Bumper Boats on the Bayou

Saturday March 29

The day started in a panic I unconsciously hit snooze on the alarm and over slept until 6:20 which wasn't bad because Bayou St John is only 15 minutes away from the house and the tournament didn't start until 7:00 O'clock. Sometime when I was brushing my teeth I remembered that I wanted to go to walmart and grab some procure that would give me any advantage against the field of eighty nine other fishermen. so I sped to walmart and I ran in walmart grabbed some procure and gummi worms and ran out out walmart to my Jeep.Now it was 6:45 and I felt I could make it in time but I ran into a roadblock when I got to the superdome the police had the expressway blocked because of an accident. So I made a detour and rode the way down Esplanade ave. This is not your typical drive to a fishing hole I was driving through the historical neighborhoods of New Orleans which was a welcome change from the two lane highways im usually speeding down. I made it to the bayou exactly at seven O'clock and after dropping the outback off the roof of my truck and some some lightning speed rigging I was in the water at 7:10. I assumed that most competitors were going to fish the shorelines so I decided to target fish in the deeper middle of bayou St.John. My plan of attack was to try a trolling technique that is used for catching huge landlocked stripers. I rigged five rods consisting of an Umbrella Rig and two Rapala DT 10 and two Strike King Redeye Shad. In the middle I had the umbrella rig about 150 yards behind the outback and on the outside I alternated between the crankbaits and the rattletraps about 100 yards back. When I started it was super foggy and cool after the sun got up it quickly burned off and the weather was great. Trolling is a pretty new technique for me I have done it when moving from spot to spot but never as a primary fishing style for the day. The first fish I caught was on the umbrella rig near mirabeau bridge. That is my favorite area to fish bayou St. John there is lots of submerged structure in this area. The fish always seem to be in this area either in the deeper channel that runs under the bridge or on the adjacent flats. If you throw a tequila sunrise texas rigged worm off that bridge you will catch fish here most days. On christmas eve my brother and I caught at least 50 fish from this bridge in less that 2 hours. I trolled up the bank to where the water flows out from the island and threw a suspending jerkbait off the point I ended up catching a Five inch bass.

My aunt came out to see me fish and took some action shots.

 I then went into the Island to where I had been catching the bass on the frog ,but I couldn't find it so I pedaled out and went back to trolling for redfish in the main bayou. I was trolling at a steady pace when my right rod with the deep diving crank started to bob up and down. It took me a while to recognize it as a hit but eventually I grabbed the rod and reeled in a stocky little 10 inch bass. I contemplated weighing it in but I decided against it and threw him back. I wanted to make a second pass over the area but by the time I turned around three fishermen had moved into the lane so I decided to head back towards the truck. By the end of the day I had the cranks running perfectly above the bottom and received a couple of strikes that I didn't connect on. The redfish were smart and decided to take the day off and none were caught all day. I think this technique has a lot of potential for catching fish in the bayou with some fine tuning and practice. I was able to cover much of the bayou in the Three hours we had to fish. Thinking outside of the box is useful in innovation and there is often great reward in taking risks I will never use a new technique for the first time in a tournament.

The city park Big bass rodeo is the oldest fishing rodeo in the country and this was my first time attending the fishtival. It was pretty cool there was a casting contest for kids and displays set up by LDWF with a stingray touchpool and other marine life,as well as other local fishing related companies. My last hope for winning something was a raffle I entered to win a combo from daiwa but it just wasn't my day. The winners in the boats on the bayou division were a 3.42 lb bass and a 1.57 lb speckled trout. The fly fishing division was won by a guy Gale Rhodes that I had met  fishing earlier in the week. Full results here http://www.nola.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2014/03/city_park_big_bass_rodeo_resul.htmlEven though I didn't win anything was a cool event ,and it was great to see the enthusiasm that people of all ages have for fishing in my city of New Orleans.

Top Water Frogs Taste Good Video

Underwater video of the release from the previous photo I posted of the Bass that ate the topwater frog.

Top water frogs taste good

This bass inhaled my top water frog

 Went to Bayou St.John in the heart of New Orleans for some early morning fishing. Caught this one around 7:30 on a Koppers Hollow Belly Frog Bait. Even though the wind was blowing from the north at 20mph I found some protected banks to fish the frog.

