Leving for Chandeleur Islands tomorrow

Tight lines!! Please report when you get back.

Scott

 

LIVED IN BILOXI FOR 10 YEARS,COULD NOT SPEND ENOUGHT TIME FISHING CAHANDERLIERE ISLAND. THIS WAS BACK IN THE SIXTIES WHEN FISHING WAS FANTASTIC FOR REDS ,SPECKS,POMPANO AND MONSTER LING. CAUGHT A 103 LB LING ON THE INSIDE OF THE ISLAND IN 8FT OR LESS OF WATER . HOPE YOU GET TO GO GIGGING FOR FLOUNDERS AT NIGHT AS YOU CAN FILL A #9 WASH TUB IN A GOOD NIGHT. HAVE A GREAT TRIP

 

I grew up gigging flounder with the old, weak Coleman lanterns. A couple of friends of mine and I have developed a new method: you pay out big bucks for a Nite-Rider HID (High Intensity Discharge) bicycle (or even better, watertight dive) light. You buckle the battery to your belt and strap the light to the back of your left hand. Then you point it at the water and turn it on. It lights up the shallows like a nuclear fireball. This may sound like a joke but it is not. It's high dollar, but you never have to replace fuel (it will run for half a night on one charge) and it will never rust away as will all Colemans. It makes no annoying hissing sound, and you will never, ever mistake a sting ray for a saddle blanket flounder, and stick it, thus changing life on earth as you know it. You do lose some of the charm of the old days, but with the Dive version, you can even duck your left hand under the water to pick up the fish without having to worry about what to do with the light.

Oh, and Glenn: Good luck.

 

I've got some very good memories of fishing the Chandeleur's with my son before the storm. Having been new to serious trout and red fishing at the time we really were not prepared for what we got in to. Big reds, big trout, big jack's, and even a few big sharks. I remember fighting a bull red for over an hour on a Penn 4500 with 15lb test. I was amazed when the fish started jumping like a bass only to watch helplessly as a 6' shark bit it in half about 3 feet from the jonboat. Kind of creeped me out for a while. Here's a link to a picture of Chad when he was 10 with his first redfish caught at Breton Island:

http://www.360tuna.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=99&original=1&c=member&imageuser=16

And a nice stringer of trout to 25" we caught when he was 11:

http://www.360tuna.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=97&original=1&c=member&imageuser=16

Very best of luck to you and your son and remember to post the pics when you get back. Bert

 

Glenn: My recommendation is just watch the original Jaws movie again, say, 3 or 4 times, especially the part where he pulls the girl down 3 or 4 times at the beginning. Then you will come to accept that a boat isn't going to help you anyway, then you can relax and accept any fate nature may deal out. Trust me, you are in more danger from sting rays than from sharks.

Another thought that may help: Wear some of those great Kevlar boots. Then, no sting ray will hurt you and if a big shark does show up, at least your feet and shins will be left.

Russ

 

gman: I used to go down to Port A and swim out into the surf deep in darkness, get out about 300 yards and swim parallel to shore, then go back. Then I saw Jaws I and I couldn't force myself into a kiddie pool for a couple of years.

Russ

 

gman: I used to go down to Port A and swim out into the surf deep in darkness, get out about 300 yards and swim parallel to shore, then go back. Then I saw Jaws I and I couldn't force myself into a kiddie pool for a couple of years.

Russ


In TJ's words, "There's the mako top-water bait!".

UR- glad you survived those swims to become a great part of 360tuna!

 

Russ, I saw that movie when I was about 12 and it has messed me up to this day! Always thinking about it while wading that's for sure. Breton Island was where I had my first fish taken from my stringer while wading. I did't even know it until the guy next to me pointed to it. How that shark removed the fish that was strung through the gill without leaving the head or giving a hard jerk I'll never know.

 

Thanks, Tom, I'm glad to be here. You know, Bighead, I have heard (not sure where--may have been on this board) of huge sharks at POC literally beaching themselves on sandbars at low tide near Pass Cavallo, chasing fish. And it got me thinking that I had heard similar stories from my grandfather and his old cronies when we fished Port A back in the early to mid 50's, and I always assumed that they were BS ing me, since I was their chief spectator sport back then. Now I'm not so sure.

Also, you know how it is in the summer, when you are either swimming or wade fishing in the surf and the water is crystal clear and green and you can see mullet and even trout in the waves as they rise up? I was out in the surf on Mustang Island once in the 'sixties, trying to cast net some mullet, and all of a sudden about 10 feet in front of me a wave rose up to break and there was about 10 foot hammerhead just as pretty as you please, lying sideways in the wave.

You never saw anyone run a 9.6 hundred meters back to shore in 3 feet of water!

One of the things I want to do when I retire on weekends when I can't afford to bribe my betters to let me share expenses on their offshore craft is to park my bay boat in the Lydia Ann Channel where those old boys boated that record bull shark, coat up with sunscreen and sit listening to the radio and drinking margarita mix without the tequila. I would like to catch a fish I need an oxy-acetylene torch to release!

Russ

 

Russ,
I've seen sharks beaching themselves on PINS chasing bait, it does happen.

 

The last time out to Breton Island the float plane circled a couple times as two other planes were unloading guests and gear on the Islander. So I'm looking out the window trying to figure out where the cuts and such were for later use and see just what you described. A shark, maybe 8' or so, on the surf side of the island with it's back out of the water chasing bait. Cool to see from a plane, not so fun from the water, lol.