Troy85

I use the historical imagery timeline to find large grass beds and clean water. For fishing rivers I use the timeline to try and see what backwaters have clean water during times of the year when the river is high and muddy. Also I look during the summer to see what ponds or sections of water have matted grass.

I've fished inshore saltwater my entire life. A few times as a kid we would go bass fishing with some of my dads friends from his job, but that was it. It wasn't until about 3 years ago that I decided that wanted to give Bass fishing a serious try, 5 additional rods and 2 full tackle bags later, here I am. Then a year ago me and my brother discovered local tournaments. Bass fishing just has a special draw to it, that I don't get from salt water fishing. I still enjoy salt water fishing very much and still go quite often, but there is just something about bass fishing that keeps calling me back.

If they are not seeking colder or warmer water, then what is the reason for them moving back to deep water during summer and moving to even deeper water in the winter? (I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I really curious to hear your thoughts)

The bass fishing near New Orleans is nothing terribly special, its available but I don't think it will wow you like it will in many of those other places you are visiting. If you wanted to fish around New Orleans, I'd recommend going either Salt water inshore or offshore, both will be a blast it just depends on how much you want to spend. If you need more info let me know, I know a couple inshore salt water guides and can point you in the right direction.

The fishing was tough some days. High winds on Friday and Sunday kept some spots that I wanted to try off limits. When the wind did lay down on Saturday we ran from San Miguel over to Corsey Creek(Had never been to the Texas side before). Fished some points around Corsey creek. Ended up doing decent on Saturday, I think we had 11 total with 6 keepers, the biggest at about 4lbs. Most fish were caught in 6-10ft with a june bug colored worm Carolina rigged. Friday and Sunday were pretty windy and most of the fish caught weren't keepers. That storm that blew thru Sunday evening was pretty intense haha. Me, my wife and sister in law were out Kayaking near Miguel State park, we saw the storms approaching and realized we didn't have time to make it back to the cabin we were staying at. We took shelter at the San Miguel park boat launch and had to call my dad to come pick us up. Good thing we didn't try to paddle thru the storm, when those winds came they had to blowing 30-40 with higher gusts and the lighting was intense.

A few years back me and my brother were fishing some golf course ponds one morning. My brother was working a top water popper right next to a little stick that was just sticking out of the water. He had a hit on the his popper and set the hook, turns out the little "stick" was the head of a water snake and it bit his popper as it went by....well setting the hook snagged the snake and it came flying out of the water and landed at his feet....I was down the bank about 30 feet laughing to tears and glad it didn't happen to me....I'm terrified of snakes and had that snake came flying out of the water at me, I probably would have had a heart attack.

Thanks for the info. I'll be heading up there this afternoon. I'll let ya'll know how it goes. Troy

I've been spending a lot of time looking at Navionics trying to find good areas that match what you talk about. Hopefully I'll be successful. As of now my plan is to fish shallow coves with creeks beds running thru them in the morning. Then maybe switching to docks or points with deep water nearby as the sun comes up. Also messing around with a little offshore fishing, but not planning on investing alot of time into that(as Its not my strong point). We'll see what happens Troy

Based on Google maps, roughly 15ish miles from the mouth of Housen to P. Bridge. That's pretty impressive for those bass to find their way back. Those bass has been caught and released, how far do you figure most move under normal circumstances? When you say that a particluar fishing area should be "near" deep water, what rough distance do you consider "near"? I plan on fishing shallow most of the time, as that is really my only strength based on where I usually Bass fish. I'd like to find areas that are near deep water. I'm just trying to get a rough of idea of how far is too far(based on current season). I'm sure I sound like a fool, but i have only fished in a man made reservoir 3 times in my whole life, so I don't know much about how to fish them. Other than what I read online.

So I've been reading thru this post to help and prepare myself for my trip to TB this weekend. I've seen it mentioned many times about bass using structure and breaks to move from deep to shallow water. Which brings up a few questions. How far are these bass moving when they are moving from deep to shallow, are we talking about a a mile? Couple 100 feet? I know bass don't really "migrate" long distances like speckled trout(beach/bays summer, inner marsh winter), but how far on average would you say a bass will move around?

I'll try that. What do you recommend as far as lure types this time for fishing deep water this time of year? Crank baits? Jigging? Carolina Rigged?

Thanks for the info. I did plan on spending most of my time fishing shallow. I do enjoy really deep fishing, and would like to at least try it a little bit during Mid-Day. I've been looking at my navionics maps this week, looking for deep points and humps. I'm hoping I can pick up a few throwing some deep diving crank baits. I don't know why I enjoy deep fishing, maybe its because I don't usually get to do it.