Always the best,

FishScale

Redfish Rumble let down

I fished Bayou Coast Kayak Fishing Club Redfish Rumble VII over the weekend against 75 plus Kayak fishermen. This is the second tournament of the angler of the year series and I wanted to score some major points to catch up for blanking at minimalist challenge. The objective of this tournament was to catch a six fish stringer consisting of a five redfish limit and one bass. I launched from Reggio marina at 5:10 into the darkness the only light was my 360 degree navigation light and a small hand held flashlight. My plan was to paddle a well thought out circuit that covered areas that were really productive in prefishing. Then end up in the area that I had found a school of perfect upper slot reds that I had babysat for a couple of weeks.

The originally planned route ~8.6 mi

  I promptly ditched that plan 5:20 right about the time I made the first left turn. I would like to say that I decided to amend my plan because of the potentially bad weather in the forecast but that is not the case. In fact the weather stayed pretty nice and it only sprinkled once for two minutes. the real reason I deviated from the plan is I am impatient and I could not have focused on fishing the other areas without thinking about the area that was so promising in prefishing. So I called the audible and headed that way.

The improvised path 9 miles of indecision

This was easier said than done because I was navigating in the pitch black. My only reference was the approximate dot on my cell phones maps app. I had done it plenty of times in the daylight but Navigating in the dark was tough. I kept running into thick grass beds that were impossible to see in the darkness and slowed progress to almost a dead stop. I also got turned around once at an intersection and ended up paddling the wrong way for about five minutes. After getting back on track I was constantly scanning my flashlight to ensure I didn't miss my next turn . While scanning I saw two orange reflective eyes of an alligator just in time to see it disappear under the surface directly where I was heading. After passing the gator I was almost at my destination. I made it 6:30 Just as the sun began to lighten the horizon to the east. I started off throwing a Buzzkill 3/8 oz. White as close to the marsh grass as possible and working it back to the Outback.On my third cast 6:45 I threw into a small cove and immediately a large wake grew up behind the bait I could tell this was a nice fish. The Fish followed the lure for what seemed like forever before violently turning away to the right. I quickly grabbed my swimbait and threw in what I thought was the fishes vicinity but it was gone. I was not that upset though because it seemed the fish had stayed put and my gamble to abandon the plan would pay off. I drifted around a point throwing the H&H Cocahoe Minnow and at 6:53 I felt a little bump I set the hook and quickly reeled in an eight inch bass. Normally I wouldn't have thought twice about throwing the little guy back but in Louisiana there is no size limit on bass and because it had the distinction of being the first fish he quickly went on the stringer. I drifted a little further down the same flat into a really weedy area. I pulled the buzz bait back out and casted to a five foot clearing in the weeds. Almost immediately after the buzz bait broke the surface a familiar wake formed and I was hooked up with a twenty inch red not the size I was looking for but a good start. After I removed the hook I noticed that my bait was bent so as I tried to straighten it back out like I always do but it was broken. I tried throwing it broken but it wasn't running correctly so that was the end of the topwater bite. By this time the sun had fully risen and I pulled out my favorite gold spoon and began fishing double speed. I casted near where I previously caught the little bass and hooked up with a eleven inch bass and on the next cast one a little longer but skinnier. I kept both not knowing which one was heavier. I caught a couple more bass but none better than those two all were caught on the gold spoon.

    

 After catching all those bass I decided to switch to a larger spoon in hopes of catching some bigger reds. I casted five times with the larger spoon when I went to cast and the line popped and the spoon flew 100 yards into the marsh. I tied the small spoon back on and pedaled towards where I had that fish chase the buzz bait earlier and after a couple of casts hooked up on a nineteen inch Redfish. I quickly subdued the fish and put him on the stringer . A couple casts later boom another Redfish crushed the spoon this was a bigger fish who put up a nice fight. I was able to net the fish and it was close so I decided to measure it it was perfect. Twenty five inches on the board and thats when disaster struck the fish flopped back into the water and I watched him swim away in the clear water. I definitely learned my lesson and will be investing in one of these lip grips very soon that will be tethered to my Outback at all times.

