Late Summer Topwater Video
Pontchartrain Jacks
Every year after 4th of July Lake Pontchartrain is inundated by the hard fighting Jack Crevalle and us inshore anglers go a little crazy for these fish. Catching them is not that challenging if you are able to find large schools of bait mullets or their favorite menhaden which school up thick in the late summer. Jacks like to use break walls to pin the school of bait and unleash the attack. The lakefront steps and the areas around the marinas are good in the early mornings and late evenings when the bait makes its daily migrations in and out the harbors. The best lures are 6 or 8 inch spoons or large topwaters which elicit huge strikes from the jacks. from now until late October you will find me chasing the jacks in the evenings along Lake Pontchartrain either from the kayaks or from land . Pontchartrain shark fishing post coming soon . Email me at fishxscale@gmail.com to schedule a trip or get some tips on a good bite.
Early Mornings in the Late Summer
The Summers in south Louisiana can be brutally hot especially in august. The key to catching fish is to get out early before 11 O'clock that means launching before the sun is up to allow for the paddle time to your fishing area. When launching at in the dark especially At busy marinas and waterways make sure you have a 360 degree light. I also like to carry a headlamp or small handheld flashlight for navigation and to be able to signal oncoming boats. My brother and I launched around 5:30 in the dark and set out for our destination the sun took its time rising a signal that fall is not far away. When we made it to our spot the sun was peeking over the horizon and there was bait everywhere. I began throwing a matrix shad on a 3/8 jig head a couple casts in I foul hooked a small shark luckily he got off the line before I had to deal with those teeth. as the sun got above the horizon i began tossing a skitterwalk the topwater bite started off slow but it took off right around 7. It started with a 29 inch bull red. I cast into a large school of nervous bait and had a fish strike the lure three times before giving up on the next cast I walked it then bam a huge explosion and this fish didn't miss it took off stripping drag. After a tense fight I was able to grip it and pull it into the boat.
This was the fish I fished all day for during the IFA tournament and I had caught it before 7 o'clock this day. I continued working these rocks and was able to pick up another redfish on the skitter walk . This time a more manageable size 25 inches that had 12 spots. After catching this red I decided to move to another spot to try and catch some specks. I situated myself on a point where current was pushing around I could see bait flicking on the surface I cast my topwater in and immediately missed three hits on one cast. I grabbed my popping cork rod and cast to the same spot my cork quickly went under and I reeled in a solid 18 inch speck. This continued for the next 15 or twenty minutes alternating from cork to topwater.As yo can see from the picture below my topwater got a ton of action today the paint started to flake off.
Lafitte IFA Kayak tour
I fished the IFA Kayak tour Lafitte originally I wasn't going to do it but I realized I had to fish to qualify for the championship. The last time I fished the IFA Empire I had a horrible day read about it here. I guess this story starts the Friday before I went red fishing for some slot reds for the grill. Me and my brother ended up keeping three reds from 18 to 22. On the way back to the launch at 11am we decided to take a detour to a trout spot. when we got there the tide was moving and there was bait being blown up. I was able to catch an 18 inch speck and missed a few more that I could see were bigger. I regret not going there first thing that morning because by this time it was hot out. If I wouldn't have caught that trout I probably would have gone to grand isle but I opted for the closer option that allowed me to sleep at home rather than my jeep that I had spent the past few weekends in. Sunday morning we woke up at 4:30 and headed to the launch. We arrived at 5:30 unloaded everything the wait for 6:00 was the longest 30 minutes of my life. It took forever but once the time came we were off and it was a sprint to the trout spot before the top water bite died. We got there rather quickly and as soon as we got there my top water was being blasted. I had 6 or 7 blowups before I hooked up but once I did I had a solid 18 inch speck. A few casts later another huge blowup and I could tell this was a bigger speck finally got it in and snapped the picture it ended up being almost 21 inches. I fished trout for fifteen minutes more but I didn't hit anything that was an upgrade. I knew my trout was good enough so I switched my target to the red fish I knew I needed a 40 inch fish to compete because most of the guys went to grand isle where they were plentiful see here. Armed with a extra smelly gulp I fished for a redfish all day from about 7:30 until 1:30. I couldn't make it happen I caught all kinds of bottom feeders including white trout and croakers but no redfish. I know there were some big fish in the area my brother caught a 25 inch drum and he swears he lost a 24 inch speck at the kayak. It was a humbling day after starting off so well it was frustrating to not be able to complete what I set out to do. Competitive fishing is a battle against yourself and mother nature as much as i like to think can make the fish bite I haven't completely figured it out. Even though I didn't win anything the experience I gained will only help me in the championship.
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| fish from the friday before |
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| friday before a 25 inch red |
Anticlimatic Slamboree recap
This has proved to be a very busy time for tournament kayak fishing it started with the Lafayette kayak fishing clubs La 1 Slamboree tournament on July 26. Cody, my brother and I prefished for three straight weekends for this tournament and we explored many areas I had not fished before. During prefishing we were able to find some good trout and redfish. When the tournament finally rolled around I was confident I would be able to have a decent stringer to weigh in. The day started out well I caught a 12 inch trout right off the bat Ii then stumbled upon a school of bait that was being pounded by something . I threw my topwater in and quickly reeled in a gafftop catfish I cast in again and another this went on for 15 minutes until I gave up and moved to a point with some current I was able to land a 16 inch speck. After that speck It was more gafftops until I caught my only redfish of the day a 15 inch that I tagged and released. My buddy Cody fared much better than me as he caught a keeper speckled trout and he had what we thought was a perfect slot redfish that would put him somewhere near the top. Cody's redfish turned out to be 1/16th of an inch too big but it was still an impressive showing for his first tournament. Also to put the slam in Slamboree you were supposed to catch a flounder I still don't know where they live heres the only flounder i could find over the four trips we took down the highway.
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| The only flounder I could fool. |
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