Fished Tiger Shoals Wednesday and Thursday and managed solid fish both days. Wednesday was pretty slow for the most part until the afternoon when they really turned on. Ended up with 35 nice fish at the end of the day. Didn't find them following any particular pattern or anything. Caught fish at all depths with too many different baits to name. Probably caught more on Chicken on and Chain wedge tails worked slowly on bottom than anything else with either a 3/8 or 1/2 oz jig head. Conditions were ideal although current was not particularly strong at any period during the day. The same can not be said about Thursday. The ride out to the pass was nice as the sun came up and the bay was glass. Hit the pass and headed to where I left of the day before. Right after I passed 217 the seas picked up to 2'-4' with a really short period. The next 15 or so miles was pretty unpleasant but my fishing partner drove in from Lake Charles and was determined to get on some Tiger Shoals trout and a little chop don't bother me. When I got to my destination it was too rough for the rig hook so I clamped on to the platform with a Scaffold hook. Its rated for 5000 lbs and works great in rough conditions if you can find something small enough to hook it too. You also have to have someone onboard with the stones to stand on the bow and clamp it to something. The current was such that I was able to hook up to the middle of the platform which allowed me to throw my bait directly underneath the platform which is where I figured they would be considering the sea state. The fish were there but they were not going to make things easy on us. They seemed to be locked in at a specific depth and would only hit the bait on the drop. Running it past them or getting them to hit it on the way up didn't happen once. So every time you popped it up you had better be ready to set the hook. It took me a minute to figure this out and I had to change the weight of my jig head a few times. Throw in the fact that my boat was going up in down in some pretty intense waves it was tricky to get them in the boat. I don't know how many fish we missed, but it was a lot. Good hook sets were few and far between and they would manage to shake the hook as soon as they surfaced. There was also a cross member between my boat and where the fish were hanging out. Even if you managed to get a good hook set you still had to prevent them from swimming into the beam. 1/2 oz was the ticket early on but as the current died down I went down to a 3/8 and eventually a 5/16. Every time the bite died I changed my weight and started catching fish again. We had 25 in the boat by 9 am and wasn't too worried about catching 25 more when the first drops of rain started and the wind picked up a little more. We toughed out the first storm and managed to put 10 more fish in the boat before moving to another structure. The tide had slacked so the waves were less violent and the run was not that bad. Arrived at the second platform and managed 10 more before another squall began to form to the south and we both decided to call it a day. Ended up with 40 solid trout. I don't think there was more than 4 or 5 under 18 inches. Caught ever fish on Downsouth Plastics either Purple/Chart or Kicken Chicken. Tried lots of others but thats what they wanted. They would not hit a Sand Eel, Sand Shad, or a Hackberry Hustler which are all similar. Managed to get back in one piece and was once again very thankful for the XM Marine Weather on my GPS. If you fish in open water its worth every penny. Managed to avoid getting hit by another drop of rain even though I was surround by storms in all directions. Had two great trips with good friends and put some quality fish in the boat. I like catching fish and its great when they jump in the boat, but there is nothing better than having to figure them out when they are being stubborn.
06-12-2015, 06:22 AM
Steady Bite Despite Rough Conditions
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