Sup fishing New Orleans

Finally got my Sup out for a fishing trip I had only used it once before for a test ride without the fishing gear. The weather this week has been pretty iffy this week with high winds and rain. So this evening I saw a break and decided to load up the fishing gear and head for the bayou. Its amazing how much more you can see from the stand up position I saw a bunch of turtles, some large garfish and even a three foot alligator. I tried to catch on on the video but you couldn't see it. I was only able to spend about an hour on the water before the rain forced me off. Heres the video

Thanks for watching.FishxScale

Whats in my tackle box? Redfish

Targeting redfish in the shallow water ponds of south Louisiana is one of my favorite ways to fish. Watching the fish inhale your lure in the clearwater ponds is one of the most exhilarating fishing experiences you can have. Fishermen are always looking for the latest and greatest and I was guilty of it too but now I am figuring out what really works. I have been weeding out the lures that are useless in my box ,and this post will feature the lures that continue to produce every trip.

Aqua Dream spoon-  click for info 

1. The weedless gold spoon is by far my most productive lure by far. I use a couple of sizes 3/4 ounce ,1/2 ounce and 1/4 ounce. The 3/4 ounce and larger are good for super windy days but I rarely use the heavier spoon. In the shallow marsh ponds I like to use the 1/4 Ounce Gold Spoon. Stealth is key to success in these shallow water ponds. The minimal splash makes a huge difference because it doesn't spook the fish when it enters the water. If I had to choose only one lure to catch a redfish this is the lure.                                                                                   
2. Spinnerbait another favorite the combo of the spoon and the soft plastic is deadly. This should probably be number one because if you add two of the top ten its catch ability is the greatest. The ability to slow down the spinnerbait makes it one of my favorites when the bite gets tough. The one flaw is when fishing in the weeds the spinner bait does not work. Overall though its a great lure when you find an open pond. If you don't frequently fish in grassy areas then the spinnerbait might be your number one.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         



Inline spinner-click for more info

3. In-Line Spinner wasn't even on my radar for redfish before last year. This lure rearranges the elements of the spinnerbait and it is quickly supplanting the bait in my box. The rearrangement gives the inline spinner an advantage over the traditional spinnerbait by making it weedless. The only problem I have been having is a tendency for the fish to short strike the lure. But the good thing is the fish are willing to strike this lure multiple times in a row so you will have more than one chance to set the hook.                                                                                                                                                  
4. Soft plastic jig the most versatile lure ever made and great for redfish. They come in every shape and every color in the rainbow.For me color selection is simple in clear water I use a light color most likely opening night in intermediate stained water chartreuse with silver flake and In dirty muddy water I use chicken on the chain. Soft plastics have super realistic action and these lures catch anything that swims with a little variation on the rigging. For Redfish In water up to 10-30 feet I use a 3 or 4 inch jig on a 3/8th ounce jighead. If the water is shallower than 10 feet I might switch to a 1/4 ounce jighead. These lures can also be paired with a cork and produce steady results. If you are in grassy ponds you can rig them with weedless worm hooks and they slide right through the grass. I always keep a soft plastic jig tied on to one of my rods, and when you feel the fish tap the jig you will know why.                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
5.   Rat-L-Trap  these lures are not the most hyped lures as fishermen are always looking for the latest 



rat l trap-click here

and greatest lure. But I always find myself going back to the originals lipless crankbait. My favorite color is chrome with a black or blue back. These lures can be effectively fished throughout the entire water column. Rattle traps can be trolled along deep oyster reefs or cast to submerged points and retrieved at varied depths. I also like to work Rattle traps parallel to rock jetties and concrete walls and breakwaters. The other way I work it that I have not seen anyone mention is jigging the rattle trap. Let it sink to the bottom reel in the slack and raise it off the bottom with a sharp jerk let it sink and repeat.      








