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| Inshore Saltwater Fishing Discussion Discuss inshore fishing, tackle, and tactics here! |
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#1
08-22-2016, 06:43 PM
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First time in a boat at the jetties
I have a 20 foot Sea Fox I'm looking to fish out of at the Cameron Jetties, does anyone have any dos and don'ts for a first timer. The obvious is to stay off the rocks and watch for boats/ships bigger than me....haha. But is there something more to it?
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#2
08-22-2016, 07:19 PM
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well the obvious of course but those rocks spread out farther then you think and they love to eat anchors so be sure to stay well back 30ft or more if your going to drop anchor. also the ships swells get real big real fast and can push you 20 ft sometimes if lift you and drop you on a rock 2ft under you never saw until the swell dropped the water level as it passes.
just a few of the things that I learned over the years when fishing at any channels rock jetties anywhere
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#3
08-22-2016, 07:35 PM
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The current in the ship channel can be swift at times and it can be hard to anchor or hold position. We usually prefer to fish the outside because of the more moderate current. We pick the side downwind for less wave action. The two breaks are narrow, so you might prefer to go around the end to get outside. We go through the breaks, but my boat is narrow and I have lots of practice in that current.
We've got the bull reds mastered. If you're chasing those, ask for some tips.
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#4
08-22-2016, 08:02 PM
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Thanks guys. I am humble, I will take any tips I can get. I have lots of experience in a boat but in different conditions, throw any advice out there!
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#5
08-23-2016, 12:04 AM
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How to catch bull reds in the passes
Bull reds can be caught in the passes between Louisiana inshore waters and the Gulf of Mexico at any time of year either from a boat, from the jetties, or from bridges and piers. The keys are putting the right bait in the right spot on appropriate gear to land the fish. Bull reds are primarily bottom feeders, and they are more strongly dependent on scent than on vision, especially in Louisiana waters which tend to be more turbid and cloudy. Bull reds can be caught at any time of day in any tidal conditions. Many anglers prefer to fish for them at night. For safety reasons and because of our distaste for mosquitoes, we usually target them during the day. Before describing our techniques in detail, I think our success is not only based on good technique, but on God's blessing in answer to specific prayer to catch fish, have fun, and have safe travels to and from our fishing spots. The Right Bait You can catch redfish on lots of different baits, but we've found that fresh crab works the best most of the time, followed by frozen crab, and cut mullet. Croaker and sand trout from 6-13' long can also be very effective when the water is clearer, so after we put out a few lines soaking purchased baits on the bottom, we often throw out a shrimp under a cork or on the bottom to try and provide additional live bait options. Our side by side tests show that fresh cracked crab will outfish cut mullet by at least a factor of four most of the time. (12/15 edited to add: recent experience shows cut mullet works as well as crab in the winter.) We cut a whole medium market crab in half, inserting the hook into the body through a leg joint and take it out of the crab bottom shell (the white part). If catfish are tearing up the bait too quickly, a whole crab will last longer, and crab claws can also be effective. We use a Phillips screwdriver to make holes in the crab claw for easier insertion of the hook. Fresh caught sand trout and croaker are best used as soon as they are caught with a 6/0 to 11/0 hook through the back, behind the dorsal fin. They can be drifted behind the boat or cast out with a sinker to keep them closer to the bottom. The Right Spot We prefer spots outside of Calcasieu Pass and Belle Pass with a mud or sand bottom 10-14 feet; deep and inside of Caminada pass near shelves transitioning from the channel to broad flat areas. Spots inside of the Calcasieu and Belle Passes will also work, but it is important to either find spots where the big rocks do not dominate the bottom structure or to sense when the bait has reached the bottom and reel it back in a few feet so your bait is just off the bottom to reduce snags. The piers in Caminada pass are easiest to fish on an outgoing tide when the tide will take your bait away from the bridge. I prefer the east side pier. The pier at the Cameron jetties can be tough. Unless you get the good spot, on the down tide end of the pier, you've got to weight your bait and keep it on the bottom which will lead to a number of irrecoverable snags and lost gear. I prefer to walk out onto the jetties (be careful) or bank fish from a dirt bottomed spot just N of the boat ramp 1/2 mile or so N of the pier. If you are young and in great shape and can be careful, walking out onto the E jetty gives you the option of fishing both the channel side and the beach side. The Right Gear Bull reds can be caught on light gear and bass fishing gear, but the fights often take 45 minutes to an