Devin
Forum Replies Created
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“We primarily are flyfishing for reds.”
I had a feeling that was the case when you mentioned the places you did.
See, that’s very good to know because that’s very different from wanting to catch speckled trout. You probably don’t want advice for that. And it’s even very different from catching redfish at all, because you probably don’t want to be throwing a fly around a bunch of grass.
“Why do you say fishing in the areas I stated are not good in November?”
Because if you were conventionally fishing for specks or reds, there are better places to go that you would drive right past getting to the outside to where you fly fish for bulls.
But now we have a better idea as to what you want, and that makes knowing how/what to plan much easier. But there’s one more detail:
“I have done very well fishing Hopedale October-November”
What is “very well” for you? A few bulls? 40 redfish? Just managing expectations here. If you’re happy poling around, seeing five to ten fish and catching 1-3, then that’s probably what you’re going to get in that area. I just text an expert on that area and will let you know what he thinks. I’d defer to him.
“Yes, I know Venice is a good area, but I am not familiar with the area.”
Well, neither was I but I still figured it out in a relatively short time. No one showed me around Venice, gave my any advice/intel, I just figured it out on my own using the tools/knowledge/process outlined in Inshore Fishing 101. And I absolutely smashed the daylights out of the trout, redfish and bass there. Use that and you can unlock new areas. And I’ll leave it at that. All I can do is show you where the water is.
So, for Hopedale I’d look at those same areas you mentioned, but also consider the entirety of the East Biloxi Marsh and the MRGO south of the Rock Dam, down to Mozambique Point.
That’s a lot of water to cover, so use Copernicus to reference recent imagery to give you an idea where the clearest water will be. If you’re like me, you probably prefer sight fishing in water where you can actually see the fish, not chocolate milk.
My problem with fishing that area in November is that it may not be so cold yet that the algae dies off and the water gets super clear. It’s been warm. Last year was warm, too. In November the water temperature never saw the 50s until the last week. I doubt it will do any different this year, as warm as its been. I hope I’m wrong.
So I’d lean heavily on Geosphere and Copernicus to figure out where the clearest water is.
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This is probably not the answer you want to hear, but as a fishing professional who’s done this for a long time and BTDT, I think this is what you need: use that time to knock out some of Inshore Fishing 101 so you know how to plan trips.
All of the questions you’re asking here are what that knowledge answers. I laid it out as simple and as structured as possible. That way it’s easy for anyone to understand how it is I look at the conditions at any time of the year in order to find and catch fish.
I understand that taking those lessons is humble work. But it’s nowhere as difficult as what I went through to learn it all, not to mention producing it in a format communicable to others.
I can only lead horses to water, whether or not they drink is up to them.
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Hey welcome to the site and thanks for posting this planning trip.
Why Hopedale/Shell Beach? Are you staying there? Where?
What boat are you in? “Skiff” means a lot of things.
What are you trying to catch.
Next, if you haven’t completed Inshore Fishing 101 then you need to. That way you get all the context, things you don’t know that you didn’t know, etc. rather than just re-hashing it all here and not getting the whole picture anyway. You have time between now and then.
“end of the spoil canal by 7 dollar out to treasure bay, Christmas camp area, fishing smack area”
Yeah, when were you here last? Those aren’t areas you want to fish in November.
Finally, if you’re going to be fishing that time of year, then I personally feel you are wasting time going to Hopedale. The most magic is in Venice, as long as the river is below 5ft at the Carrollton Gauge.
Answer those questions and I can give you more feedback.
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You will more likely than not find bull reds under birds at Southwest Pass, toward the mouth of the river.
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Why don’t you go to Venice?
Hopedale has not held a candle to Venice in any category in years.
If your friends are coming down in November then that means they’ll be down for when Venice should be turned on.
My reports from Hopedale during November last year sucked, and they sucked the year before that, too.
Go to Venice, fish The Jump (tons of info here on it), Baptiste Collette, Southwest Pass, First Spillway, etc.
Hopedale = scarce fish and mostly keepers
Venice = fish you don’t need to measure
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Okay, there’s a few glaring things here that need to be addressed.
First, why are people not fully reading/comprehending your post. The mission is redfish, clearly.
Second, all that marsh around Lena gets handled by the multiple bow fishing outfits that operate out of Hopedale Marina. I would not be optimistic fishing redfish over there.
Third, you’re not quite hitting the mark on judging the tide. Yes, you want water to be moving and yes, you would be waiting for it to move at Shell Beach. But, you are not stuck with fishing just the Shell Beach tide. Water does not move the same everywhere at once. If you fished more toward Mississippi Sound, you’ll see that high tide is at ~3:30am. By the time you get out there it will be moving and the morning bite will be on. Then, later in the day you can fish Shell Beach stuff and still enjoy a good falling tide.
