Delacroix lost cause

TEAM JO-JO:

🎣 Friday Fishing Adventure – 5/23/25

“Welcome Aboard Big John!”Location: Disney World a.k.a. Delacroix IslandVessel: Bay Flat Sr with the Yamaha Dream Machine at full throttleMission: Silverwonders & RedwarriorsCrew:

• 🧭 Oneofthepack – Navigator, storyteller, and trip commander

• 🎣 Big Rudy – Veteran first mate and fish whisperer

• 🧢 Big John – Newest Team Jo-Jo recruit, met at the last Team Jo-Jo Fishing Curriculum Session (Saturday, 5/17/25)

✅ Trip Objectives

1. Introduce Big John to the world-class fishery that is Delacroix Island.

2. Give him the grand tour of the Bay Flat Sr and the purring power of the Yamaha Dream Machine.

3. Run through our arsenal of techniques & presentations — cork, tight line, troll, Lake P method… we showed him the goods.

4. Showcase our well-stocked inventory of lures & jig heads, including Team Jo-Jo favorites.

5. Send Big John home with dinner — some fresh Silverwonders to share with family or enjoy solo.

6. Conduct a proper milk run through Team Jo-Jo's famed Zones 1 through 5, highlighting key hot spots, productive patterns, and fish-holding areas.

🎯 Mission Status: Accomplished (Pending Report from the Fish Box)

Big John handled himself like a seasoned pro — he soaked in knowledge, respected the zones, and asked the right questions. The Delacroix marsh opened up like a storybook: calm waters, clear lines, and plenty of teaching moments. Whether it was running the treelines, hugging the ledges, or dragging bottom in the holes, he got the full Team Jo-Jo experience.

Fish were found, memories were made, and Big John now knows what it means to enter “Jo-Jo Country.”

📍 Next Steps:

• Add Big John to the future crew rotation — he passed the test!

• Review lessons learned at the next Fishing Curriculum Session.

• Watch weather windows for the next strike on Zones 3 & 5 — the Redwarriors are due for a comeback!

SIGNS:                            

·         Loveofthepack & Daughterofthepack w/ family on vacation time to fish

·         Good night sleep

·         Up at 3:30 AM for 4:30 meet up with Big Rudy at Waffle House in Oak Harbor.

·         I had a screw up, told Big John to meet us at Waffle House in Oak Harbor, but he lives in Slidell, we drove to Chalmette to meet up with Big John, this cost us about 35–40-minute delay, my bad.

·         All straight we on the move

·         Check point Alpha water level in canal at junction down 4-6”

·         Check point Bravo water slightly falling in Reggio canal

·         Reach the home of the Bay Flat Sr, gave me 30 second speech re: crossing Hwy and open space between boat & dock.

·         Crew made quick work of loading Bay Flat Sr

·         Yamaha Dream Machine fired up with ½ a key turn

·         Made a quick stop at Lionels or go juice

·         Off to Team Jo-Jo spot # 51C to start our fun day of fishing

·          

CONDITIONS:

·          Perfect

·         Wind,  S.S.E. 6-8 mph

·         Water status / conditions: clam, slight chops

·         Sky, sunny & clear

·         Temp, mild, warm, hot, hottest, little red button popped out

·         Water level, down 4-6”

·         Water Temp ,  82.2 F

·         Salinity,   .50

·         Specific Conductance 1040

·         Pressure,  30.08 R

·         Water clarity on a scale of 1-7, range of 1 to minus 2

·         Mississippi gauge: 12.63’ Falling

·         Caernarvon Outfall:       698      ft3/s

·         Tide, tail end of falling started to rise

·         Peak tide, 03.30 H .50’

·         Peak tide, 07:36’ L .50’

·         Peak tide, 13:33 H  .60’

·         Peak tide, 21:53 L 0.20’

·         Major Feed Time: N/A

·         Minor feed time:   N/A

·         Tidal Coefficient:   79

·         Fish Activity

·          Average Activity   

·         Boats out and about, (2)

·      ONEOFTHEPACK’S REPERTOIRE OF TECHNIQUES / STRATEGIES      

·         Be safe.

·         Have fun.

·         This is me daily therapy for ALL me aliments.

·         Put some run time on the Bay Flat Sr and the Yamaha Dream Machine

·         Gather Intel for future trips, and to share with fisherperson, (on Facebook) to help assist them in their choice of areas to fish, lures to use and presentation of same to the elusive Silverwonders.

·         Catch what catch can.

·         Learn what learn can.

·         Give big John grand tour of Delacroix, lures we use, technique & presentation we use.