hour and there are a lot of snags that can end it quick in the passes. We prefer a minimum of 30 lb power pro and have gravitated toward 50 lb power pro on spinning rods and 80 lb power pro on level wind reels so we can horse these big fish away from structure as needed. Catching bull reds and the bull drum that you'll often hook into is not a finesse type of deal. Stout gear maximizes success and minimizes heartbreak, especially for less experienced anglers. Most 3000 level and above spinning reels will do the job if the drag can be reliably cranked up to 12-15 lbs and matched with a medium or heavier rod. Casting distance is usually not critical, so most 6-8 ft rods will do if they have the backbone to land the fish. Drag and line management require some care because 3000 size spinning reels usually only hold a bit more than 100 yards of 30-50 lb power pro, and if you start with most of the line already out, a big red can get close to spooling you in a hurry. Redfish have a lot more energy in the summer than in the cooler water months, and they can make several long runs after the first time they spook at the boat. A stronger drag (20+ lbs) can get them in the net quicker and also keep them away from structure. Relatively inexpensive ($30-$50) reels from Wal-Mart and Academy can do the job and will likely remain in service for a season or two if rinsed well in fresh water after each trip. However, if you plan on fishing a lot or hope for a reel to serve for many seasons, a higher end reel will stand up better to the strain of landing a lot of bull redfish and drum. We like Shimano Symmetres, Shimano Spheros, and Penn Battles. Fishing Louisiana since the late 1970s has also given us a lot of experience with rods. Medium, Medium Heavy, and Heavy Ugly Stiks handle the strain of big fish very well and give many years of service. We've eventually broken a few of them, but seldom before the 7 year warranty has expired. We like 7-8 ft rods with spinning reels, and 6 ft rods for the level wind reels. Our level wind reels are Daiwa 27 SCA Sealine line counters and Okuma Convectors spooled with several hundred yards of 80 lb power pro. These reels have served many purposes over the years trolling muskies in the midwest, walleye in the Great Lakes, trout in the mountain reservoirs of Colorado. Any level wind that can hold 300 yards of braid and with a stout drag will do. There is no need for the line counter, but it is nice to know how far the bait or fish is from the boat. In earlier years, we lost fish to just about every kind of equipment failure you can imagine. Broken line, broken leaders, broken snap swivels, straightened hooks, etc. Attention to detail is important on every critical component between an angler and a big bull redfish. Here's what we've settled on: 30, 50, or 80 lb power pro as described above An Spro or Billfisher snap swivel rated at 100-125 lbs An 80 lb monofilament leader composed of a 100 lb swivel (also Spro or Billfisher), a 3-5 ft section of 80 lb leader material, and a Gamakatsu Octopus 7/0 offset J hook All knots are uni knots Bigger hooks (up to 11/0) are available for fresh caught live bait, but the 7/0 is standard for crab and cut mullet. We've used Mustad and Eagle Claw hooks to good effect also. Hooks need to be offset, sharp, stout and relatively short shanked. We've had too many Eagle Claw snaps and swivels fail to use them any more. Circle hooks miss too many hook ups. Treble hooks are too thin and weak. Steel leaders can be used at night, in muddy water, or in deeper water. We've had most brands of steel leaders fail on occasion so we only use them with cut bait and live bait when we're hoping not to lose any sharks. All leaders should get checked for knicks before each trip. All knots get retied. That's three knots on each pole: the uni knot connecting the braid to the snap swivel, the uni knot connecting the swivel to the 80 lb mono, and the uni knot connecting the hook to the mono leader. In late fall and winter the big bulls are not often strong enough to break the weaker knots, but in spring and summer the big bulls are strong, and the knots are the weakest link connecting the angler to the fish. Retying every knot every trip was the biggest factor in boating nearly every fish. The braid is threaded through a 1-2 oz egg sinker and then tied to the snap swivel, which may be all the weight needed to hold the bottom in mild current conditions (outside the pass proper or during mild tidal action). We have an assortment of pyramid sinkers 1-6 oz to add above the leader (at the snap) if more weight is needed to hold or get close to the bottom. We also have 4 and 8 oz egg sinkers for those really stiff currents. When fishing in the strongest currents, the up current lines (closest to the anchor, front of the boat) need to have the most weight, so they are most directly down. The down current lines (back of the boat) have less weight, so they can be out 100 feet or more to achieve the desired separation. If everyone is paying attention, two more lines can be put out in the middle of the boat by selecting weights so that adequate separation between the three lines on each side of the boat is maintained. Fishing six lines requires three or more anglers who have done all this before and can keep them from getting tangled and manage things properly when a big fish hits. When the Fish Hits Depending on conditions, we often have 4-6 baits out at a time to help determine where the hot spot is and what bait is working best. We keep the drags loose when the baits are soaking to allow the bulls to run with very little resistance. When a fish starts to pull drag, everyone on