Last week I read a report on here that there was a green water sighting in Vermilion Bay so I decided to see for myself. Surprisingly most of the Southwest section of the bay was what I consider fishable as far a clarity, but was fresh as a bottle of Aquafina. Fished Wednesday with a friend but a mechanical issue cut the trip short. We managed one red. But that green water had me curious so I went out on Thursday solo and headed to Tette Butte to see if I could maybe put a few trout in the box. The only issue was the huge front that was charging in from offshore. I knew with the pressure dropping hard that if there were any trout to be caught, that would be the time to catch them. Launched about 45 minutes before sunrise and found the bay dead slick. Hit the entrance to the pass at civil twilight and was in the gulf for daybreak. To save a little time I ran the bank instead of looping around Caldwell and for once managed to not hear my prop go into the reef. I was probably opened up for 3/4 of a mile when I saw them, and I got excited. Birds, about a mile or so off the bank. Not the little lying bastards, the good ones, there were a lot of them and they were going ape$hit. It took me what felt like 30 minutes to get into position. I am comfortable running the bank to Tete Butte but as soon as I am out of my breadcrumbs I start to hyperventilate. The tide was kicking and I was scared it was going to blow me right past them. My ipilot is on the fritz, it kicks on at max speed as soon as I deploy it but will still steer. I put a foot switch so I can start and stop it but its basically a weed-eater on the bow of my boat. I dropped my grapple anchor and a drift anchor to slow me down and headed towards them. My first cast under the flock resulted in me flipping two 10" sand trout into the boat. But this is Vermilion Bay, or close to it, in March and a trout is a trout. I proceed to put about 25 fish on the floor of my boat, two at a time for the next 15 minutes half of them keeper specks, with a few throw backs. Right about the time the birds quit working a bolt of lightning hit the water close enough for me to check myself and the Sirius marine weather alarm began to lose its mind. I left the fish on the floor and didn't let off the throttle until I was under the boat shed at the Redfish Point Game warden camp. Where I sat until 3pm waiting for the lightning to chill. I hate the hardtop on my boat most of the time but was more than happy to have it that day.
Fast forward one week to yesterday and Wednesday. Figured the weather had settled enough for the fish to start acting right so I gave it another go. Headed out with a friend to find some more of that green water and possibly make it to Tette Butte this time. Got to Tette Butte as the falling tide was turning around and had about 30 minutes of good green water until the bay discharge started rolling in. Didn't get a bite on the main reef so I trolled over to the smaller one and caught a solid 18" speck on a Glow/Chart Wedge Tail. As the water murked up a little I could see the curtain coming down so I went to the VBay workhorse bait, a Black/Chart Matrix Vortex. I think they call it Spartacus or something goofy like that. And on my first cast wham. Solid 4 lb fish. I was stoked. My buddy jumped on the front of the boat to cast in same spot with a softdine and got it stuck in the reef. He straightened out a couple of hooks on the one of the trebles but managed to pop it out. As soon as it freed, I looked up to see him setting the hook and his pole doubles over. Look out to see what looked like a 30" fish come completely out the water and spit the Softdine right back at us. I guess thats why people who are way more patient than me rig shock leaders to braid. But the 2 straightened treble hooks probably didn't help either. Both fish were holding in what I am guessing is about a foot of water. And we proceed to tear our rotate cuffs casting for the next hour until the water got down right nasty and we gave up. Ran to fish the rocks at Chenier Au Tigre and picked up a few more. Worked our way back to the pass and banged out a limit. Found the Bulls reeking havoc on Caldwell and played catch and release until we got sick of it. Was hopping to get into some trout but all in all it was a solid day on the water.
Fished yesterday knowing the wind was going to pick up a little but a little turned out to be a lot. So outside turned into inside pretty quick. Fished sunup to about 3 and managed 4 reds but it was a battle to find shelter from the wind and water decent enough for them to hear my spinner or chatter bait. I found this mullet jell that I have been using. I can't really say if its working or not because I think I hit every fish I caught on the nose.
I decided to forgo the wind today and troll salty cajun long enough to be late to a crawfish boil that I really don't want to go to. The bay was so churned up yesterday, I wouldn't want to waste the gas trying to find fishable water. It's going to be like this until June or July and then it will be so hot wind will be a gift. Anyway, hope you guys fishing VBay and Beyond have some luck out there. I'm convinced fishing out there makes the people who do it regularly better than average. People can trash the fishery all they want but there are fish out there. If you're persistent, patience, and have enough gas, they can be found. You can't find a guide to "teach" you how to fish, you just got to nut up and do it. Good luck.
04-03-2015, 01:26 PM
V Bay and Beyond: Caught a Few, Missed a Few, Burned Some Gas
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