After this happened I decided move on to the far bank and as soon as I made it to the other bank I hooked a nice marsh bass. I casted across a point and had a redfish swirl behind my spoon but he didn't hit it . I quickly casted across the same point and hooked up this time on another twenty inch redfish. I quickly fought it in and as soon as it hit the net the hook broke off the spoon. So now I had three smallish reds and it was 10:30 I was just focused on finishing

My six fish stringer 

my limit of redfish. I tied on my last weedless gold spoon and headed to an area I had seen a lot of bait activity at earlier in the day. By this time the tide had fallen a good bit so I began to work the weed line throwing it into the thick stuff and working it out slowly. This quickly yielded me my fourth Redfish 10:48 an exact clone of the one I caught before. I moved twenty feet down the same edge and Number five 10:57 was hooked up all I had to do was get it in the Hobie. When I finally netted the fish I let out a huge sigh of relief and spent a few minutes to reflect on earlier events of the day. I knew my stringer did not consist of the biggest fish but I was proud to have the full six fish stringer to bring to weigh in. I then spent the hour trying to upgrade but I had no such luck and headed in to the launch at 12:00. I go back to the launch at 12:47 and headed down the road to sweetwater marina to await the weigh in which began at two o'clock. A lot of people weighed fish about a third of them had the full six fish stringer. I weighed in at 20.03 pounds and got a bonus pound for filling the six fish limit ending with an 11th place finish. I had a great time and I learned a good bit about tournament fishing that day.The main things are STICK TO YOUR PLAN  If I would have followed my plan I would have covered much more area and my chances of finding the bigger fish would have increased. The second thing I already knew was to Bring multiples of everything redfish are tough and they abuse every aspect of your gear. I started the day with three brand new spoons i now have one without a weed guard and a broken buzzbait. I will now start preparing for boats on the bayou next saturday. I'm not making any promises but I wont be happy with second place plus they have a kayak on the line and I could use a second  kayak.

Hobie Outback Seat Upgrade

If you are like me and like to spend long hours on the water being comfortable while fishing is imperative. After hearing about the Jackson seat upgrade in the Hobie outback and test driving a Hobie pro angler I was determined to find a cheaper replacement for the stock seat. I searched every forum I knew of and found many ideas from inflatable seat cushions to $200 aftermarket models. After hours of research I have found two cost effective solutions to the problem and if you add them together they cost less than the Jackson seat. The increased comfort and back support allows for a more enjoyable time on the water. Aside from the increased comfort the seats have had some unforeseen benefits.  The added elevation has made pedaling the mirage drive easier increasing my range and minimizing fatigue. The higher seat also enables me to see further into the water when sight casting for redfish increasing the amount of fish I catch.The Hobie Outback is a great fishing platform and adding the elevated seat has made it even better for fishing the marshes of south Louisiana.
 Click the link to buy it now
Browning Camping Woodland Ultimate Turkey and Predator Hunting Chair

Kayak Fishing Lake Pontchartrain Trestle

Flounder caught at Lake Pontchartrain train trestle.

Tuesday March 18 I decided to take an afternoon trip to Lake Pontchartrain I had bee hearing some reports of speckled trout and flounder being caught on the trestles so I decided to go see for myself. I launched at the base of highway eleven where it hits the south shore at 1:30. The wind was blowing pretty hard from the east so I decided to drift the shoreline hoping the wind would die down. I started to throw my favorite Mr-52 working it slowly but I didn't get any takers so I gave up on that. Also I was tired of fishing so slow so I switched up to a 3/8th ounce jighead with deadly dudley terror tail In blue moon color. I alternated from a straight retrieve bouncing on the bottom.  When I made it to the cut to get to Irish bayou lagoon I could see a large alligator sunning on the bank about 100 yards away. This is the second time I have seen it in there he must be guarding all the fish in the lagoon. But I wasn't worried about him because there were mullets jumping everywhere and glass minnows getting blown up on both banks. I casted my deadly dudley parallel to the bank, let it sink to the bottom and retrieved it with a steady reel. I had a solid bump but no hookup two casts later I hooked up with what I thought was bass. The fish quickly came to the surface and I realized it was a speckled trout . Just as I went to flip it in the Outback the fish spit the hook. I think dipped my rod towards the water and that gave it just enough slack to get off the hook. I fished that area a little longer spooking either a garfish or a red fish. I then decided fight the wind to go over to the trestle. By this time the wind had switched to a more south east direction which meant I wouldn't be fighting the wind to stay near the bridge.When I made it over to the trestle there were four boats already fishing. I did not see them catch anything and they left maybe ten minutes after I got there. I stayed and fished the area hard casting to the  pilings. I let the lure sink to the bottom and jigged it back to the boat hopping it off the bottom and letting it sink back down. Very quickly I received a familiar thump on my line I set the hook and began reeling what felt like dead weight. I fought it up to the surface and it got off my heart was broken I had lost a large flounder. I fished moving up the bridge for thirty minutes with nothing. I returned to the set of pilings where I had earlier lost the fish. I cast out and let my lure sink and bounced it three times I got another bump. This time I was not loosing this one I set the hook and reeled the fish from the depths. I scooped it up with my net I had caught a 14 inch flounder.Soon after the wind switched back to the east which made it tough to stay on the bridge and  I decided to head back to the launch. I was only able to get one fish in the Outback but I still felt it was a successful trip.