As for redfish, they have been scarce. I really don’t have any great advice for them other than to fish dead shrimp under a cork against a shoreline very patiently. If I had to go catch them like that, I’d focus on points with moving water along big bodies of water like Lake Eugene, Lake Robin, Lake of Two Trees, MRGO south of the dam, etc.
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What’s “reasonably priced”?
Some rods and reels I’ve had for ~8 years, I’d say they have paid for themselves. The St. Croix Avid-X was $250 and the assorted reels that have been on them ~$180
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And you should have something that looks like this if you are seriously planning to succeed:
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I’m assuming you’re going with @Bryon ? Which boat are you taking?
The thing you really have going for you is that you’re going to get some back-to-back TOW in to figure out where they are.
I’m assuming you can fish all day on the 8th. The wind is laying down then and you’ll have a chance to run around unimpeded by wind. Great day to learn where they ain’t.
I can tell you that the redfish have not been a slam dunk in Delacroix. I’m not really sure they have been anywhere. For reference, a guide buddy of mine fished over the weekend and caught anywhere from 5-11 slot redfish for 3-4 clients in the boat. Lots of throwbacks and some bulls. I’m just helping you manage expectations right now.
Let’s take a look at what you’ve got planned.
“Top water early and wake baits
transition to Spinner baits and paddletails”
I think you’re wasting time doing this. All those are just gonna get hung up in the aquatic grass you’re going to find across Delacroix. A Texas rigged craw, like a Netbait Baby Paca Craw is what you’ll want to use. Or anything that’s weedless and will pull through the grass without catching it.
After that, I think you would really benefit from just securing a win. You really ought to throw dead shrimp under a cork. Or at least have one angler in the boat who’s doing that while the other chunks and winds.
“Plan is to fish for Reds starting the morning running south to Petain Lagoon and moving into mouth of Bayou J L Robin and fishing Bayou to mouth of Lake Robin.”
What if you destroy them in Lery the day before? You’re just gonna leave those fish to go somewhere else?
I’m trying to get you to think critically about this. Fact of the matter is that if you have the whole day to fish on the 8th, you can fish Lery and a slew of other spots to find “where they ain’t”. Lost Lake is right there, you don’t need to wait three days to hit it up.
To grind out Lery all day, then go grind another spot all day is a recipe to not catch squat. That is not what I teach or recommend.
In fact, I would just do what I teach: which is pick out ~12 spots based upon the conditions (and a safe route to them) and then go fish those using a process of elimination until you find the mother lode.
I think you can be more ambitious in your planning.
If it were me, I’d pick out a bunch of places that are most likely to have clear water and run them until I find a giant school of redfish. That would equate to a lot of not-fishing and burning gas, but a whole day of that would help me find the clearest/prettiest water a whole lot faster than grinding out one spot.
So, you can fish easily fish everything you listed in one or two days. And if those spots don’t work out then you can do a big area change. Go to the MRGO south of the Rock Dam to fish points/coves there for trout and reds. The south side of the Rock Dam can be productive as well.
I would also consider running toward the river to fish around Francis Martin Bayou, Wreck Bay and Baker’s Bay. Be warned: that area has a hard bottom and a lot has silted in. There is zero room for f*ckups in a big, fiberglass bay boat down there. You had better have Sea Tow and a way to contact them because you will get stuck if you didn’t do any navigational homework. The tradeoff is that this area has the potential to be more productive than anywhere else.
If you knock out some routes and share them here, I can tell you if they’re good or not.
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“I don’t think chasing reds is worth it anymore but that’s because my reference for what a good day looks like is not realistic anymore”
Man, I was literally in that boat yesterday and metaphorically in that boat right now. Simply put: if the fishing was like this in 2009, there would be no LAFB. <insert further ranting here>
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+1 on what Cliff said
In the last couple years I found reds at the end of SW Pass, at the weirs just downstream of that pilot house. Birds were going nuts and the bulls were every cast. Corking the rocks at the end of South East Pass by Port Eads or the rocks at the end of Baptiste Collette could work, too. Corking cane stubble in Blind Bay is also an option.
These places are more fertile and less pressured than anywhere else in Louisiana.
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EDIT: I saw the thumbnail and thought you circled some other area, I was mistaken. I think you could fish that area, too. But I’m not jumping up and down excited for it.
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This reply was modified 8 months, 1 week ago by
Devin.
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This reply was modified 8 months, 1 week ago by
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“pool noodle medium fast”
Then it’s not a medium fast. It may say “fast”, but if it’s whippy at all then it’s a regular or moderate.
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That’s pretty good given how the fishing has been going. I’d pat myself on the back if I were you.
How was the wind out there?
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+1 on this
