Marsh island -what not to do
 

Went to one of the lakes in Marsh island. The tide was very flat and the water was muddy. When I got in the lake, the wind was pushing against the left bank. Got tired fighting the wind, so let the boat just drift up against the bank. I was kind of inthe middle of the grass. As I'm fishing, not more than 1 foot from the boat, I look down, and there's a red that weighed at least 25-30 pounds. I had just reeled in my fresh shrimp, and only had the shell left. I dipped the shell in front of the red a few times, and he gradually moved away with it. When I set the hook, he burned up about 30 feet of line in about 10 seconds. Pretty exciting. I guess I got a little too excited and set the hook and unfortunately broke the line. But it was fun. The interesting thing is when I was watching this red who was actually feeding, I could see how he feds. He almost kind of flounders very, very slowly to the left and right I guess cause thats the way they feed. He almost looked lothargic.
After catching the red, I noticed the boat was kind of stuck against the mud and the grass so I was able to push it off with my push pole, with some effort, from the bank.
Anyway, I thought the technique of letting my boat drift against the bank and fish was a good one, but I was in for a surprise.
I moved on to the next fishing spot and let the boat drift against the bank, and fished the grass for a while, then decided to move on. I pulled out the push pole and was not able to budge the boat. The waves had wedged my 2000 pound boat up on the soft mud. I tried to get out with my troll motor (80lbs)...no good. I started my big motor. and the alarm went off cause the water was too shallow. I tried the push pole again, then realized, non of this is going to work.. Not one person was in the lake. Finally, I used the push pole to see how deep the water was and found it was maybe a foot, so I stepped out on the mud, which had that rough grass on the top. I used the grass for a footing, got to the back of the boat in the water and pushed and rocked the boat to unwedge it from the mud. Finally the boat started to rock, the waves kicked in a little to help it rock more and after about 15 minutes of pushing I was free.
Unfortunately, the alarm still went off on my big motor, which I shut as soon as the alarm went on, while testing to see if alarm would go on. I finally realized, I had to wait for it to really cool off and I noted that the water inlet had some grass stuck in it. Once I cleared that, the motor started w/ no alarm going off.
What an exciting day.

Been there done that....marsh island can be your best friend or your worse nightmare. I love fishing out there,if you go deep inside you will have the area all to yourself.

you got that right. been at a lot of the spots in marsh island and a lot of times will see maybe 1 boat

Yep....the only bad thing is you pass up alot of good fishing in the bay. But you have to dodge the crowds. Been a while since I crossed,my boat isn't exactly made for rough water. Took too many beatings going out there.

I like Marsh Island but I've made way to many trips without catching anything. It's nice because it's close but all the conditions have to be right to catch there. I decided long ago I'd rather drive a little way's farther and catch fish than beat the crap out of myself and maybe catch something. I still make a few trips there but all the conditions have to be right before I do. Glad to hear you had a good time.

Sounds like a rough day, did you at least come back with some fish?

Everyday is a new adventure
Sometimes if you can just get safely home you can call it a good day

Was very happy to get home safely.. Only caught a few reds.

Always something different every time I go on a fishing adventure. It's a continuous learning experience. Glad you got un-stuck!

It was an adventure and a learning experience. I will never, ever do that again.

So your probably like a friend of mine who told to me one day, "1 trip to big lake is equal to 5 at vermillion bay"

I guess so. I usually fish Leeville to GI. I also fish Dularge/Dulac/Cocodrie but not as much. I always do well in Leeville. A slow day over there is usually better than a good day at Marsh Island. I have had good days outta Burns Point and at the Island but it's all Reds with a few trout here and there and maybe a flounder or 2 but the river has to be low and the conditions have to be perfect. In Leeville I don't need to make long boat runs unless I want, lots of options for weather conditions and bait is always avaliable. I always catch there.

Awesome story1 We do the same thing this time of year. You can see one waking and chunk a bait right over the top of them and they will hit. One day we were in water that was too shallow with the trolling motor....I had the trolling motor full blast frothing water and mud. Well, here comes this wake, right up to the friggin trolling motor. Well, I put a live mullet in front of his face. Didn't even have to pay out line. He eats it and sits right there. I set the hook and Pop! Line breaks. We keep frothing and here comes another one. My buddy gets the red to eat and Pop line breaks......We figured it out later. When the line is that close to the bank there is zero stretch to it. It will pop every time. We corrected by lightly setting the hook, or waiting for the fish to swim off a little before setting the hook.

Another thing. Pretty much all tidal water flats have the same soft clay mud you are talking about. Find the channel, which is always hard bottom and stay in it. You can get a lighter aluminum tunnel hull or flats boat that draft less water and that you will be able to get up on plane in shallow water....It is scary getting a big boat stuck on a flat. There is almost no getting it off.

We stuck my flats boat in about an inch of water one time. I made a big time boo boo and by the time I had realized what happened we were on a flat. I tried to turn the boat and came to a nice skidding halt on a mud flat. Me and my buddy had to anchor our arms off of the transom like the motor and kick with our feet to get the boat off. That whipped my butt. I slept that night.

I agree with most everyone in that sometimes you gotta just jump in and do it. I find generally it's easier to get things going by working the front of the boat loose first. That pushing it from the back when it's stuck is just good for a heat stroke.

Oyster lake I presume.

I only go shallow, with my baypro 21, and it is light as bayboats go, when the tide is rising. I try to also go into the wind, so it can help me go back if I start getting stuck. Getting stuck is the one of the reasons I speck fish most of the time. lol I have an idea for an invention that would get you unstuck pretty easily without getting out of the boat. People I have told about it said the market isn't large enough. I bet you would have paid top dollar for it though. ;)

I've been wanting to try there. Can you tell me where to launch and any other tips you might have?

Going into the wind side of the banks is a good idea. Forgot to mention, I did try one more method to get unstuck which I thought was a pretty good idea and although it didn't work, it may work in case this happens to one of you guys. Simply throw out the anchor where you know the water is deep and pull yourself (in the boat) to the anchor. Only problem was, in my case, the mud was too soft too get a good enough grip in the mud. Anyway, it might be worth a shot trying this method in case this happens to you. It did work for a buddy of mine, when the tide dropped fast on him, although you get a pretty good workout.

I would have paid more than top dollar. I even thought of jamming my push pole, which is a 2 inch pvc pipe in the mud in front of the boat, and using a 'come a long' to pull my boat to the pvc, but I didn't have the 'come a long'.

I have spent MUCH time in Marsh Island. The other thing to watch for is an outgoing tide..which can be your friend or enemy. You can get to a spot and the water is deep enough to float the boat and if you stay there too long during a strong outgoing tide you can find yourself in the same situation you were in. Glad it worked out..

Keep em tight!!

Think i'l try leevile