Lake P Troll vs. Lake P

TEAM JO-JO:

🎣 “Back in Action Friday” – Team Jo-Jo’s Return to Lake PTrip Date: Friday, June 6, 2025Crew: Oneofthepack & Big Rudy (finally back in the saddle)Target Zone: Lake Pontchartrain TrestlesMission: Trollin’ for the ever-elusive, hard-fighting, boat-dodgin’, Silver-scaled beauties known as Silverwonders

It’s been a long dry spell since Oneofthepack’s solo mission Monday—a brave but lonely attempt with no first mate to back up the net duties, hand off the rod, or crack open a celebratory beverage at the right time.

Big Rudy, faithful first mate and partner-in-crime, returned from vacation Monday only to fall victim to a bout of the post-trip blues… or perhaps some unsavory seafood. Either way, Team Jo-Jo’s engines were quiet this week.

But then the tide shifted 🌊…

On the horizon came a call from Big Rudy:

“I’m feeling better, Pack… Thursday’s looking juicy!”

Hope sparked. Tackle boxes were cracked open. Bay Flat Jr was whispering from her slip, eager to glide.

BUT WAIT—Doc calls!Oneofthepack’s unscheduled, unavoidable, and unwelcome doctor appointment crashed the party like a fog bank on a red-hot bite.

🎭 “Plans changed again,” as the logbooks will show. But Team Jo-Jo never quits—they adapt.

🗓️ New Plan:Friday (6-6-25), lines in early, trolling Lake P’s trestles with surgical precision, targeting those low-slung, mid-column Silverwonders. Conditions look promising (wind, tide, and clarity gods permitting), and the duo plans to return with stories, stats, and hopefully a full fish box.

🧭Gear on Deck:

• Bay Flat Jr tuned and trimmed.

• Matrix Shad in Holy Joely, Tigerbait, and Shrimp Creole

• Garlic spray and paddle tails locked and loaded.

• Drift plan mapped: north to south, bumping structure edges.

Stay tuned… If the Silverwonders are feeling frisky, Team Jo-Jo might be filing a “Victory Report” with pics, tales, and just maybe a story about the one that almost broke the net.

SIGNS:                            

·         Once aging me fish at table, contributed .40 %  of “C note to cause

·         Tuesday-Thursday a mix of this  that all of which kept me off water

·         Good night sleep

·         Up at 4:30 for our 5:30 meet up at The Pointe

·         Yamaha Nightmare Machine took one pull to start, got to love it

·         Off to Hwy 11 bridge to start our Lake P trolling day

CONDITIONS:

·          Perfect

·         Wind, S. 4-6, S.S.W. 8-9, W.S.W. 6-8 mph.

·         Water status / conditions: ripples, slight chops, nice it be

·         Sky, sunny & clear

·         Temp, mild, warm, hot

·         Water level, down 4-6”

·         Water Temp , 84.9 F

·         Salinity,  1

·         Specific Conductance  1950

·         Pressure,  30.03 R

·         Water clarity on a scale of 1-7, 4 plus a little dirty

·         Mississippi gauge: 12.11’

·         Caernarvon Outfall:        648     ft3/s

·         Tide, tail end of a falling tide, star of a rising tide nice it be

·         Peak tide, 12:47 H .59’

·         Peak tide, 23:44 L 0.07’

·         Major Feed Time: 02:39 / 15:06

·         Minor feed time:  02:18 / 15:36

·         Tidal Coefficient:   55

·         Plenty of mullets in water hundreds of them

·         Lost of minnows 1,00 of them.

·         Plenty of mullet in water 100’s of them

·         Plenty minnows in water 1,000 of them

·         Fish Activity

·              Average Activity   

·         Boats out and about 6-8, word out trestles off

·      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.

