Wind / Trout / Lake P

TEAM JO-JO:

Spontaneous Mid-Week Lake P Run – 4-16-25

I had a doctor’s appointment this morning (Wednesday), got out around 8:50 AM. On my way out, I texted Big Ron:“You want to go make a trip to Lake P?”His response: “Yessum!”

Honestly, I didn’t think I’d get the opportunity to fish today, but everything lined up just right. I mentioned to Big Ron that when I crossed Lake P heading to the doc, the lake looked pretty good—calm waters and only about 7 boats out there. Told him I’d give him a call on the way back to give a final wind report.

Well… by the time I hit the return trip, the wind had picked up a good bit—12–14 mph from the E.N.E. with some healthy chop rolling across the water. Despite that, we stuck to our motto:“You got to go to know.”

We decided to go for it, launched the Bay Flat Jr, and pointed the bow toward the trestles for a mid-day mission.

No doubt—it was rough. Choppy going out with steady 2–3-foot rollers most of the day, but we took it head-on. It was a mutual agreement, and in the end, we were both glad we made the call.

Some days, it’s not just about the fish—it’s about the journey, the water, and good company. This one checked all the boxes.

SIGNS:                            

·         Me not fish at card game up 1.8  “C” notes

·         Good night sleep.

·         Up at 5:45 AM for trip to VA

·         Got out early from doctor.

·         Lake P looking good going and coming from doctor.

·         Loaded up Bay Flat Jr quickly.

·         Big Ron waiting for me at The Pointe

·         Backed the Bay Flat Jr down, Yamaha Nightmare Machine took fifteen pulls to start this nota good sign for sure.

·         Off into Lake P choppy waters to trestles to start our fun day of fishing.

CONDITIONS:

·          Perfect

·         Wind, N.3. 19-22, E.N.E. 16-20, E. 8-10 mph

·         Water status / conditions: slight to heavy chop with 2-3’ rollers

·         Sky, sunny & clear

·         Temp, mild

·         Water level, down 8-10”

·         Water Temp , 70.5F

·         Salinity,  1.5

·         Specific Conductance  2960

·         Pressure,  30.16 F

·         Water clarity on a scale of 1-7,

·         Mississippi gauge: 12.73’

·         Caernarvon Outfall:        698     ft3/s

·         Tide, rising hard.

·         Peak tide,  03:29  L  .23’

·         Peak tide,  16:03  H  1.02’

·         Major Feed Time: 22:10 / none

·         Minor feed time:  07:52 / 22:40

·         Tidal Coefficient:   67

·         Fish Activity

·         None Low Activity   

·         Boats out and about, 20-30 

·      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.

·         “Go to know” f wind to high come back in and Big Ron teach me more on editing video.

·         Challenge all that mother had to throw at us and The Bay Flat Jr

·         Try out me new trolling reel, me love it.

·         Bring home some fish for petite Gloria, the peanut & jelly sandwich maker.

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

1 WIND AT YOUR BACK: (This criterion was a challenge as it kept blowing us away from trestles, and we where taken in water at times.)

2 MOVING WATER: (Tide rising, current was very strong, missed with wind had our trolling rigs a good ½ block away from trestles, not good this be)

3 WATER CALRITY: (A 5 plus looking really good it be)

4 HOLDING FISH:  (Mile markers 174, ¾ mile back to north draw bridge, just kept trolling up and down west side of trestles they were feeding like me never seen in a long time.)

5 PATIENCES: (Took us a little while to find them wind had us guesting where to go, got on water at 11:00 Am by noon we were on them, stopped fishing around 2:40, left them biting)

6 SKILL: (Lake P Troll, control of Bay Flat Jr, angel of boat position to trestles, perseverance)

7 LUCKS: (Bay Flat Jr & Yamaha Nightmare Machine made it happen for us)

·      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 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 lure / 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:

Lake P trestles mile marker 174

OUR REWARDS:

·         Lived too fish another day.

·         (52) NMR Silverwonders

·         (1) beauty missed at boat, Big Ron almost had a heart attack

·         (1) Me missed a 5# plus monster, not by trying to flip her in, but by the pole me was using, the 3 eye of pole keeps cutting me line, just as me lifted the BIG lady, it cut line, me was surprised pole did not get broken in two and thrown overboard

·         (5) Flounders

·         (1) Channel Mullet

·         (3) train rocks

·         (1) Clam shell

·         (1) Hang up

·         Lost 3 trolling rigs.

·         The best peanut & jelly sandwich me ever had, thanks to petite Gloria, me needed that today we had lots of action to wear us down.

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

·         Lessons learned:

§  Big Ron’s video camera has 2 options internal video space & SD card space, he had it on internal, and ran out of space, so half the trip did not get captured on video.

§  Bay Flat Jr held up nice in the very choppy water with 2–3-foot rollers.

§  Need to get the bilge pump fixed, we had a lot of water inside Bay Flat Jr

§  Water was too rough to get where the Big girls were located, we had to adjust & improvise, fished trestles on west side to use trestles for some protection form wind.

§  Wind and tide / current had our trolling rig ½ block west of trestles, but mother nature must have known where they were at cause we fell right on top of them.

§  Team Jo-Jo motto “You got to go to know” proved its weight in gold today.

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

FISHERPERSON OF THE DAY:

We Big Ron & Oneofthepack agreed who ever caught trout # 30 would be fisherperson of the day, Big Ron still counting.

SUGGESTIONS:

Include Lake P Troll in you inventory of techniques & presentations., see Gus at Gus Nets & Tackle, he has ALL the components needed to rig a Lek P Troll rig. He even has a sample one behind his counter for you to review.

PONDER OF THE DAY:

"Fish die belly upward and rise to the surface. It's their way of falling."

Q&A:

What’s the best fishing advice that you’ve ever received?

TEAM JO-JO’S future stratagem:

Back at that in AM, hope we can catch a few, until then:

Good Fishing

Team Jo-Jo & Oneofthepack

釣り先生

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