MRGO journey trolling along rocks
- Stanley Fink
- Feb 9
- 6 min read
TEAM JO-JO:
Oneofthepack Back in Action!
Still battling a lingering cold, but the call of the water was just too strong to ignore—Oneofthepack just couldn’t take it any longer. The cure? A long-overdue trip back to the MRGO, where the BIG girls might be waiting.
For this adventure on Friday, 2-7-25, Indian Ron would be riding shotgun as first mate, both of us locked in with one goal—troll and fish along the rocks with our trusty jerk baits, the ultimate temptation for the Silverwonders and Redwarriors lurking below.
The plan was simple: work the structure, finesse the baits, and see if the BIG girls were feeling feisty enough to come out and play. And if luck was on our side, maybe a few of them would even join us for dinner.
The water was calling, the rods were rigged, and the mission was clear—it was time to shake off the cold and get back to doing what we do best!
SIGNS:
· TGIF trip, this used to mean something to me before me retired, now it is just another day in a long week of TGIAD.
· Just getting over cold / flue
· Good night’s sleep
· Up at 4:45 for our 6 AM meet-up at Gulf Outlet Mariner.
· Fog had me change me routine, me always, (me have many memories along that Hwy over the 75 years me been using it , hunting, fishing, driving, etc.) take Hwy 11, but this morning me ran I-10 & 510 to Chalmette.
· Me first to show up, Indian Ron was right on time.
· Loaded up his gear, he backed the Bay Flat Jr down in water.
· Yamaha Nightmare Machine took only one pull to get her started, now that is a sign.
· Fog was kind of bad on the water, ran track on GPS to get us out to MRGO.
·
CONDITIONS:
· Perfect
· Wind, calm, N.N.W. 2-4, N.N.E. 6-7, E.N.E. 3-4 mph.
· Water status / conditions: calm, slight shop
· Sky, fog, overcast, sun came out and it got warm.
· Temp, cool, warm, hot.
· Water level, down 3-4 feet based on water marks on rocks.
· Water Temp , 62.6 F
· Salinity, 6.2
· Specific Conductance 10900
· Pressure, 30.19 F
· Water clarity on a scale of 1-7, 6 plus
· Mississippi gauge: 4.2’
· Caernarvon Outfall: 1560 ft3/s
· Tide, falling all day.
· Peak tide, 09:00 H 1’74’
· Peak tide, no L tide
· Major Feed Time: 11:53 – no other
· Minor feed time: 02:20 / 00:23
· Tidal Coefficient: 45 reals low
· Not much bait in water
· No birds diving
· Fish Activity
· Low Activity
· Boats out and about, 15-20
· 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.
· Test me in fog operating conditions!
· Get Indian Ron back out aboard the Bay Flat Jr
· See if the big girls are still around.
· See is jerk baits where baits of the day!
· Bring some fish for Petiet Gloria
· Find a spot # with the seven fundamentals/criteria of catching:
1 WIND AT YOUR BACK: (Not much wind to impact our ability to fish & catch, helped move us along the rocks in MRGO)
2 MOVING WATER: (Falling but did not notice along rocks, not that much movement)
3 WATER CALRITY: (6 plus a little sandy looking, very fishable but question catchable side of it)
4 HOLDING FISH: (MRGO)
5 PATIENCES: (Took a good while to catch one, after that it was a real slow day, not much action at all, needed a lot of patients for this day)
6 SKILL: (Jerk bait technique)
7 LUCKS: (Our ability to make it to the fishing grounds through the fog)
· Oneofthepack’s repertoire of Techniques/presentations:
· Anchor up cast & retrieve slowly along the bottom, with a twitch every now and then, tight lining…………………………………Jerk bait (1) NMR Silverwonder
· Drift with the wind cast & retrieve (DWWC&R)……………Trolling motor along rocks with jerk baits, (6) Silverwonders.
· Oak River Troll (ORT)……………….Did not try.
· Reverse Oak River Troll (RORT) ………..DID NOT TRY
· Oak River Skim (ORS) ……………DID NOT TRY
· Cork ……..Nothing
· Lake P Troll (LPT)…………….Nothing
· Drop shot: Nothing.
· 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……………Nothing.
· 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:
§ 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, ……Nothing.
· Tandem rig, ¼ oz. round H&H jig head with gold hook, matched up with Matrix Shad Lemon Drop …..Did not try.
· Jerk baits (7) Silverwonders & 1 Redwarrior
AREAS / SPOTS / NUMBERS ON THE MAP FISHED:
MRGO 7t, flats, flats under power lines in ICW, back to rocks, called it a day around 11:30
OUR REWARDS:
· Lived to fish another day.
· (7) Silverwonders, 4 Miniwonders
· Missed one reeling in,
· Missed (4) Strikes
· (1) Redwarrior
· (3) Bottoms (1) popped line
· Great peanut butter & Jelly sandwich, thanks Petite Gloria loved it.
· Made stop, (met with CCA group) at the point got some BBQ shrimp & macaroni
· Experience running in fog.
· Big girls were scarce and sow biting today.
· Lessons learned:
o Two that I learned the hard way but thought me would share to help others not make the same mistakes.
§ (1) If you are standing or sitting on an ice chest and you do not feel you have sturdy support, you are an accident waiting to happen.
§ The top of the chest is nice and wide, the base of chest is a lot smaller, making it easy to turn over, be careful.
(2) Please buy a dry bag, (online) to keep your valuables in so they don’t get wet, seeing it happen a bunch of times.
* Big girls on strike
* Fog no fun to run in
* Jerk baits still good for catching
· Best fishing trip of my life, until the next one.
FISHERPERSON OF THE DAY:
Indian Ron was a little off this day, not his usual self, struggled to operate an antique trolling motor, (he used to remote control, GPS, and spot lock type) did dominate the Redwarriors division, caught a Silverwonder, brought the best peanut butter sandwich me had in a long time. All this activity led to an effort that fell a little short for the horrors today.
Oneofthepack was just Oneofthepack, led in the sandwich-eating category, caught (3) BIG NMR girls, and even managed to stay dry all day, for all this me got the honors for the day.
SUGGESTIONS:
The jerk bait & big girl affair along MRGO rocks is about to be over. Not sure why, but me think we will have to find another technique/presentation that may entice the NMRs to bite again, and maybe in a whole new area at that.
Time to move on to fishery smelling areas!
PONDER OF THE DAY:
"You know when they have a fishing show on TV? They catch the fish and then let it go. They don’t want to eat the fish. They just want to make it late for something.”
Q&A:
What do you think happens after fisherperson die?
TEAM JO-JO’S future stratagem:
Back at It in the A.M.!
No rest for the weekend warriors—Saturday morning, we hit the water again! This time, Big Rudy, the catching machine himself, will be aboard the Bay Flat Jr., ready to take on the elements and chase down the BIG girls once more.
With fog rolling in and Mother Nature always keeping us on our toes, it’s shaping up to be another test of skill, patience, and determination. But that’s never stopped us before! We’ll be out there at first light, rods in hand, scanning the waters, working our baits, and doing what Team Jo-Jo does best—finding fish!
Until then… tight lines and big dreams!
Good Fishing
Team Jo-Jo & Oneofthepack
釣り先生
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