Not this weekend but next I'll be making a 3 day trip up to TB. I'm going to be staying on the San Miguel finger. Looking for any advice and tips on where I should look for fish. What are the fish up to right now on TB? Deep? Shallow? Also, if they are deep, any extra advice would be helpful, I fish mostly fresh water marsh in SE LA, I generally do most of my fishing in less than 8 feet of water. Deep water bass fishing is not something that I'm not familiar with at all. Troy

I'd go with Toledo Bend as my primary. I'd really like to fish Gunthersville too. You can hit some of those big southern lakes in FL, AL, LA and TX. Then along the way make a slight detour to SE Louisiana and get in on the best inshore saltwater fishing in the country.

I thought that was the case Catt, but I couldn't remember for sure. BTW Catt...I'll be staying on Toledo Bend in a month in a half. So I'll be showing up in that Toledo Bend thread very soon.

I fish N.O. city park pretty often. It has good bass fishing in just about all ponds on the park. Also along Marconi Dr, which runs right next to the park, there is a large canal that has good bass fishing(not the canal that is behind the large concrete wall, it will be the canal on the park side of the street). B.R. City park and University Lake also have some good bass fishing from what I have heard. I've never fished it myself, but several of my buddies who went to LSU have told me it was a good bass Lake. Actually the 7th largest bass on state record was pulled out of university lake. For food in New Orleans area, I would recommend Drago's Seafood Restaurant, they have a location in Downtown N.O and Metairie(I recommend the Metairie location). All of their seafood is good, but their charbroiled oysters are really great(I usually don't even like oysters either). There are literally hundreds of restaurants that have fantastic food, but Drago's is a good start for seafood. If your looking for a great po boy after fishing, there is a place near N.O. city park called Parkway Bakery & Tavern, they make a really good po boy sandwich.

Never heard of that book. I'll have to check into. I'm fairly new to bass fishing, I spent most of my time Salt water fishing up until the last 1.5 years. A lot of stuff I read seems focus on Lake bass, where I fish is mostly grassy and shallow tidal marsh, where deep water is 8-10 feet. Wish I could find more info about tidal bass fishing, I know a bass is a bass, but they must act slightly different in some ways depending on their habitat.

Those look really good. I'm curious, is it cost effective to buy lure "blanks" as you called them, and paint them yourself? Or it more for the novelty and unique designs? I know nothing about painting your own lures, but I am interested in maybe doing it. Troy

Good to hear! I'll keep watching this topic as the trip gets closer so I can keep in the loop. I only get to fish TD about once a year, but oh man that place is like heaven.

yeah. I lost a really nice one about a year ago. Funny part is there was a swamp tour boat going by when it happened, I'm sure those tourists got some good pictures of me rolling around on the deck of my boat after the fish broke loose.

So I'm curious. The Big Bass Splash is taking place at Toledo Bend May 19-21. I will be fishing Toledo Bend the weekend after the Bass Splash takes place. Does the Bass Splash rodeo affect the fishing much after it takes place? I know Toledo Bend is huge, but I also have heard that a few thousand boats take part in the Bass Splash rodeo. I'm just curious if I will have a tougher time fishing the weekend following the event. Anyone who fishes TD regularly have any info? Troy

I did that the other day. I drained the tank, pulled it and rinsed it out with water and even attached a sock to a metal clothes hanger and scrubbed the bottom of the tank the best I could. Replaced all hoses and filters. When I first got the boat I drained the tank, but didn't actually look inside it and clean it. When I removed the fuel gauge float and looked inside the the tank the other day, it did seem kind of dirty in there, so hopefully my good cleaning of the tank will keep the issue from returning.

I was surprised as well when the mechanic ran the diagnostic and it showed 34 hours.. The guy obviously never used the boat. I think that's the main reason for the clogged injector, gas sat in the tank/motor way too long. I called the mechanic and he told me to bring the boat back in at no charge. He ran all the injectors thru the Ultrasonic machine again, and reversed flowed all 4 injectors. He said it was the number 3 injector causing the trouble again. He said to take it out on a few more trips see what happens. I took it out yesterday and its running great again, hopefully I'll get lucky, if it acts up again he said we will just have to replace that injector.

About a month ago I was having engine trouble. Turned out to be the number 3 fuel injector wasn't opening. I had someone clean all the injectors and the engine ran fine after that for about 4 trips. The other day it started acting up again, low RPMs and rough idle. After doing some investigating it seems that the number 3 injector isn't working again. I am now planning on replacing it, so my questions are. 1. Can I just replace the 1 bad injector or should I change all 4(motor only has 34 hours). 2. What are your thoughts on Refurbished injectors? I can get one for $40, as opposed to $180 from the yamaha dealer. https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-Marine-Injector-68V-8A360-00-00-Injection/dp/B00TA4TQMA 3. I see a brand new set of 4 injectors on Amazon for the F114(68v-8a360-00-00) for $70, are these trust worthy? Does anyone have any experience? https://www.amazon.com/Injector-Yamaha-Outboard-Mitsubishi-Eclipse/dp/B016HMHUOS Troy

^^^^^ I would imagine this would be the second most embarrassing thing that could happen on the ramp. With the 1st being, not tying your boat properly and having it float away.