                                                                                 
6.  Topwater walker topwaters are the most exciting lures to throw the explosions that result from these lures really make for a great visual experience. The walk the dog type lures are really good when yosee mullet. The serpentine action of these lures is almost hypnotic to the redfish and they will



skitter pop-click here

strike this lure recklessly. The walk the dog technique does take a little practice to master a tip for beginners is to use a large Jitterbug the large wide metal bill gives it the walk the dog action with just a straight reeling retrieve just make sure to switch the hooks to saltwater grade. Im also going throw in the popper  in with the walker. The popper is something I throw when its dark and during the twilight period the commotion it makes allows fish to find it in a low light scenario. I will also throw it if the redfish are aggressively feeding on the surface. The fish that hit this lure are the meanest fish in the pond and you will have some tough fights with fish caught on the popper. if you want to catch larger fish tie on a topwater.                                                                           







zoom horny toad-click here

7. Soft plastic frog this lure has been one of my most productive topwater lures where there is thick grass mats. The  beauty of this lure is it acts like a buzzbait one of my other favorites that just missed the list because of its propensity to collect grass. It also beat the buzzbait because is its hookup rate is much higher the reds just inhale these soft lures. Rigging these weightless and weedless makes them impossible to foul with grass as they glide right over the top of everything. These lures open up a huge opportunity to fish the grassiest ponds that cannot easily be fished with any other type of lure.                                                                              
                                                                                                       
8. Crank Baits are lures that I don't really get to use enough for redfish because of all the grass in the areas I frequently fish. deep diving crankbaits with a steady retrieve on deep points and reefs  have yielded some fish. In water 3 to 5 feet a Mann's Baby One Minus will catch some fish. My most productive crankbait  in 2 feet and shallower a wake bait will do the trick. This is a good beginner lure it super easy to work just a cast and retrieve. Even though it increases chances of the treble hooks to foul with weeds you can work these on the edge of the thick stuff  with great results.                                                                               

   



wake bait-click here











 Live cocahoe minnows can't be beat just don't like taking care of them.                                                                 

Cracked crab/dead shrimp these are redfish candy and they will not refuse these if you put it in front of them.

Diy Hobie Gear Bucket

Overpriced hobie bucket

I have been fighting with this crappy dollar store clothes basket for months every time I move my outback everything falls out and I have to search around the inside to find everything. I was almost about to buy the Hobie Hatch Liner when I remembered something I found a while back. When I was searching for a center hatch storage solution  I found an idea to use a flexible bucket on an Australian forum. Only problem was that they were getting the bucket from a store that doesn't exist over here nor did they have a manufacture name of the product. Recently I lucked up into finding the Tubtrugs Flexible Yellow Medium 26 Liter it fits perfectly in the front hatch of the Outback with a little trimming.This is a quick DIY and it is taking way longer to write this than it took me to complete the project.

 Tools: Sharpie
           Razor Knife
           Scissors

1. Throw away the old crappy basket or put the overpriced hobie hatch liner back on the shelf.

 2. After you complete the first step get your new bucket and insert it into the front hatch make sure its pressed all the way down to the bottom of the kayak.

bucket before trimming.

3.Trace around the bucket to get the contour of the hatch so you will know how much to cut off of you bucket.Take your time on this step and don't draw multiple lines like I did. Another tip mark the front so once you cut it makes it easier to line it up when you reinstall the cut bucket.

4. Now its time to cut the bucket to fit. Start the cut with the razor knife and then finish up with the scissors. Rather than cutting directly down the middle of the line I recommend cutting on the top of the line to allow for adjustment later on. Place the cut bucket back into the front hatch trim the edges that are not exact and youre done.

Final product.

Spring Day Pursuit of Happiness

Speck Scale + FishxScale

Today I met my buddy Dwayne and he showed me around one of his favorite spots to fish in southeast Louisiana. This was my first scouting trip for the upcoming Ifa in Empire Louisiana on May 18. The weather conditions looked favorable and the wind that has been plaguing us wouldn't be a problem.We launched and headed to large lake that  averaged about six feet. We started off working the shorelines early with topwaters and on my first cast I had a large fish slash at my lure and miss the hooks.I continued throwing the topwater and the trout were peppering the lure with hits but I couldn't connect on any of the hits. Luckily while I was failing at top water dwayne was doing a little better and landed a fat 21 inch speckled trout. We got a late start around 7:30 so the topwater bite only lasted for about an hour so after that we left and headed to another area looking for some subsurface trout and whatever else that would bite line. I started working a point with a current line and caught a solid keeper trout pretty quickly. I stayed in this area and quickly hooked another trout that shook off and a couple casts later I hooked a redfish but it bent the light wire hooks that I was using for my tandem rig.

