TEAM JO-JO:
Bay Flat Jr had a first timer aboard her, Big Jim (meet at Team Jo-Jo fishing Curriculum)me posted on me least post, “ I have nothing planned, but that never stopped me before, Saturday & Sunday open Bay Flat Sr and/or Bay Flat Jr, your call!!!!!!” Big Jim called and said he would like to make a trip, and I see you have an opening, says me where do you want to go, Lake P or Delacroix. Big Jim indicated he would like to go and learn Delacroix, let’s do it says me.
Me called Big Rudy to see if he could be first mate for Big Jim & Oneofthepack trip, no problem says Big Rudy, says me meet up t Waffle House for 5 AM in Oak Harbor.
The trip plan, coordinated, organized, have a first mate Big Rudy, and a second mate Big Jim, we all set for a fun day down in our Disney World known as Delacroix Island.
SIGNS:
· Friday is a busy day. Doctors, VA, house cleaning, dinner at Big Ron & Petite Gail’s home, BBQ shrimp
· Fish god responded to me request for Saturday crew, she be sent me Big Jim as a mate on trip, and followed up with Big Rudy, now that be a sign.
· Good night sleep
· Up at 3:30 AM for our 5 AM meet up at Waffle House in Oak Harbor Slidell
· Oneofthepack first to show, then Big Jim being up the rear be Big Rudy, all be there within minute of each other.
· Now to load the FORD transporter, which we did in no time
· No wildlife sightings along Hwy 11 or 90
· Not many boats on Hwy, gas station and/or boat launches
· Great conversation on the way down, Oneofthepack & Big Rudy got to learn a lot about Big Jim, long story, long journey in life it be, very interesting as we shared stories about each of our lives, once again me came to conclusion that me live a very boring relaxing life.
· Check point Alpha water down 2-3” in canal at junction
· Check point Bravo tide rising slowly at / in Reggio canal
· Delacroix Hwy looked deserted
· 2 minutes away from home of the Bay Flat Sr, me gave me 30 second safety speech , re: crossing Hwy and open space around Bay Flat Sr and dock, mention that 5 crew members have already fallen in at one time or another, one even TWICE!!!
· Crew made quick work loading up Bay Flat SR
· Yamaha Dream Machine fired right up, she be all warned up from last trip, nice she be. She be due her 1100 hour service which will be soon, me think next trip bring her into Eric at Cypress Cove to give her 1100 hour TLC!!
· Stopped at Lionel’s for go juice
· As me fueling me see Big Jim laying on , rolling around dock, seems he had a hard time negotiating get out of Bay Flat Sr to dock, this not a good sign, but all was well and he bounced right back up, (All is well) ready for action.
· Me had trip pre planned, due to wind speed & direction it was Team Jo-Jo spot # 21 to start our day, but dirty water had us move on to plan “B” quickly.
CONDITIONS:
· Perfect
· Wind, E. 16-18, E.N.E. 16-18, E. 16-18 mph, steady as she blew all day, never let up
· Water status / conditions: little ripples, slight chop, heavy chop.
· Sky, sunny & clear snowbird day
· Temp, nice all day, jump suite on all day
· Water level, down 3-4”
· Water Temp , 58.82 F
· Salinity, 7.7
· Specific Conductance 33600
· Pressure, 30.30 F
· Water clarity on a scale of 1-7, Team Jo-Jo zone 1 &2 a 2 minus, Lake John 3 minus, R7 a 4 plus
· Mississippi gauge: 1.74’ getting good it be
· Caernarvon Outfall: 700 ft3/s
· Tide, falling all day
· Peak tide, 00.09 H 1.64’
· Peak tide, 12:25 L 0.98’
· Major Feed Time: 02:50 / 15:16
· Minor feed time: 05:35 / 15:46
· Tidal Coefficient: 87
· Only lair birds diving
· Not much bait in water
· Lots of current lines to fish
· Fish Activity
· Highh Activity
· Boats out and about, 20-25 spread out in areas we be fishing
· 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.
· Introduce Big Jim to:
§ All that Delacroix has to offer
§ His new choice of having his motor home new home port
§ Team Jo-Jo various spot numbers
§ Routes & paths to Team Jo-Jo’s zone 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5
§ Team Jo-Jo various techniques & presentations
§ Team Jo-Jo’s hospitality
· Bring home so fishes for Big Jim and family
· Find a spot # with the seven fundamentals / criteria of catching:
1 WIND AT YOUR BACK: (This criterion the challenge of the day, wind it be, but we had plan “A”, “B”, and even “C” working in our favor. It was a Bay Flat Sr. move around day, only anchored up once and that was not for long. We used the wind to push us across open bays, as we pop our popping corks across them with Silverwonders eating them up.)
2 MOVING WATER: (Had plenty all falling, created lots of current lines to fish them but wind was so hard it was hard to set up on them for sure.)
