Captain's Log Reports & Pictures

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Hopedale Marsh Report,

Today I left out of Hopedale under clear skies and cool weather. There must have been a million boats out on the water today. The tide was extremely high and the fishing was good. Using white shrimp Berkley Gulps under a clicking cork, I manage to bring in 21 specks and one redfish and was back at the launch a little after 10:00 am. I saw my share of kayakers in Hopedale Lagoon as the fish are all over the marsh.

Good fishin’,
Jerrylabella.com

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Saturday Mike and I headed out to Lake Amadee and upon arrival, the seagulls were dive bombing the area in hot pursuit of bait as the trout chased them to the surface. We used Berkley Gulps in New Penney 3 inch under clicking egg corks. We did have to throw back many undersized but had fun catching fish. There were many boats out today under overcast cold weather. Winds were a bit higher than the forecast but we fished most lee side areas. The tide was high all morning and we didn’t see it fall before leaving. We were back around noon with a small box of specks with one redfish.

Good fishin’,
Jerrylabella.com

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Saturday afternoon Dean, Henry and I left out of Venice Marina to night fish the spillway with lights but the river stage was up to 10 ft making it too murky so we changed plans and headed to SW Pass to fish a nearby rig in West Delta Block. We first tried both sides of the mouth of the river at the jetty but there was no tide and no redfish biting. We then headed to the nearby rig in West Bay and the white trout and Spanish mackerel were in an all out feeding blitz. We were boating trout after trout and with the mackerel on the feed, lines were severed often. Cut white trout worked best but we also brought fresh shrimp. The water in that area was clean and green. The weather was overcast with a light easterly breeze making fishing at night pleasant. When sunset came, the fishing lights were turned on and we had even more of a blast but it did not last all night and it slowed down to catching only catfish. We must have caught over 100 trout with a few mackerel and croaker thrown in. All aboard had blast and Henry plans making shark fin soup out the shark he caught.

Good fishin’,
Jerrylabella.com

Dean and henry show off the mess of fish they caught at SW Pass Venice

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Hopedale Marsh Trip

Today I decided to head out of Hopedale alone. The water was very high upon arrival and the day was hot and overcast. The inside marsh is teaming with specks, redfish and black drum, most of which are under sized. I got into a good bite early using white 3 inch Berkley Gulps and 1/8 oz. screw jig head under a clicking egg cork. I must have caught over 40 fish today and was able to keep 17 trout, one of which was a keeper red. Out a dozen reds I could manage to keep only one. I came in early around 11:00 am and it was very hot and the tide was still high.

Good fishin’,
Jerrylabella.com

[administrator]

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Hopedale Marsh Mixed Catch
Today David and I left out of Pip’s Place and headed to ¼ Pint of Fuel Lake and started catching redfish under Berkley Gulps and Clicking corks. We fished the grass line and some specks were also caught. After fishing for reds we noticed dive-bombing birds in a nearby lake and we headed for them. We caught specks some of which were under sized but did find a nice number of keepers. We ended the midday trip with drum, flounder, croaker and specks for a nice box of mixed fish. The day was overcast with a high tide and clean water.

Good fishin’,
Jerrylabella.com

[administrator]

Venice Spillway & South Pass Blast,

Saturday afternoon Glen, Ernie and I decided to fish Venice in one of the river spillways at night with the generator and lights. The evening was partly cloudy and the weather was favorable with light winds and a good tide movement and most of all the river stage was low and clean. Our first stop in the river produced nothing but we headed to South Pass at the mouth to try for redfish. The redfish were very hungry eating up our fresh shrimp presentations on bottom rigs and hookups were sometimes three at the time as we had to juggle for the landing net. Many of the redfish were in the bull-red size but we caught enough catch and release and left them biting leaving with 8 keeper size and sore arms and plenty broken tackle. Spanish mackerel were also among the frenzy and many redfish battles were the cause of loss sinkers as mackerel hammered our lead weights flashing through the clear water. Before sunset, we headed to our favorite spillway and set the lights and generator up. Fishing started slow and it was sporadic. We saw only one other boat which was about a 45 ft yacht that also setup housekeeping to night fish. We caught specks, white trout, croaker, redfish and released one 45 pound black drum. We ended the trip with a nice mess of mixed fish and look forward to another trip to Venice.

