kind of shrimp? Whites, I’m assuming.
“After we caught our limit we decided to beat the heat and head in to clean the fish.”
Excellent decision. Just get home and get a head start on cleaning everything up.
So, FWIW, that area can turn on with shrimp this time of year. Look around Point Lydia for diving birds.
Comfort Island can be a winner, but everyone and their mom knows about it.
And don’t apologize for posting “late”. It’s a great report and useful for future reference. Thank you for posting it!
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After that, I’m not sure if fishing the river itself is productive for redfish right now. I just don’t know.
If it were me, I’d get closer to the Gulf and fish saltier water for trout and reds, places like South Pass, Joseph Bayou, East Bay and the mouth of the river itself at Southwest Pass, all tricky places to navigate to if you haven’t done your homework.
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Well, there’s this monitoring location in Belle Chasse that measures turbidity (how clear water is) in a unit called FNU and it’s been offline. Knowing what value to look for is easy, because all you have to do is compare historical data (satellite imagery and river level vs FNU). Typically, you want to see FNU in the single digits or teens. When the river is dirty you will see FNU at 20-100+.
Just bookmark that site for future use.
I really wished you posted this earlier instead of the night before, because it’s 9:30am right now and you’re gonna be hitting the water in a few hours. With the information you provided (I don’t even know where you’re launching from), all I can say is “stay away from Lery down to Grand” because there’s an algae bloom.” The bottom of Spanish looks good. I’d try that. Otherwise I’d run toward the outside and fish tidelines at major points.
If you gave me more information I could give you more feedback. Otherwise, last minute trips without much planning is asking for a bad day on the water, especially if by “Pointe a la Hache” you mean “launching from Beshel’s and fishing the surrounding area. Lots of silted in land to ruin your day around there. Bay Long, Uhlan Bay, Grand Bayou, and much more. Anywhere in the outfall of the river is a hazard, which is basically the whole area. If you posted which routes you want to take then that sure would be handy.
“I’ve never done any inshore fishing around Venice.”
Even more so around Venice. Yeah, it’s potential to be productive is unmatched, but there are tons of hazards around there. Did you see those routes I shared in this post? Are you up to speed on those USACE canals with all the rocks?
There’s so much that can go right and even more that can go wrong down there, and failing to plan is planning to fail. I cannot emphasize that enough. I know it’s extra work, but having a great trip is the extra reward. This is not bowling.
So, based off what you’ve given me I can tell you this: idle everywhere you go. Go slow. Have a float plan. Make sure someone back on dry land knows where you going, when you’ll be back and what to do if you don’t arrive on time (call the Coast Guard). I’d also have SeaTow handy. Radio, satellite communicator is good, too.
I’d chalk up tomorrow to a “learning trip”. You’re gonna learn your safe routes the most manual way possible: by going slow and getting those GPS tracks.
In fact, if it were me, I would forget fishing Pointe a la Hache and make my plan for Venice to ensure a safe and productive trip. The more planning you do, the more fishing you can do and the more you’ll learn things the easy way.
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I’d definitely go to Delacroix over Hopedale, but consider staying away from the southwest corner of it, as I think there’s an algae bloom there now.
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“this may be a dumb question, but do you feel there is ever a scenario where the upcurrent side may be more productive? Just curious what your approach is to methodically fish a rig?”
Not a dumb question at all.
I fish all four corners if I am new to a rig. After awhile you’ll find that one side holds fish regardless of the current. Maybe you’ll find that the down current side is where it’s at no matter what. It just depends on the rig and what’s in the water around it. Sometimes there’s relief or bottom trash, sometimes there’s not.
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Hey Felipe, it’s great to have you here. Thank you for posting an intro!
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I know of Cody Obiol, he’s really good at running the river, PLH and Buras areas.
I really like that setup. Rory Rorison has something similar. I think that’s peak bay boat setup for running coastal Louisiana.
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ha ha ha ha ha ha or the whole toilet paper thing
Man, people really lost their minds on that one. LOL
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+1 on this
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If I were him I’d abandon that area. The river is at 4ft and has been falling for a minute now. IMO, he’s pissing in the wind. Might as well stay home and watch paint dry instead of launching out of Hopedale.
