So this year Trout Challenge happened in spring, instead of fall, and returned to the east side of the Mississippi River. Tournament Nazi made Boundaries from Lake Ponchartrain to Delacroix, a huge area, certainly, but in all that real estate, only 5 launches were used to my knowledge, with 57 entries. Either end of Hwy 11 on Lake P, Campos, Pips and Hopedale Marina were it.
I launched at the northshore end of Hwy 11 with about 7 others way too early, and exchanged pleasantries. LateNightCake woke me up at 327 asking about some reef. Lovely. I’d scouted the trestles well over the past few weeks but had the most success the weekend before fishing the northshore with none other than the Tournament Nazi himself, who gave me a Rattle Trap on that Saturday and told me to troll. It was awesome! That day was a light tide and it didn’t really matter where you trolled as long as you were relatively close to either bridge. I caught huge, beautiful trout really fast until a bull red broke me off in the pilings. I wasn’t going to ask for a 2nd Rattle Trap after being shown the light, so tied a double rig with 3/8 jighead/4″ swimbait on the short end and 1/8 jig Lemonhead on the long end, which acted like a trailer. Started catching immediately and drug baits till around noon. Then I went straight to Puglia’s and bought a bunch of Rattle Traps. I returned to the northshore the next day prepared, and trolled 2 rods. It was awesome! I caught a ton of big fish really fast and of course, had visions of splendor.
Tournament Day
Conditions were different, there was a stiff south wind and the tide was falling pretty hard, so hard tide moving one way and big waves opposing. I repeated what I’d done the weekend before with no success for an hour, then changed it up. I started trolling my baits very near the upcurrent side of the Hwy 11 bridge. So close that I could feel the baits bouncing off the columns, but it worked. The fish struck so hard that it almost took the rod out of my hand! So the hard current is coming from my left, big rollers hitting the right and the trout pulling me that way, into the bridge. Yeah, dicey. So steer hard left, pedal hard away from a big fish behind you, that your fighting with both hands over your shoulder, behind you. Twas quite exciting. Plus you gotta keep pedaling so your other bait don’t get caught in the bridge. Netted a 20+ inch trout and was extremely excited. Re set and did it twice more catching 2 over 19 back to back. Then another hour of nothing. Greaaaaat. Latenightcake was passing and told me the Tournament Nazi was on the south shore with a group and they were killing em. So we quickly loaded and moved to the other side. That was about the time the wind kicked up a notch and all for naught, cause I didn’t get another bite. I fished till about 12 when my phone started going off about the extreme weather coming in. I wasn’t the last boat back on the beach, but people were taking their sweet time loading because we had over 2 hours before the awards banquet. I knew it was getting close and finally got my chance to load, rapidly. I had just gotten the Ghost in the truck when the air turned noticeably cold and wind swited direction. Within 2 minutes, the wind kicked up enough to lift and move a PA14 while I was attempting to strap it down. My beloved 4HORSEMAN hat flew across Hwy 11 and then my glasses blew off, twice. This all happened so fast, I was stunned! Found the glasses and held in mouth while fighting the wind and now, pouring rain. Lotsa fun. I always carry a change of clothes and towels so basically changed shirts and dried off in the truck and drove home slow, to change pants and dry off a little better.
Yeah, I live pretty close to No Wake Outfitters where Justin Lang was hosting awards ceremony. He set us up real niiiiiice with tables, chairs and some beverages in a very large aluminum can, with a pump and hose. I believe the Tournament Nazi acquired some pretty fair wings and some pretty week fried rice, so it was on. Several new people fished Trout Challenge and some new faces attended awards, so very cool. 37 showed up of 57 that registered. Really great turnout and perfect venue. Steve Lessard took top honors with an impressive, substantial 7″ inch lead over all others. Squintz Vannoy won Mule Trout with a phenomenal 23 1/2″ beauty. Three of the top 5 anglers launched at the southshore of Hwy 11, one at Hopedale Marina, and one at Pips. Special shout out to Doug Jones, the only angler to launch at north shore Hwy 11 and achieve top 15 status qualifying for BCKFC Championship. I know, I shoulda toughed it out instead of moving. I’m not doing well in important tournaments but have time to redeem myself, hopefully.
Next week is the Lafayette Slam tournament on LA1 corridor, then Paddlepalooza first weekend in May. It’s on! See ya’ll on LA1 and I can’t wait till next trip!
