Devin
Forum Replies Created
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Now, when you say “bait” what do you mean?
Rafting mullet?
Are you seeing little menhaden exploding on the surface?
What constitutes “bait”?
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“we consistently caught trout on top with blue bird skies”
These fish blow my mind. They never cease to flabbergast me. Who knows? Maybe those fish were bred in a test tube to only hit topwater. lol
“Swap out your topwater hooks with really good hooks. I finally did that and I genuinely believed that helped the hook up ratio, at least today.”
Absolutely. Mustad Triple Grips for me, but there are a lot of great options out there.
Man, all I can say is that you’re the man. What an epic report. Every trout caught on topwater is worth 15 under a cork.
Excellent report, thank you for letting us know that they are indeed out there and chewing!!!
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“Maybe a crab trap?”
Who knows. lol There’s all kind of trash down there. Probably an old piling from the original structure is what got you.
As for the leader knot…..well, I recommend fishing with a baitcaster and spooling the whole thing with 15lb mono. It just fishes better. This whole leader thing is just unnecessary. You’re relying on too many weak points, figuratively and literally. That and I just would not dream of fishing the Trestles with spinning tackle and braid no more than I would bring a .22 on a duck hunt.
Over the years I’ve seen people wanting a different answer, but I cannot possibly recommend anything different to people when the way I do it (and Chas, and Kreeger, and Dudley, etc.) have been doing it for years to catch who knows how many speckled trout.
That grass flat between the bridges is also worth your time if the bridges aren’t producing. That shoreline on Lake P south of Irish Bayou is also worth drifting/corking.
Otherwise the bridges can be tough. The south and north end can be good. I really like the south end of Hwy 11, but so does the rest of the Greater New Orleans area. Fish can be spread out right now, and if the pressure gets to be too much on the bridges, they will leave.
It’s also early for the bridges. They’ll probably turn on more, but so will the fishing pressure.
On the bright side, you sure as hell haven’t been getting skunked. You are on the path.
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“it was dirty from the river water.”
And find that rip and fish just north of it. Get just outside of it in water that’s barely green and that will get you a lot closer to getting on the fish.
“My plan was to ride, explore”
Hell yeah!
Do you use sidescan sonar at all? That helps with noticing bait that drifts by.
Great report, thanks for posting!
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Okay, now I’ve got time for this.
Well, now that I’ve been on the water and seen what’s out there, I can say that the fishing is definitely challenging. There’s a lot of water the fish can be in right now, and they’re only gonna be in the best place for them to chill and feed. With a low river in March (which is nuts) they can be pretty much anywhere, to include the river itself.
I will tell you that I fished that exact area and stomped the fish. You were *this close*.
You are looking for a needle in a haystack. The fish are there but you gotta cover water.
After what I saw yesterday, I have little faith in anything north of Oak River. I do think Reggio is worth looking at, however. It historically turns on with spring. Tanasia, Ameda, Amedee, Petain, etc. could turn on in the next week or two.
Even if they do, they will be covered in boats. PLH won’t be. I didn’t see a single boat down by the River yesterday. So I’d develop that area if I were you.
Navigation down there is challenging. I am absolutely stumped that three members got stuck down there. I thought about it and I wonder if you guys are treating that area like anywhere else on Louisiana’s coast not influenced by the River.
You cannot cut corners on bayous in areas affected by siltation. It’s a hard/harder bottom and it fills in. You’ve got to stay dead-nuts in the channel. That marsh is not soft and forgiving like the Biloxi Marsh (or Coco, Lafitte, any marsh not affected by the River). Otherwise I’ve ran that exact body of water and have not had an issue doing it.
Getting stuck down there is part of the game, but you can certainly minimize it. I didn’t get stuck yesterday. Didn’t run aground or come close at all.
Anyway, I’d look hard at fishing tidelines along that main tidal highway stretching from Wreck to Third to Battleground Bay. If the river doesn’t come up too high then you can probably follow those fish from there to American Bay to Black Bay.
All I did was throw a cork. No technical skill required. When you’re anchored, watch your graph for the shadows of bait and fish swimming by. If you see that, you’re warm. If you don’t, you’re cold. The attached pics are from when I was catching.
A final note, I’m sure you saw the gators in PLH. I’m sure you’re strapped and won’t let an enterprising one get your doggo. It’s warming up and the monster lizards are out.
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I’d like to add that I saw ~20 boats north of Oak River and just south of it but saw zero near the River.
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***LAST 14 FISH PT 2***
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***LAST 14 FISH PT 1***
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The next 10 trout I put in the livewell so I wouldn’t have to stop and take a picture every time. That’s annoying. What you see below is only half of the livewell.
However, when I went to photograph them, I saw a couple had rolled over and I freaked and went to resuscitate them and get the rest out of the livewell right away. Then I realized that I didn’t get good photos of their port side, so this is all I have:
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***FIRST 15 TROUT PT 2***
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Thank you! Yeah, I’m feeling better now. Just gotta take it easy then I’ll start running and hitting the gym again. When I lay off my supplements and gym time is when I start falling apart. lol
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Definitely use it.
Otherwise the spot I crushed the fish at looked the same on the surface as the 20+ spots that didn’t give up a single one. But underwater they looked totally different.
The fish are under water.
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Just don’t be surprised if they’re in the dirty stuff. Not straight thick chocolate milk, but like a lightly stained brown color that sits just outside of the slightly stained green.
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Okay, that makes sense. Totally agree. Glad to see congruency here. Thanks for clarifying. I saw some of the little bait in Tanasia but not much. Looked like a ker-plunk raindrop of little silver shards. Saw little bait flicking in PLH, too.
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I passed out in PLH after trout #39. The Red Bull and dip drove the boat up the Pencil Canal.
It’ll be up to you guys to go find that outside bite.