the boat/pier/beach begins to count to seven out load: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 before an angler picks the rod and tightens the drag. This gives the fish a chance to fully commit and leads to a very high percentage of hook ups. Attempts to tighten the drag sooner or set the hook often pull the bait out of the bull's mouth and reduce the hook-up percentage. It is sometimes necessary to act a bit faster if the bull is heading for structure or moving to tangle other lines. When the count is happening, the other anglers aboard work to start getting the other lines quickly reeled in (beginning with the lines closest to the action) to reduce tangling opportunities. The angler with the bull on will advise on which lines may need to be reeled in first and whether the fish really requires all the lines in (smaller fish may not). If there is a delay in getting all the lines in, the angler may tighten the drag somewhat, but not bring the fish in until all the lines are clear and the motors are up so that the only boat-related snag possibility is the anchor line. If other boats are very close or there are other anglers on a pier, some diplomacy may be required in communicating the need for more space if a big fish risks tangling their lines. It is not uncommon for a really big fish to cross the anchor line, in which case the angler needs access to the front of the boat and needs to determine whether the fish went over or under, passing the rod under the anchor line around to the opposite side of the boat if necessary. A good, quick decision resolves this as long as the fish has not wrapped around (which is rare). The fish should be fought with a 30-60 degree angle between the rod and the horizontal. This allows the fish to pull drag more easily than steeper angles, allows the bending of the rod to absorb sudden shocks, and allows the give of the rod to prevent the line from going slack on a sudden move toward the boat. If the equipment is well prepared, the most common causes of lost fish are them breaking off in structure, spitting the hook due to slack in the line, and having the hook pull out due to a sudden jerk or increase in tension. Success requires maintaining healthy levels of tension without slack or jerks. Most fish require some pumping to bring to the boat. One raises the rod slowly to about 11 O'clock and then lowers the rod tip to near horizontal while quickly taking in line to prevent slack. When the rod goes horizontal, do not point the rod tip right at the fish, but point it to one side to maintain a bit of bend in the rod before the next trip upward. Each cycle will bring the fish closer, but you need to be sensitive to when the fish spooks or sets off on another long run. When this happens, stop reeling, stop pumping, maintain a 45 degree angle with the horizontal, check your drag setting to wear him down without risk of breaking him off, and be ready to take up slack if he changes direction. Everybody has their favorite theory on netting: head first, tail first, whatever. Either can work on bull reds, but to minimize losing fish at the boat it is most critical to get the fish in the net on the first try and not allow the net to touch the line until the bull is in the net. Once it is clear that the fish will not be netted on a given pass, get the net out of the way to deny the bull leverage to come unpinned. We like a big, deep net with a 4 ft handle and a 32 inch diameter hoop. When it comes time to net, the net man is in charge, and the angler should do his best to put the fish where the net man wants him. Some netters like to grab the leader, which is ok with 80 lb monofilament or steel leaders, but one needs to take care to have some give and a gentle pull to prevent pulling the hook. Doubles It is common to have two fish on at once, and it can be tricky to land them both successfully without tangling. The most important person in these deals is angler number three who assisting the other two. Angler three needs to get the other rods out of the water, direct traffic, and manage the netting challenge. The two anglers need to decide who is going to boat their bull first based on who has the stouter equipment or which bull is smaller and who is going to delay bringing the fish to the boat. There may be some over and under dancing and such before this decision is made. If the fish cross each other, deciding who goes high and who goes low can save the day. A level wind reel with 80 lb power pro and a grown man can usually get a big fish to the boat in a couple of minutes when needed. A spinning rod with 30 lb braid and a 12-15 lb drag is going to be slower unless it's a smaller bull. The net man needs to get the first fish netted and dumped in the boat quickly to free up the net for the second fish. Alternatively, we have a second net available, but it is smaller. Failing that, I've also kept a leather glove aboard in case I have to reach into the water and pull a fish out. On one occasion, the bulls both arrived at the boat simultaneously and we netted the second before dumping the first. It was a tangled mess, but any time you can land them both in a double, you have succeeded at a difficult task. Triples We've never landed all three in a triple. There's just too much going on. The closest we came was realizing one of the three bulls was a shark, cutting him off quickly and landing the other two. Usually the angler rushing his bull to the boat breaks him off or comes unbuttoned turning it into a double. Care and Release or The Ice Box Louisiana's abundance of bull reds allows each angler a limit of one bull red per day to take home. Once you decide to