The second speck on the tandem rig

I probably shouldn't use freshwater jigheads they work fine for trout but redfish too much for them  to handle. Speaking of tandem rigs This was my first time trying it out and I think it might be better.
 I alternated between a single and tandem rig and surprisingly I had three fish hit on the tandem and one on the single jig. This small sample size is encouraging and I will continue to experiment with the tandem rig. After catching a couple fish I did something I rarely do and left them biting to try and catch a redfish. The Ifa and it requires a different philosophy than I usually prescribe to and you really need to target large fish rather than large numbers. I then met back up with Dwyane as he was working in a shallow pond looking for a red. I checked his progress and went and explored a little further ahead. I found a little trenasse and cast a marsh melon Who Dat Weedless Spoon

Fell for the marsh melon

I casted to the outer left side started reeling and felt a bump my line then went weightless and I was wondering if my line popped. I realized the fish was headed straight for me and I reeled as fast as I could to regain the slack and the fight was on. The fish down there were strong even the speckled trout put up a fight this was a 22 inch red and it towed me around pretty good. After getting the fish in and taking a few pictures I set up again in the same trenasse casting to the right bank it took a couple of casts but I got him. This fish was not as large but the fight in close combat and shallow water was explosive. After catching that one I went a little deeper into the cut but I couldn't draw any more out so I moved into a small pond with no luck. After exiting the pond I could see an area similar to where I was catching the trout earlier so I pedaled over. I threw a deadly dudley frogs breath and began jigging it back to the boat and I felt a solid tap I set the hook reeled in a solid red. We then fished our way back to the launch with little action.I did have a short hook up on my mirrodine that consisted of three seconds of drag being pulled and no hookset im pretty sure I had a large speck. I imagine it was probably double digits mark it down as the one that got away.

Number 1

Number 2 Big Spot

Number 3 Small dot

Paddlepalooza Week Part 5 The End

Flounder have been abundant in lake Pontchartrain this spring

Sunday is it the end of one week or the beginning of the next who knows. Lets just call it the Beginning because I didn't want any of the suck of my two days in Grand Isle to carry over.I hooked up the old plastic flat for some nostalgic pre kayak fishing. For this trip I was keeping it simple two rods one rigged with a 3/8 jighead and a frog's breath deadly dudley. The other taking a hint from the paddlepalooza winner a dropshot rig with a Eagle Claw Bait Holder 2  for some dead shrimp.  My intended launch area was on catherine island and a small section of marsh near chef pass that is sheltered from the wind on three sides. But the area we were headed to was blocked because of the 112 mile bike riding portion of the  New Orleans Ironman Triathlon. After realizing we couldn't get there we headed to a  launch area that we had never used before on the banks of Lake Pontchartrain. this area would be sheltered from the 25 mph south wind by highway 90. This would also allow me to fish the hospital wall area that is a spring time speckled trout hotspot. After all the detours and decision making we made it on the water around 10 o'clock. I started the day off with a rat red on the deadly dudley working it with a straight retrieve. I wanted to tag this fish before it was released but I realized I left my tackle box and my tags in the truck.

Approximate location of hospital wall on hwy 90

 Very soon after my line snagged on the bottom and I lost my only lure and it was dead shrimp the rest of the day. The action on the market bait was pretty steady and we caught some pretty good fish. The first fish on market bait was a nice 24 inch redfish then the hardhead catfish swarmed and we moved to a nearby point. First cast we hit a perfect 18 inch puppy drum and then th  hardheads moved in again. Finally we made it to the remains of the Hospital wall I wish I had some jigs because there were probably some trout down there. The fish were abundant  and most likely drawn to the structure the hardheads were here in abundance but between catching catfish we caught a rat red a couple puppy drum then an eighteen inch red then a sixteen inch redfish. I also caught a nice flounder the one I was searching for the day before the one that would have got me paid. After catching at least 20 hardheads a stingray and a couple of nice fish we headed back home with a couple for the dinner table.

Bonus satellite image of the submerged wall location finding the launch is the hard part.