·         Bring fish home for Big John’s dinner

·         Find a spot  # with the seven fundamentals / criteria of catching:

1 WIND AT YOUR BACK: (Wind not a factor, kept the bugs off us all day, ad kept us cool a little too.)

2 MOVING WATER: (Not much movement, even with tail end of falling tide & start of rising tide not much current at all)

3 WATER CALRITY: (This criterion was our challenge for the day, could not find any clean, good-looking water nowhere, running 50 plus miles nothing to show for it)

4 HOLDING FISH:  (Kenny’s Seafood)

5 PATIENCES: (Had plenty & used it all up, me just could not make it happen)

6 SKILL: (Same old ones used, may need to change up some)

7 LUCKS: (No get wet, no have to clean fish)

·      Oneofthepack’s repertoire of Techniques / presentations:

·         Anchor up cast & retrieve slowly along the bottom, with a twitch every now and then, tight lining…………………………………Nothing

·         Drift with the wind cast & retrieve (DWWC&R)……………Nothing

·         Oak River Troll (ORT)……………….Nothing. 

·         Reverse Oak River Troll (RORT) ………..DID NOT TRY

·         Oak River Skim (ORS) ……………Nothing

·         Cork ……..Nothing

·         Lake P Troll (LPT)…………….Did not try.

·         Drop shot: Did not try.

·         Dead bait……None

·         Live bait………………None

·      Oneofthepack ‘S repertOIRE of LURE DU JOUR:

·         3” H&H Purple Beetle, matched up with H&H ¼ oz. round white head with gold hook……………Did not try

·         3” Chartreuse Glow Beetle, matched up with H&H ¼ oz. round white head w/gold hook………….Did not try

·         Matrix Shad Lemon Drop, matched up with H&H ¼ oz. round white head w/gold hook……………Did not try.

·         Matrix Shad Lemon Drop, matched up with H&H 3/8 oz. round white head w/gold hook……………DID NOT TRY

·         Matrix Shad Lemon Drop, matched up with H&H 1/2 oz. round white head w/gold hook……………DID NOT TRY

·         Salt Strong Power Prawn (added 10-25-24) matched up with: Did not use:

§  1/16 oz:.

§  1/8 ox:

§  ¼ oz. jig head :   All fish caught w/ this rig on corks, 2 tight lining.

§  3/8 oz. jig head :    

§  Tandem Rig:           

·         Matrix Shad Lemon Drop, matched up with 3/4 oz. round lead head w/ 2 trailers, ……Did not try.

·         Tandem rig, ¼ oz. round H&H jig head with gold hook, matched up with Matrix Shad Lemon Drop …..Did not try.

AREAS / SPOTS / NUMBERS ON THE MAP FISHED:

Team Jo-Jo spot # 51C, R10, R10 A, B, LC4, LC6 (1)T,(1)R, LC2A, 59b, 21, 22, 17, 15, stopped fishing around 10:30 getting very hot from sun.

OUR REWARDS:

·         Lived too fish another day.

·         (1) Miniwonder

·         (1) Flounder

·         (2) Redwarriors, 1 Ratwarrior

·         (1) Croakers

·         (2) Crabs

·         (3) Hard heads

·         Snicker bars for Oneofthepack, thanks Big Rudy me needed that.

·         Being on the water with (2) the best fisherpersons me know is Big Rudy & Big John

·         Covered a lot of water, (50 plus miles) gained a lot of intel, info, insight as to:

§  Water clarity nasty on a scale of 1-7 it was a 1 or -2 in all zones, could not find any clean water.

§   Routes & paths still open & clear

§  Landmarks for navigation still in tack

§  Added some good tracks / routes to new GPS.

§  Had a few butterfly boats out and about in some areas, hope this means shrimp moving in

§  Where other boats were fishing, only saw 2 they in Bay La Fourche

·         Lessons learned:

§  Dirty water all over

§  Catching a thing of the pass for Delacroix at present

§  Best to concentrate on Lake P, Lake C, & Lake B

§  Birds diving on shrimp in Lake B, Gaff tops under them, but NMR’s or deep below Gaff tops

·         Best fishing trip of my life, until the next one.

FISHERPERSON OF THE DAY:

Big John got us started W/ Silverwonder, added red, crab and then croaker, and managed to stay away from cat fish, and Big John brought food and drinks for all, with all this effort Big John be fisherperson of the day,

Big Rudy managed a Flounder, Redwarrior, &  3 hardheads, this effort fell a little short for honors today. But for Big Rudy not to catch today, water conditions must be real bad.

As for Oneofthepack , me came in a close last, only because me never caught a fish and was not able to make the board, or we can say me got skunked again. Sad part I am getting used to being skunked.

SUGGESTIONS:

As far as Team Jo-Jo goes this be our 3rd trip with not so good results down in our Disney World known as Delacroix Island me think we will be changing our quest / efforts to greener grass, like Lake P, Lake B, Lake C, and bayou Bienvenue areas in search of the elusive Silverwonders &Redwarriors.

PONDER OF THE DAY:

“The solution to any problem — work, love, money, whatever is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be.”

Q&A:

What fish have you never eaten but would really like to try?

TEAM JO-JO’S future stratagem:

Assaulting Lake P in AM w/Big Rudy in Bay Flat Jr, stay tune, until then:

Good Fishing

Team Jo-Jo & Oneofthepack

釣り先生

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