 I didn't have enough fishing so I went to check the progress of my super secret bank spot on the way home.

On the second cast nice I hit a nice 16 inch speckled trout. Then two cast later another keeper speck was in the bucket. The fish bit pretty steady until 10:30 pm and I ended up with 16 specks none of them were over 18 inches. I caught at least a dozen throwbacks and added a 28 inch red for color. I went today March 19 from 4:30 til 7:30 caught 12 keeper specks and a big 38 inch Bull redfish I let go after taking the picture picture. The fishing on the banks of Lake Pontchartrain for speckled trout and redfish and on the sea wall will only get better until it starts getting really hot  in late June. All fish were caught on the Mr-52 and a 3/8 jig head with frogs breath deadly dudley.

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Working vs Fishing: Week of March 10

This year New Orleans City Park’s Big Bass Rodeo & Fishtival will include a new division, Boats on the Bayou.

 

Spring has sprung in south Louisiana  and most of the week I was stuck inside working the Sunbelt conference basketball tournament. Congrats to UL Lafayette on winning the championship in dramatic fashion in overtime over Georgia state. Most of my fishing was done from the bank this week but I did sneak in two quick trips in the Hobie Outback.

   Monday 3/10 afternoon I went to Bayou St.John to begin preparations for the
upcoming Boats on the Bayou tournament. The water in the bayou was super clear and winds were light which allowed me to see the bottom in areas that were at least eight feet deep. I started on the north end of the bayou and made my way towards Interstate 6-10 bridge where I turned around.  This was a pretty average day for me on the bayou picking up a bass here and there.Until the highlight of the trip  when I decided to stand up and sight cast some bass because the area I was in was particularly clear. When I stood up I happened to be 10 feet away from a school of  about six redfish Headed straight for the Outback. I didn't catch any of them because they saw me about two seconds after I saw them and took off. I think I caught a total of 13 bass and missed a couple more. None of the bass were too special and the Largest went about twelve inches.

  Wednesday 3/12 night after work I decided to go to a secret area on the south shore of lake Pontchartrain and do a little bank fishing. This spot is super productive in the spring and last year and every night I was catching solid speckled trout that were two pounds and up as well as limits of slot redfish. I was a little too early and I don't think the fish were are there yet. I have been getting reports that the Lake Pontchartrain sea wall was producing a few Speckled trout. But give it another week and I will give you some reports of speckled trout that were caught from the bank.

  Thursday morning 3/13 I went back to Bayou St.John. There was a call to all kayak fishermen to help film a segment for Don Dubuc that would promote the boats on the bayou tournament. Everyone launched at Filmore Ave. where the filming would take place. I hung around there for a half an hour throwing a purple worm but I didn't catch anything. I don't like to fish in that area so I headed up towards Mirabeau to see what I could find. Once I got up there I found some small bass on the banks Five in total. I then headed back to Filmore where everyone was gone I had missed the whole taping of the segment. I decided to fish back down to Robert E Lee catching a few more small bass. I headed back to the truck and loaded up to go get ready for work.