3 WATER CALRITY: (Team Jo-Jo zones 1 &2 was a 2 minus, don’t know why, Miss rive lowest it has been in a long time, but it all looked just like dirty river water. Di find cleaner water north of Bayou Terre aux Boeufs, i.e. Lake Amedee * Lake Robing areas.)
4 HOLDING FISH: (Team Jo-Jo spot # 51K (13)t, R7 (23)t, stopped fishing around 1:48
5 PATIENCES: ( In honey hole at 7:04, 8:00 first Silverwonder in boat, Big Jim brought it a board, action picked up, but it was when we hit spot # R7 when things turned on.)
6 SKILL: (Popping cork techniques / presentations, knowledge of the are for a windy day)
7 LUCKS: (Big Jim took a tumble, but no one hurt.)
· 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)……………DID NOT TRY
· Oak River Troll (ORT)……………….Did not try.
· Reverse Oak River Troll (RORT) ………..DID NOT TRY
· Oak River Skim (ORS) ……………DID NOT TRY
· Cork ……..Popping cork day, all fish caught this way
· 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……………Caught 35% of fish
· 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 jig head: caught 25% of fish
§ ¼ oz. jig head: caught 40% of fish
§ 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 # 21, 22, 17, (water dirty on to plan “B”) 51K (13)t, 51J (2)t, (on to plan “C” ) R7 (23)t, stopped fishing around 1:40.
OUR REWARDS:
· Lived to fish another day.
· (38) Silverwonders, 17 Miniwonders
· (1) Puppy Drum
· (1) Popped line BIG fish
· (3) Extra poles
· Sopped at Ben’s pizza for a late lunch, very good it be.
· Bring on the water with two of the best fisherpersons me know, Big Body & Big Jim
· Got to use new windshield again, did me mention me love it.
· Lessons learned:
§ Water clarity in Team Jo-Jo Zine 1, 2, & 3 a 3 minus, looked real bad.
§ Best water clarity in Team Jo-Jo spot # R&
§ Big Jim popping a little different, me neve seen or head of the ever. Big Jim puts a split shot on his popping fork line about 8-10” above his lure, say he helps lure bounce around. Learn something new today.
§ Learned a new presentation today, Pop, pop, pop, pop, reel in slow, (fish would hit you reeling in) this presentation was the only way me could catch fish, it works.
§ Bite where a little crazy today, pop, pop, and let it set, note when cork moves sideway set hook, fish never pulls cork under.
§ Team Jo-Jo spot # 7 holding fish & spot # 51K too holding fish
§ A lot of info . intel on Big Jim’s military service, work, family and hobbies, good man he be. Made a new friend and fishing buddy.
· Best fishing trip of my life, until the next one.
FISHERPERSON OF THE DAY:
Big Jim on the board first, had a great day of catching Silverwonders, dominated the Drum division, willing to adapt to conditions, and use of productive lures & techniques, me think if he would have stayed with that strategy it would have been a different story, but he went o the changing of lures and trying other lures, and techniques that let him down. It was a great effort, but it was not to be today for him to conquer the honors today.
Oneofthepack as always took up boat space, but got on a few, but not enough for me to be in the contest, and / or even in the game, me came in dead last with catching, but first in fun.
Big Rudy was just Big Rudy, bring them in one after another, he too be adapting to conditions & techniques / presentations, swapping to Matrix Shad Lemon drop, different size jig heads all when it was necessary for the changes to make it happen, finally he zeroed in on a 1/16 jig head under a popping cork that did the trick for many of his catches. Big Rudy be fisherperson of the day for sure, even Big Jim was impressed, compared him to his wife Danna’s ability to catch.
SUGGESTIONS:
Delacroix producing some nice catches, neighbor in our slip where cleaning (46) NMR Silverwonders, did not ask what area they be fishing, but they indicated Lake Amedee & Lake robing had cleaner water.
Might want to concentrate in areas with cleaner water for sure, but don’t give up on Delacroix as it is going to get better & better all the way into mid-June.
PONDER OF THE DAY:
“We are what we repeatedly do, catching is not a act, but a habit”
Q&A:
Why don’t fish play basketball? They’re afraid of nets!
Learned that adding a split shot to line 8-10” above lure makes it have ore action when fishing with a popping cork. Have any of you other fisherpersons known this?
Are their any other secret modifications when fishing a popping cork that is out there?
Oneofthepack is “Less is bets” belief, no swivels, snaps, weights , nothing added when fishing lures, dead, and/or live bait, only what need to minimize current impact on same.
TEAM JO-JO’S future stratagem:
Nothing plan, on the books, open Bay Flat Sr & Jr, just need brave soul that wants to challenge all the mother nature is willing to throw at us in / for our quest of catching a few Silverwonders & Redwarriors.
Until them:
Good Fishing
Team Jo-Jo & Oneofthepack
釣り先生
Please subscribe to me video channel
Comments