Catfish: The Rigolets

Took an evening trip out to the Rigolets we arrived at the launch around 4 o'clock. There were some storms in the distance that had some lightning so we decided to wait it out at the launch. The storms rolled past us quickly and didn't even rain on us at the launch. So we pushed off schools of bait were registering as solid lines on the fish finder on my brothers kayak.  We fished hard around some points that had good current and bait but no takers. At one point I pulled into a cove and there was a school of large fish in a feeding frenzy scattering bait everywhere. I cast my mirrodine multiple times into the fray but no takers.  After this disappointing sequence I decided to move to the deeper waters of the pass on my first cast i hooked something big that was fighting similar to that bull redfish I hooked the other day. I fought it through a couple of drag stripping runs finally I had wore it out and reeled it in it was...

Gaff topsail catfish 

My brother may or may not have caught one that was larger than this but we have no proof and plus he is arguing about the size of a trashfish.

Bulls on the Beach

Went down to Grand Isle this past Saturday July 12 to do some scouting for the upcoming Slamboree tournament on the 26. I had not been down hwy 1 since my dreadful performance at  Paddle Palooza (click to read about it) so I was eager to improve on my last trip. The reports I was getting on the days leading up to the trip were good and there was clean water a fast trout bite and hungry redfish prowling all over. We woke up way too early and drove down to meet up with the guys we would be fishing with we met at Elmers island. We originally planned to do a little surf fishing but we decided to launch the kayaks at the beach to increase our ability to follow the fish. I started throwing a pink Rapala Saltwater Skitter Walk  and I quickly caught a 11 7/8 speckled trout. I could hear the trout popping all around me but before I could unhook and throw into the frenzy again a pod of dolphins blasted through and spooked me and scattered the trout. The dolphins were everywhere but there was also something smaller that was boiling up occasionally. I have seen Jack Crevalle doing something similar so I told my brother to cast into the school because he has been wanting to hook up with one. He cast in and almost immediately hooked up but this wasn't running like a jack it was a redfish so I quickly cast into the school and I was hooked up too. It took me about 10 minutes to subdue my fish by the time I got my fish in Collin had his in already.We fished the beach for an hour longer with little to show for it. 

Bull Reds in Grand Isle.

We headed back to the truck to start scouting for the tournament the first spot we went was a trout spot. We found them and every one started catching them the only problem is most were 11 inch specks an inch short of legal size. We were able to pull a couple keepers from the many cigar trout. We then headed up the road to a spot with some broken marsh to fish for redfish. I have never been frustrated by redfish like this in my life. The only reason I know the redfish were there was because Cody limited out in the hour and a half we were out there. I will be heading back out there this weekend to try and figure out where the big trout and flounder are at. Follow me on Twitter at Fishxscale Instagram FishxScale email me at Fishxscale@gmail.com comments questions suggestions.

Lake Pontchartrain Cruel Summer

Took a a quick trip to lake Pontchartrain Friday July 11 to fish the bridges and the shore lines. I had not fished the lake in a while so it was almost like fishing a new spot. I knew the the water would be dirty because of the westerly direction the wind has been blowing  for the past week or two. We started at sunrise working the shorelines with top waters. There were mullet that were getting harassed by what I thought were redfish so I threw to the edges of the school. Soon after my hunch was proven by this red that crushed the super spook. After that I was attacked by sharks twice I had them grab my topwater but the 20lb braid I was using was no match for their teeth and they quickly cut the line. I have plans for these guys and I am preparing my rig as I am typing this post.

19 inch red on top water from Lake Pontchartrain

Lake Pontchartrain Flounder

We then went to the bridges and started jigging the pilings of the trestle and the highway 11 bridge.  The only other fish I was able to catch was this beautiful flounder by jigging a saltwater assassin on a 3/8 ounce jig head. My brother was fishing with market shrimp and fish bites imitation shrimp strips along the highway 11 bridge. He caught  puppy drum and  almost 30 croakers a few were big enough to keep and a couple of hard head catfish. It felt good to get back on the water but we headed in early at about 11 o'clock to get ready for our trip to Grand Isle. Stay tuned for that report coming soon.

Eight is Too Late

This little redfish fell for the inline spinner

 Two days in a row I have been fishing This time I went down highway 23. After waking up early the day before we decided to start late at 8 that was a bad decision because by the time we started fishing it was already hot.  I did manage to catch an 11 inch speck and the Redfish pictured above on the seein spots inline spinner. I should have brought my cast net with me because the marsh was full of shrimp I even had this guy jump into my yak. Want to go fishing email me FishxScale@gmail.com

Chef Pass a Good Time

The line up of barges in the busy
Intracoastal waterway.

 After a great fourth of July my vacation was over and it was time to get back to fishing. My new fishing License came in the mail and I figured I would break it in right. We decided to go to Chef Pass an area that I had some good success at last summer but had not visited this year. We had a slack tide so I figured it would be a good day to try Chef Pass which on a regular tide day would be moving pretty quickly and pretty dangerous for a kayak.On a slack tide day I knew it would be  manageable in a kayak. The pass would also have some of the strongest tidal movement in the area because of its close proximity to the gulf. Collin, Cody and I launched at day break and headed south east through the large pass towards Lake Borgne. The intersection of the intracoastal waterway and the pass was pretty busy and we had to dodge barges and other industrial boats on the way out. Once we made it across we started to see some good signs bait skipping on the surface and tide lines. We made it to a cut where bait was getting slashed and Cody quickly landed a solid keeper speckled trout. We worked that cut but couldn't lure any more from this cut. We fished a few more likely spots for specks but nothing we kinda gave up on the specks at this point. We moved further south into a winding bayou to look for some redfish. I threw a topwater into a cut and an eager little red jumped on it. This raised our confidence a little and soon after Cody hooked up with a nice upper slot redfish. I could tell this was a nice fish as it took a couple of long runs in the shallow water.

We kept fishing this bayou and were able to pull two more reds during this pass.  After we exited this bayou we decided to do a little exploring/shortcut we paddled through a narrow winding bayou that we thought would lead out to the pass. I learned something today don't take any shortcuts in the marsh. You will end up having to backtrack and waste valuable time. Or have to drag your kayak across the marsh like we did. After regaining our bearings we kept pushing further down Alligator point.This area looks so promising I wish it was more accessible. the banks of the lake borgne are lined with rocks and there are some good looking cuts the further you go. By this time the sun was getting high in the sky and the temperature was rising. We turned around and headed back towards the launch. On the way back I had a close encounter with an alligator. I would love to get back out here soon but the next few weeks are booked up with tournaments and a special trip I have been planning for a while. Stay tuned for that trip. Questions,concerns,comments, does anyone make it down here? Email me at Fishxscale@gmail.com