keep a fish, it is food, and we bury them in ice to cool them quickly rather than throwing them on top of the ice to cool slowly. You should review some you tube videos and have the required knives if you intend to fillet your catch. I like a stout 6 inch buck knife to separate the fillet from the backbone, and a Dexter Russel fillet knife to separate the fillet from the skin. Careful trimming of all skin, red meat, and other non-muscle tissue ensures the highest quality meat. Black drum also make excellent table fare. Filleting and trimming is similar to bull redfish, except you may encounter 'spaghetti worms' near the tail area and will lose a bit more meat trimming them out. Bulls have much firmer meat than younger fish. The consistency is comparable to chicken, and many of our favorite recipes were originally chicken recipes: redfish paremesan, coconut drum, shish ka bobs, etc. A 120 quart ice chest can fit four 42 inch long bull redfish or similarly sized black drum. We keep 40 lbs of ice in the ice chest and buy more on the ride home if needed to really bury the fish in ice. Fish to be released should be released quickly. I'm not a big believer in resuscitation and all that, but I do believe in minimizing the time out of the water. We make no attempt to remove hooks from deeply hooked fish, believing that a minute or two less out of water is more important. I cut the leader quickly as close to the mouth as possible and send the fish on its way. If we already know a big bull is to be released, we may forego netting altogether, bring the fish alongside the boat, reach down and remove the hook with pliers (or cut the leader if the hook is deep). I'm not a fan of photo sessions with fish intended for release, especially if angler already has one in the box to bring home. However, if a photo is desired, we use a wet towel, keep the hands out of the mouth, eyes, and gills, and focus on a quick return to the water rather than the perfect background and pose. If you can hold your breath for the entire time a fish is in the boat, you've done well. Best spots in the pass are 3, 4, and 5.
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#6
08-23-2016, 09:06 AM
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#8
08-23-2016, 09:11 AM
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Oh my gawd. And me I though my penn battle or cuardo with 20# power pro was over kill for bull reads. I am in aw. Great write up but geez that's a lot of effort for a bull red! *not trying to be a smart *** or anything*
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#9
08-23-2016, 03:28 PM
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#10
08-23-2016, 09:16 AM
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Just curious mathgeek, I have switched to almost 100% to using just circle hooks when I do use live bait both for trout and redfish, you say the hook up ratio is not what you would want it to be, why do you think? Since I have switched to me I get more hook ups and my percent on landing the fish goes up substantially. I also have a lot of practice with them because I do a lot of offshore fishing and that is all I use(with the exception of a few things)
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#11
08-23-2016, 03:29 PM
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The hooks we use do not slide out of the gut on swallowed baits. A swallowed bait is always a solid hook up, especially with the 7 count.
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#12
08-23-2016, 03:32 PM
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#13
08-24-2016, 12:14 PM
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The circle hooks always you to keep the drag at whater pound you would normally fight the fish and also you can start fighting the fish right away no need to do a count. I find that slowly lifting the rod tip as the bite is happening makes the fish want that bait that much more and hits it harder. The thing that makes using circles so hard is that you have to learn to NOT SET THE HOOK the circle hook does all the work.
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#14
08-24-2016, 12:25 PM
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When I want to relax I usually set up a rod in a rod holder, sit back with a beer and wait for a reel to scream.
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#15
08-24-2016, 10:15 PM
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#16
08-25-2016, 08:13 AM
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Circle hooks are my facorite but it did take time to learn how to use them. For trout I use ant size from a size 1 perfect circle hook to a 2/0 circle hook. When buying circle hooks, you will see 2 types offset or perfect circles, I suggest using both until you find one you like more, A offset tends to hook the fish deeper in the gut some times a perfect circle does not. Just play around with it and see which you like more.
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#17
08-23-2016, 10:31 AM
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an 11/0 hook? catching bull reds or JAWS?
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#18
08-23-2016, 11:37 PM
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But when you're using freshly caught fish for bait, you need an 11/0 hook for a 12 inch sand trout or 13 inch croaker. My son's first bull red was on a 12 inch sand trout with an 11/0 hook.
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#19
08-29-2016, 08:34 AM
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#20
08-29-2016, 10:42 PM
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