Family affair at MRGO

Stanley Fink
Feb 28
6 min read

TEAM JO-JO:

Bad Back, But the Call of the Water Was Strong

Even with a bad back, the success of Team Jo-Jo’s Big Rudy & Big Ron—who limited out Tuesday and Wednesday along the MRGO—had me itching to get back out there. The Silverwonders were stacking up, and me couldn’t just sit this one out!

Checked my fisherperson IOU list to see who was due for a trip:

First up, Big Don—my Sr. first mate—but he couldn’t go.
Next, Big Charlie—same story, no can go.
Then me dialed Big Bubby (Nephewofthepack)—BINGO! We had our first mate locked in for Thursday’s trip.

The mission was set, rods were rigged, and even with a sore back, the chase for Silverwonders was on!

SIGNS:

· Good night rest

· I felt good, my back was still hurting but you got to go to know.

· No wildlife sightings along Hwy 11 or 90

· Me was early so me prepped Bay Flat Jr for launching

· Meet Tony we talked about fishing and paid for launch.

· Bubba right on time loaded his gear into Bay Flat Jr

· He backed me down in the water

· Yamaha Nightmare Machine too 4 pulls to get her started.

· Off to MRGO to get our fun day started

· Very high expectations & anxious to get at the BIG girls.

CONDITIONS:

· Perfect

· Wind, S.S.E. 3, 2. 4, S.S.W. 3, W.N.W. 6-8 mph

· Water status / conditions: clam to slight chop

· Sky, sunny & clear

· Had little fog

· Temp, Kept jumpsuit eon all day

· Water level, up 1-2 feet

· Water Temp , 57.2 F

· Salinity, 2.1

· Specific Conductance 3930

· Pressure, 30.13 R

· Water clarity on a scale of 1-7, a 6

· Mississippi gauge: 12.02’

· Caernarvon Outfall: 6,000, ft3/s wide open Dumping 3,888,000.00 gallons of river water a day into Delacroix, not good this be.

· Tide, falling slightly

· Peak tide, 01:36 H 1.31’

· Peak tide, 14:08 L 0.0’

· Major Feed Time: 10:13 / /22:29

· Minor feed time: 10:13 / 22:29

· Tidal Coefficient: 100 high it be

· Fish Activity

· Very High Activity

· Boats out and about, 20 plus, Trestles had 14

· 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 Jr and the Yamaha NIghtmare 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 Bubba to:

§ Areas we be fishing & catching

§ Jerk bait use, technique, & presentation

§ Bay Flat Jr.

· Bring home some fish for Big Bubba family

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

1 WIND AT YOUR BACK: (Not much wind to be concerned about, later in day we used wind to our advantage to move us along the rocks.)

2 MOVING WATER: (Hard to tell what it is doing for movement me think it was falling all day)

3 WATER CALRITY: (A 6, little sandy looing, plus it was not that dark clean, clear water me like(

4 HOLDING FISH: (MRGO along rocks)

5 PATIENCES: (It was slow going today, we hit (5) BIG girls in not time then it was you had to fish for them)

6 SKILL: (Jerk bait technique, throw in some tight lining along rocks)

7 LUCKS: (We caught a few, but way below what me was expecting, happy for the few we caught)

· Oneofthepack’s repertoire of Techniques / presentations:

· Anchor up cast & retrieve slowly along the bottom, with a twitch every now and then, tight lining…………………………………DID NOT TRY

· Drift with the wind cast & retrieve (DWWC&R)……………(4) caught this way

§ Had to play Russin roulette with bottom, throw up wind and work back to you without encountering bottom.

§ This technique, but with Jerk baits, caught 90% of the fish.

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

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

· Oak River Skim (ORS) ……………Nothing

· Cork ……..Nothing

· Lake P Troll (LPT)…………….Nothing.

· 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 Jr (added 10-25-24) matched up with:

§ 1/8 oz. heads caught 4 lure had yellow tail

§ ¼ oz. jig head :

§ 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.

· Jerk baits caught 90% of fish

AREAS / SPOTS / NUMBERS ON THE MAP FISHED:

MRGO rocks stayed in that area all day, all fish caught there.

OUR REWARDS:

· Lived to fish another day.

· (9) NMR Silverwonders

· (1) Flounder

· (1) Bass

· Me back still hurt, but did not feel it as much when in boat, even less when me had a 3 # Silverwonder on me line.

· Lots of :

o Sunshine

o Fresh cool air

o Low humidity

o Catching up on family happenings

· Good lunch with Big Ron (Troutmaster) himself at Phil’s Marine

· Lessons learned:

§ Needed a lower expectation, me could just not make it happen, we gave it a hard try fished to 12:00

§ Bites where further down the MRGO

§ Jerk bites where early, only caught 5 on our first past

§ Switch techniques / presentations:

· Salt Strong Power Prawn Jr. with yellow tail matched up with a 1/8 oz. jig head caught 4t, 1f, &1 b

· Tight line nothing

o Playing Russian roulette with hang up on bottoms, produced 4t,1f,&1b

· Lake P Troll nothing

· Oak River troll nothing

· Popping corks

· Tried just about every jerk bait me had i.e. color & size

· You got to go to know!

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

FISHERPERSON OF THE DAY:

Oneofthepack took a 3-0 lead quickly, me could see Bubba’s jerk bait not right kind so me gave him my rod & reel that I was catching on, he immediately hooked up and started to bring them in. But when it slowed down I gave him Slat Strong Power Prawn Jr w/yellow tail, matched up with a 1/8 oz. jig head, that when he went on a catching spree, 4t, 1f, 1b, Big Bubba be fisherperson of the day for sure.

Oneofthepack caught first 3, and that was it for me this day, it was great watching Bubba do his thing and being bale to video him brining in his fish for the day.

SUGGESTIONS:

The items me think needed to fish MRGO rocks are as follows:

· Boat & motor

· Depth finder & GPS, need to know how deep water is in your fishing area, and GPS for when the fog hits you

· 2-3 rods & reels rigged up with (2) different jerk baits, and (1) rigged up with Salt Strong Power Prawn Jr. w/ yellow tail

· Lots of various sizes of jig heads, 1/16 to ½ oz.

· (25) Power Prawn Jr w/yellow tail

· 3-4 various suspended jerk baits come in size 70, 80, & 110, get one size of each color:

§ White, pink back

§ Greenish

§ Mullet looking color

§ You don’t want to be out there and lose the only lure you have with them NMR big girls busting up all along rocks.

Be early catch the rocks before all them boast start running back & forth causing the rocks to get a lot of washing over it when waves hit, bite are early!!!!!