·         Get Big Rudy & Oneofthepack back on water

·         Practice our Lake P troll technique / presentation

·         Bring home dinner for petite Yana

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

1 WIND AT YOUR BACK: (Wind not a factor we be trolling, helped slow us down some, did not have to leave out as much line to get close to bottom)

2 MOVING WATER: (This criterion was our challenge of the day, tail end of falling and start of rising, but not much current / strength, moving very slowly.)

3 WATER CALRITY: (This criterion too was a little challenge, it had a sandy look to eat, once tide came in whole lake got a little dirty too)

4 HOLDING FISH:  (South of mile maker 174, 100 yards pass steel pilings west side of trestles, ½ block both directions, we just kept trolling turning around and going back to do it over , and over again, Silverwonder where on, on, on, but it stopped as fast as it started)

5 PATIENCES: (Dropped down 6:05, 6:10 Big Rudy pulling one in, bites where on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on from 6:50 to about 7:20 it was a slow crawl all day stopped fishing around 10:20)

6 SKILL: (Lake P troll technique / presentation .)

7 LUCKS: (Lived too fish another day)

·      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)……………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 ……..DID NOT TRY

·         Lake P Troll (LPT)…………….All fish caught this technique!!

·         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 :  

§  3/8 oz. jig head :    

§  Tandem Rig:           

·         Matrix Shad Lemon Drop, matched up with 3/4 oz. round lead head w/ 2 trailers, ……All fish caught this rig!!!

·         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:

Started out Hwy 11 bridge but was not feeling it, moved over to west side of trestles, trolled from mile marker 174 out too 175, then moved back to Hwy 11 bridge, slow it be, stopped fishing around 10:20 AM.

OUR REWARDS:

·         Lived too fish another day.

·         (10) NMR Silverwonders

§  Big Rudy caught a double.

§  Oneofthepack had a double but lost one.

·         (1) Whitewonder

·         (5) Flatwonder

·         (2) Hardheads

·         (1) Coax cable best fight of the day as Big Rudy brough in the  in animated object

·         (8) hang ups, lost 2 Lake p troll rigs

·         Me got me snickers bar, thanks Big Rudy me needed that.

·         Being on the water with one of the best fisherpersons me know, that be Big Rudy

·         Lessons learned:

§  Hard to make plans with vacation time & doctor appointments.

§  My first mates are scarce.

§  Water clarity is not to good.

§  Water clarity was better north of mile marker 174.

§  Feed time was 6:50 to 7:20 in that time limit 80% of fish caught, then it shutdown, fished still 10:10 bites died came in.

§  Early, early bites

§  Coax cable puts up a good fight.

§  Hwy 11 actions dropped off.

§  Flounder action dropping off!

§  I have some questions about Hwy 11 bridge repairs, see pictures.

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

FISHERPERSON OF THE DAY:

Big Rudy nominated the Whitewonder division, caught the biggest flounder, edged me out in flounders, caught double of NMR Silverwonders fought the coax cable well, managed a some Silverwonders, it was a close call.

Oneofthepack corner the hardhead category, edge out in Silverwonders, missed double, caught me share of flounders, caught more hang ups, lost more rigs, it was a close all.

Me think we have a tie today; we both got the honors for today.

SUGGESTIONS:

Suggestion for the Next Trestle Run:

Get an early, early start—you want to be in your spot before daylight. Set up on the west side of the trestles, about 80–100 yards south of the steel pilings just past mile marker 174.

That’s where the big NMR’s were stacked up. We just kept trolling and catching at that one location. We'd troll past it, turn around, and go back over it again and again—same results every time.

There was another boat on the east side, and they were doing the same thing—reeling them in one after another.

But take note: it was all over by 7:20 AM. After that, it completely shut down. So if you're going, get there early and be ready to fish in the dark.

PONDER OF THE DAY:

“Great catching moments aren’t made by luck — they’re built on the right foundation.”

Q&A:

When not asked to go fishing , how do you handle rejection? 

TEAM JO-JO’S future stratagem:

Nothing planned, but do plan to change that soon, until then:

Good Fishing

Team Jo-Jo & Oneofthepack

釣り先生

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