Lake P Troll vs. Silverwonders in Lake P

TEAM JO-JO:

Big Rudy & Oneofthepack – Monday Mission Back to the Trestles

After our Thursday run down to Delacroix, with all its winding bayous and marsh grass mazes, both Big Rudy and I couldn’t shake the pull of home waters. Truth be told, while our rods were casting in Delacroix, our hearts, souls, and minds were drifting along the mighty Lake Pontchartrain trestles. That sacred stretch of railroad, where so many memories and Silverwonders have been made, was calling us back—and we heard it loud and clear.

So it came as no surprise when Big Rudy gave me a ring on Sunday. His first words were short and sweet:“How’s your week lookin’?”Without hesitation, I let him know that Monday and Tuesday were open and ready for action.

He hesitated a second. “Monday’s showing rain,” he said.I said, “I think we can make it.”To which he replied, “We’ve fished in the rain before.”

And just like that, the decision was made. No weather app, no radar, no doubt—just two seasoned anglers answering the call of the trestles. The plan was set. Lines would be wet before first light.

We’re meeting at The Pointe at 5:00 AM sharp—coffee in hand, Bay Flat Sr. loaded, and Lake P calling.

Rain or shine, the Silverwonders don’t stand a chance.

SIGNS:                            

·         Woke up at 3 AM for our 5 AM meet up at The Pointe

·         Prepped the Bay Flat Jr

·         Open garage door, it is pouring down raining thunder & lighting all over the place, called Big Rudy told him I will be late I am gong to wait for rain to let yp

·         Made a run for some go juice, Yamaha Nightmare Machine gets mad when we run out and refuse to run.

·         Big Rudy at launch waiting, says me what you think about this wind, “You got to go to know” was his response

·         Off we got to trestles

·         Next thing I know we in 2–3-foot rollers heading out to the trestles thought sure he would have said let’s turn around, but no onward we go.

·         Me had very low expectations on catching, intel from Sunday Team Jo-Jo crew caught one for the morning.

·         Card game tonight hope me have some luck, might have used it all up today.

CONDITIONS:

·          Perfect

·         Wind, S.S.W. 8-10 mph

·         Water status / conditions: slight to heavy Chope with a 3-4 roller now and then

·         Sky, cloudy, overcast sun came our around 9

·         Temp, mild , warm, warmest, hot

·         Water level, down 6-8”

·         Water Temp , 86.9 F

·         Salinity,    3.1

·         Specific Conductance 5670 

·         Pressure,  30.06 R

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

·         Mississippi gauge: 11.66’

·         Caernarvon Outfall:        671     ft3/s

·         Tide, falling all morning

·         Peak tide, 04:16  L  0.07’

·         Peak tide,  17:26  H  0.36’

·         Major Feed Time: 04:22 / 16:36

·         Minor feed time:  10:45 / 23:27

·         Tidal Coefficient:   61

·         Fish Activity

·          Average Activity   

·         Boats out and about,  12 boats

·      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.

·         Practice our Lake P Troll technique / presentation

·         Challenge Mother Nature re: winds, rain, tides, fishing & catching.

·         See if the NMR’s wanted to play

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

1 WIND AT YOUR BACK: (This criterion was a challenge today, high winds, high waves kept us on our toes, but it did not impact the catching of the day at all)

2 MOVING WATER: (Falling tide early AM fell all morning, not much current, strength wise it was slow)

3 WATER CALRITY: (A 6 plus looked good, clean, clear, and green looking , perfect it be.

4 HOLDING FISH:  (Trestles west side, south of mile marker 174)

5 PATIENCES: (Dropped our rigs st 5:59, 6:01 got me first strike, a double hook up, lost both right at boat knot came untied??????, Big Rudy hooked, was none stop  action till around 8:15 then it stopped, don’t know why but it was over.)

6 SKILL: (Lake P troll technique / presentation)

7 LUCKS: (We survived the waves, did not get wet, and we had an overcast to protect us from the sun, also weather minimize how many boats came out)

·      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)…………….Caught all fish with this technique / presentation.

·         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 with this rig / lures.

·         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:

Lake Pontchartrain trestles, west side south of mile marker 174.

OUR REWARDS:

·         Lived too fish another day.

·         (17) Silverwonders

·         (2) Flounders

·         (1) Rock

·         (1) Metal pie covered

·         Oneofthepack action:

o   Missed (2) Doubles at boat.

o   Missed 3 Singles at boat.

o   (3) Popped lines, and/or knots came untied

o   Missed (4) strikes.

·         Big Rudy action

o   Missed double at boat.

o   Missed 4 singles at boat.

o   Missed (7) strikes.

o   (2) Popped line and / or knots came untiled

o   (1) Snap pulled out and lest fish go

·         We lost more fish then we caught, we should have had 30 plus Silverwonders for 8 AM.

·         Mother Nature gave us the opportunity to catch all, but we failed her.

·         Got me sinkers bar.

·         Being on the water with the best fisherperson me know that be Big Rudy

·         Lessons learned:

§  Bay Flat Jr & Yamaha Nightmare Machine can handle 3 foot  plus waves.

§  Bilge pump works, and we needed it today.

§  Early bird gets the worm, 10 seconds to hook into a strike, double of which I lost at boat, from 5:59 to 8:15 it was a crazy feed time, action, action, action we had.

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

FISHERPERSON OF THE DAY:

Oneofthepack lost more fish then he caught, but me did mane to put some NMR’s in the box, but effort was short for honors today.

Big Rudy got on a roll, (what’s new) he dominated Flounder, rock, metal pipe, caught biggest Flounder, biggest Silverwonder, lost the biggest Silverwonders of the day at the boat, had (2) double hooks ups, he missed more Silverwonders then he caught, but Big Rudy’s efforts captured the honors today for sure.

SUGGESTIONS:

Check your line to make sure it is good, check  / test your knots to  make sure they will hold, I di ll this and I am sure Big Rudy did too. But when you lipping a double / pair  of 16:” Silverwonders that will be a true test of your line & knots, as for today we failed both line & knots.

PONDER OF THE DAY:

"The best way to catch a fish is to let him think he's escaping."

Q&A:

Any thoughts why these fish turned off, I mean flat stop biting, (5:59 to 8:15 feeding frenzy) we did not notice any changes that could have affected bites. Let us know your thoughts / comments.

TEAM JO-JO’S future stratagem:

Nothing plan, but will bet Big Rudy & Oneofthepack back at them in AM, until then:

Good Fishing

Team Jo-Jo & Oneofthepack

釣り先生

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