If Rory Rorison isn’t catching trout out of Shell Beach/Hopedale, then nobody is.
My opinion: there’s not as many fish as there once were in Breton Sound’s hey day. There’s just not. Actually, that’s not opinion, that’s fact. The trout population is like half of what is used to be, probably worse. That’s why we lowered the limit. Not to oppress the masses, or because that’s how government operates, but because the speckled trout have been literally decimated. That and Louisiana’s habit of constantly throwing every legal fish on ice isn’t helping.
But it is my opinion that fish are going to push the bleeding edge of river water, whether it’s rising or falling. And the river ultimately is a better home for them. There’s more food, better water, etc. So why would they stay in Breton/Chandeleur Sounds?
This is why I’m big on learning the process to finding fish, safe routes, etc. and branching out to new places rather than just hitting the same old milk run expecting a different result. That process is painfully outlined in excruciation detail in Inshore Fishing 101. It’s just up to the angler to discover/learn/use that. I filled the proverbial pond and can only show it to horses. Whether or not horses choose to drink is up to them.
Anyway, if there’s fewer fish and more water, then you’re going to have to cover more water to find them. Like, not just drive further but literally launch somewhere else. See my fifth paragraph.
Last winter I fished from Slidell to Venice to Dularge, and I am telling you that the best fishing was in Venice (when the river cooperated). When everyone else was dicking around on the Trestles or at The Wall, myself, @Boyce @neilnmel and others had the river to ourselves, or had fewer boats to put up with.
If I were your brother, I’d be looking hard at Black Bay, Stone Island, East Bay, Southwest Pass, etc.
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Sure, no problem. You did just make a good point I should address.
The bigger issue isn’t knowing what tackle to bring to <insert area> so much as it is to know the fundamental skill of achieving presentations to biting fish. This is the process:
1. find fish
2. show them the lure
If you can’t find fish, well then you’re not going to catch them, and if you can’t show them a lure, then how can they possibly bite it? You can be on the mother lode of trout in 30ft of fast moving water, but if they never see the lure then you will never get bit.
Those are the two things that hose people’s fishing trips, and thing #2 is what eludes most anglers. I don’t mean to come off as so critical or overbearing. That’s not my intent. My intent is to point out that if you had known how to get presentations then you would’ve known on the first cast that 3/8oz or 1/2oz isn’t cutting the mustard. You would’ve had the opportunity to correct the issue by either tying on something heavier or rigging something heavier (i.e. tying two 1/2oz jigheads together). I imagine you would’ve had a radically different trip if that were the case. Or maybe Breton Sound just sucks right now. lol
There are areas that I’ve never been to but have caught limits of trout because I understand this process. Whenever a boat in a spot is catching fish it’s usually because they’re getting presentations when the other boats are failing to do so. But people usually further F this up by chalking up their success to using live bait or Nuclear Baloney or whatever “secret” color they’re throwing. That’s rarely the case, if ever.
The most simple stupid way to get presentations is just to have a Heavy Drop Shot tied ready to go, with spares tied and stored in a ziploc bag. The HDS comes standard with a 1oz bank sinker. That will work in the Jump, Seabrook, all the places that tend to be tougher due to water depth and speed. It works there and it would certainly work in Breton Sound and (in the worst case scenario) taking the 1 oz bank sinker off and putting on a 2 oz is easy. It really succeeds where jigging begins to fail.
So if I were you I’d:
1. Knock out Inshore Fishing 101 (that way you learn the things you don’t know that you don’t know….since you’ve unwittingly told me that)
1a. Specifically, this video lesson about getting those good presentations. Learn the easy way how to know you go to the bottom.
2. Rig up some Heavy Drop Shots. Nuclear grade, doesn’t-matter-because-it’s-gonna-happen presentations.
3. Plan out future trips and let us know so we can fill in any details that are missing. “Last minute” trips usually fail. Yes, some people make those happen, but mostly because they’ve been out there a bunch and already have the aforementioned tackle/knowledge read to rock n roll.
4. Post that badass fishing report because you’re gonna slay ’em.
