Devin
Forum Replies Created
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I think anyone who has the opportunity at all to get started on Venice and doesn’t needs their head checked.
Go. To. Venice.
They have been catching the most flounder we’ve seen in years.
Lots of triple tail.
And someone had some hybrids mixed in with their speckled trout.
If that doesn’t get someone randy for the river, I don’t know what does. Maybe a neon sign pointed at it.
Go.
To.
The.
River.
I would look hard at launching at Beshel’s and running down, launching at Riverside in Buras or just making the drive to Venice Marina or Cypress Cove.
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Well, not bad given the conditions and how hot it is.
Man, I’m just ready for fall.
Are you running sonar at all when you fish the birds? Maybe there’s a better way to see what’s under them as you fish them.
Gafftop heads are really pronounced on sonar, and help determine if it’s just a bunch of catfish.
Enough experience with throwback trout vs keepers could reveal which birds are better, faster.
Great report, thanks for posting!
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Hey Roshambo, thanks for posting an intro!
That Tracker is a great boat. I had a 195 TXW, and it was the bangest for the buck boat I’ve ever owned.
Just take it easy on the transom.
That boat can easily dominate the fall fishing that’s coming.
But I’ll tell you that this membership, the courses and this forum, is only as good as you make it.
Some folks come here, post an intro, then never complete 101 (much less the shorter courses), don’t tell us about their tough fishing trips and fail to make planning posts for the ones they want to succeed at.
Then those folks fade away.
But there are other folks who show up, apply themselves, learn, fish their ass off, can take some constructive criticism and apply what they learn out on the water.
Those folks post banger fishing reports, meet up in person, and more.
Which path you take it entirely dependent upon you.
I can only show you the door. Whether or not you choose to open it and walk through is up to you.
The ball’s in your court.
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“so finally we can try to get back on the water”
Hopefully you can get out this fall!
“So to start with I knew in my mind this was not a great day to go out fishing.”
Yeah, fishing Rigolets in this heat is inshore fishing on hard mode.
“Thankfully the trolling motor is on a different battery however it is a 36 volt so no good for
the motor (12 volt)”I read this and assumed you had one of those 36 volt lithium batteries. I’m not sure what that would do to a starter.
“one of the other 3 12 volt batteries”
Ah ha! So you actually had three extra TM batteries that you could’ve jumped the motor with.
See, if you had known that you actually had THREE batteries wired in series you wouldn’t have had to the do your Troll of Shame back to the ramp.
“Any advice, critiques, suggestions would be appreciated.”
You need to be better prepared and learn your boat.
I would maintenance your boat so there are no hiccups when it actually counts in the coming months.
The fishing is gonna be the best it can be all year and you don’t want to spend that time doing maintenance.
“So we start trolling back to the rigolets main pass and I figured someone would see us and give us a tow.”
And you should invest in SeaTow.
I have towed a lot of people, given them a ride, helped them fix their boat, etc. over the years. Believe me, I’ve been legit broken down with no way on. I have empathy, my guy.
But there’s a difference between not being prepared and being in genuine distress.
I say that because nobody is obligated to ruin their transom fixing your mistake. I am not risking cracking an aluminum transom or even cracking the gelcoat around my tie downs because you didn’t know how batteries are wired in series.
(I would fire up the motor with one of the TM batteries had I run across you.)
You’re not in danger in the marsh. You’re just inconvenienced. And it’s no one’s duty to fix that for you.
On a last note, a portable battery jumper will help. I keep one for my truck and my boat.
I know you want to get out there and crush the fish, Thomas.
You will get your opportunity. It’s coming.
But for now I would focus on preparing to run that boat. Learn it inside out. Prevent further inconveniences to yourself.
The 7 P’s: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
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Okay, so this is a good planning post. Lots of detail.
I can save you some headache here and give you extra pointers to get on the fish.
First off, why not night fish out of the boat? Why on foot?
Second, the wind looks like it will cooperate enough that you can expand your horizons.
The spots you listed are lackluster community holes and I would not be hitting them as hot as it has been.
I’d be hitting deeper water with more current.
Timbalier Rocks, Belle Pass and Fourchon Barges are good examples. You can get easily get there in a 22ft bay boat.
I would not think twice about fishing them in an 18ft 7in bass boat. Or a 20ft 9in bass boat, for that matter.
It’s also been hot. What have the guides in the area been doing? Are they showing limits before 9am, beating the heat? What they are posting can tell you a lot about how to manage your expectations and what to look for.