  Sunday 3/16 After work I headed back to bayou St.John to do a little bank fishing. We caught a few bass mostly on a mini jig under a cork. I did have a six foot gar chase a swim bait all the way to the bank. After that i made my way down to another spot where a ton of bait fish getting crushed by something. Shortly after stopping  It started raining pretty hard which hid the surface action and I decided to go home. Overall I had a pretty fishy week. With two tournaments in two weeks coming up the end of this month is going to be extra fishy.

 Stay tuned for the third and final Redfish Rumble prefishing report on friday.

Redfish Rumble VII : prefishing day 2

March 8, 2014

Left one of the smaller reds  right Five pound bass 

Summary of my second scouting trip for Redfish Rumble. I launched at 6:00 and did a little more exploring venturing deeper into the area. I didn't catch a fish during this time but I found some likely areas. As I stated in an earlier post when ever I call it prefishing I always end up Paddling more and fishing less.  I ended up paddling 12 miles round trip when I planned on eight. Early I used a Mirrolure mr52 casting to the middle of the the lakes and lagoon hoping for a speckled trout no luck maybe next week. For the redfish early in the day I challenged myself to use Lures that I was less confident with my confidence is still low I couldn't get anything with those lures. As soon as I changed up to my go to lures I started to put fish in the Outback. It started with a twelve inch bass that I released. My First red of the day came quickly after which is pictured then I lost a red. Five minutes later an over slot fish grabbed my lure. I didn't have a net so while struggling boat side I executed a perfect catch and release just like the tarpon guys on TV. Three cast later another Twenty two inch Red that I kept for the grill. I paddled around the point but didn't catch anymore reds. The good thing is I found a couple of respectable bass which eluded me on the last trip. The second bass was a solid fish it was about two pounds. Then the next one I caught was I was lucky to get because the cast started with a huge backlash which took me ten minutes to clear. As I was clearing it I drifted over my Line and it tangled in the rudder. I reeled in as fast as possible to recast and boom this bass grabbed my lure not ten feet from the boat. I quickly went into action raising the rudder and untangled the line from the rudder of my outback. After the line was freed the fish took off  making a couple of jumps and drag stripping runs. After a few minutes I was able to subdue the fish which turned out to be a beautiful five pound female. I ended up keeping two reds and two bass got to have fresh fish for friday. I  Also found out about a cool weedless jig head from these guys that gave me a tow back to the launch.

http://www.basspro.com/Charlie-Brewer-39%3bs-Slider-Heads-Pro-Series-Spider/product/46145/?cmCat=CROSSSELL_PRODUCT

Prefishing Redfish Rumble VII

  Quick report because I am not going into detail because its tournament time ,and because I forgot many of the details with Mardi Gras happening between me taking this trip and me writing this.  I decided to sneak in some fishing before Mardi Gras completely took over. I figured I would have to practice if I wanted to match my previous tournament finish. In fact I hadn't caught a fish since that tournament so I was a little rusty. I had a feeling that this would be a good day being the second day after a front passed .

  I woke up early on the 28th and headed to launch at an area within the tournament boundaries. I arrived at the launch and waited for two boats with huge sight fishing platforms to launch once they left I was on my way. My plan for the day was to cover about 11 miles round trip to see if I could spook some St.Bernard Bass and Redfish. The wind was blowing out of the southeast at 10-15 mph which didn't cloud up the water but made sight casting the fish much harder. I paddled against the wind out to my first spot  in a large open pond I fished all the way around pitching to points and cuts.I proceeded with no action too show for it ,but on the protected side I did notice some bait fish activity on the surface. I then worked the protected side of a smaller pond again more bait activity and spooked a red or two. I meandered through a series of interconnected ponds and bayous seeing lots of bait but it seemed that I was the only predator.I exited out of a large bayou into a huge open grass flat.The first good sign was a redfish that flashed about 15 feet in front of my Outback. 

Then a sheephead darted out on the left side at this point I deployed my  homemade drift sock, and started casting.I would tell you what lures,but its tournament time I'm already saying too much. The reds were stacked in this one area and I quickly caught two keepers  26, 28.

First fish of the day a perfect 26 inch tournament fish

 I released two more over slot and lost about a 20 incher at the boat. I fished my way back to the launch picking up another 22 inch keeper. It was a good start to learning the area even though the green trout eluded me this trip. I should be out there in the next few days and I will be focused on catching them.

This was a fat fish came in at 28 inches