Good fishin’,
Jerrylabella.com

[administrator]

Hopedale Marsh Redfish Blitz,

Today Mike and I left out of Hopedale to fish the inside marsh areas behind Hopedale Lagoon, and the specks have moved inside. Most are under size but are very plentiful. The tide was on the high side but falling afternoon so we waited it out for the redfish to feed. We fished fresh shrimp, Berkley Gulps and live shrimp under clicking corks 2 ft down. When the redfish turned on, we had our hands full of battle. The weather was very clam with a slight taste of fall to the air. There were many boats out on the water today. We ended the day with a small mess of specks, white trout, drum and 8 redfish. We had a few throwback redfish and a boat load of fun. The marsh is literally swarming with under size specks and winter should yield a good crop of keeper-size trout.

Good fishin’,
Jerrylabella.com


Mike smiles with pleasure showing this nice redfish off

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Sunday Breton Sound Blast w/ The King,

Sunday Nolan, Ed, Clayton and I headed out with Capt. Frank Moore to fish a windy day in Breton Sound. We were armed with 400 live Campo shrimp and a boat load of fun. We fished several spots out in the Sound picking specks off here and there. As the day progressed, so did the trout bite and our last stop produced specs on almost every cast-fishing 2 ft. under a cork. We ran out of bait and at one point the trout were eating baked- off- the-deck dead shrimp threaded on a hook. Came in with a nice load of trout and had a blast the night before watching the Saints game after eating a steak dinner at Frank’s sky mansion.
Later that evening, Nolan and I decided to try fishing for some reds inside behind Hopedale Lagoon as he brought his own boat along for that trip. We stopped off and bought some live Campo shrimp and headed behind Hopedale Lagoon. First stop had no fish but we headed to another close-by spot and the fishing action was on. We were catching specks and Nolan landed 3 beautiful reds fishing off a grassy point with live shrimp and also Berkley Gulps under a cork. I can’t remember fishing almost a whole day. We came in with a nice mess of specs and reds in a little under 2 hours and left them biting. The day was very bright and breezy with a fall temp to the air.

Good fshin’,
jerrylabella.com

[administrator]

Bay Eloi & Hopdale Inside,

Today Glen and I left out of Hopedale to fish Bay Eloi but fishing was very slow on the high tide early morning, even fishing live shrimp. Plenty thunderstorm around today and we got rained on a few times. We found a half way decent trout bite inside behind Hopedale Lagoon before we got rained out on again and the fish bite stopped. We fished chartreuse sparkle beetles under a popping cork tipped with shrimp as well as live shrimp fished the same way but as soon as the bite started the rain shut it down and we headed in with a few fish around 10:30 am. Boats we observed fishing in the early AM caught little or nothing until after 11:00 am.

Good fishin’,
Jerrylabella.com

[administrator]

Hopedale Inside Trip,

Today Glen and I left out of the Breton Sound Marina with live and dead shrimp to fish Bay Eloi but upon arriving at Lake Eloi the winds were too high for the flatboat so we headed inside to fish. One spot we tried was in Bayou Loutre and we caught a few undersized specs and a few white trout. Thing weren’t too good there so we headed behind Hopedale Lagoon and found some nice sized hungry redfish nailing. They were obliging on live shrimp under a egg cork fished next to some grass beds. The weather was hot and there were threatening thunderstorms around us so we cut the trip short and had 7 nice redfish and one big sheepshead. We threw back some undersized redfish as well but the reds were hungry but we had enough of the heat and were back at the launch at 10:00 AM.

Good fishin’,
Jerrylabella.com/forums

Glen displays some nice sized fish caught in the lagoons behing Hopedale