If they’ve been catching redfish or are posting fall pics asking people to book….well, those are signs.
Lastly, what you said here is very telling:
“Going to throw…Vudu shrimp, live shrimp and 3 inch sparkle beetles. Maybe I should be jigging? Maybe a different type of artificial?”
If you find biting fish to begin with, then it doesn’t matter at all what you throw. Just a chartreuse sparkle beetle is all you need.
These are school trout, not Lake Conroe five pounders on day three of the Classic.
If you throw a sparkle beetle under a cork at water that’s 4ft deep and don’t catch anything, switching to a Vudu shrimp is not going to save the day.
If you get good presentations with that same cork in that same depth, then throwing a jig is not going to make a lick of a difference.
This is all “basic” 101 stuff, and if you want an in-depth explanation with graphics explaining why, etc. then please watch this video here.
I also recommend just finishing the course from beginning to end. Don’t skip around or you will be missing important context. Remember that third category of knowledge.
Last, but not least, if the west wind is blowing, then you ought to be protected at Belle Pass and even the Fourchon Barges.
If running down Elmer’s is too bumpy, then taking the back way through Caminada Bay to Louisiana Canal to Lafourche will be the route you want to take (or just trailer there – a good cheat code).
Good luck!
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This is very impressive, David.
I’d be stoked to catch and see what you did if I launched my flatboat down there.
Man, it’s going to hurt losing your talent once you go out of state.
Do you plan on bringing your fishing equipment with you to school?
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There’s tons of structure/cover on the Mississippi coast that has always intrigued me. I always wanted to check it out but never really got the chance to.
So thank you for doing that and posting this report.
I’d be interested to see how those spots are going to turn on (if they do at all) once the water starts cooling.
Great reports, thanks for posting!
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I’d be doing the exact same thing.
They are catching redfish and trout close in.
Just gotta find that needle in the haystack.
Great report and thanks for posting!
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I would feel pretty easy boating around Cat.
Yeah, there’s sandbars, but the water is clear enough (or should be) to see color changes. Giant plus one if your transducer reads on plane to see the bottom coming up.
I’m sorry that I didn’t get to this sooner, but I went to Florida for the weekend to see friends and was just busy.
Your routes look good to me.
How did it go?
Any navigational feedback from your experience?
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Thanks for sharing, Keith.
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This is the most epic follow up on a post in this forum’s history. Love it.
What lures have you embraced? Any Corky action?
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On paper they make sense, but in practicality I’d forget them.
The L&N is worth hitting because the tide rips there. That’s it.
If you had posted those before hand I would have told you to scrap it and try something below:
Cross Lake Borgne and start fishing scoops and deep holes on a falling tide (for speckled trout). I’d hit both sides of Biloxi Marsh.
I’d fish redfish ponds over there, too. I wouldn’t expect to see 100, but I would expect to see more than what’s in Rigolets.
I’d completely dismiss the Rigolets because that area gets picked over by everyone and their mom. It’s too much fishing pressure during the hottest time of the year.
Or punch out into Lake Pontchartrain to fish the reefs.
Or go to west Lake P to fish the powerlines for redfish.
Or do both. You have the boat for it.
I would definitely night fish as hot as it’s been.
Treasure Isle, Lakeshore Estates, Eden Isles, Lake Catherine’s camps, etc. are all great locations to get started.
I am personally foregoing all of that. I’m going over my boat and making sure everything runs 100% because there’s nothing I’m going to reasonably catch this month that can’t be caught more/better in the coming months.
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You should definitely get after those brook trout.
If anything, see it as an opportunity to cross train and get a better perspective on fishing.
Going out of state to fish has been an absolute boon to my overal fishing education.
Those were mostly bass fishing trips, but inshore fishing in Florida was a different perspective as well.
My gf offshore fishes for tuna, swords, etc. and knows a lot about it. She teaches me a bunch about those fish and it’s interesting to see how fish are still just fish, regardless of the species and the environment they’re in.
Always learning. Always a student.
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Yeah, it’s just hot right now. Anytime I see surface water temps of 90+, I know it’s gonna be hard times if starting from scratch.
But you got some GPS tracks and got to see new stuff (like you said).
Now we’re just waiting for it to cool off! Get those water temps into the mid 80s! Let’s gooooo!
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This is especially key with smaller trout.
Not that I want to catch them, but that I can confirm it’s them and then leave. lol
