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