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I havent fished it since 1995.
Wow there are some changes
Camps are no longer in the canal at edge of maurepas.
Did catch around 20 bass from 8 inches to 13 inches.
Larger bass had red eyes like red eye bass.
Funny, threw rebel minnow in Arkansas shad 4 inches long in 4th of water.
I came up this pattern after stopping at first spot seeing little bass tear up a minnow about
Same size.
I caught most fish fairly close to landing.
Did you ask them fish if they knew Jeff(Fisherman64)? I think those are his pet fish. He goes to visit them and takes them far rides in his boat. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif
Modified by Bump at 10:50 PM 1/21/2012
Maybe that is why they were following me thinking I was Jeff. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/roll.gif
Seriously in the 1990's when I fished it the fishing was not as good as it is now.
I don't know if opening the Spillway locks helped flush the area out or just going through cycles.
Modified by jlsch1 at 3:51 PM 1/21/2012
OK..............I'm just going to have to start getting out to the "Cat" or something http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif
And by the way, stay away from my fish http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/roll.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/roll.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/roll.gif
I have always said come get'cha some.
Jeff got them fish trained
Jeff still ruddock man can't take that away.
He done what I started out in 1990's trying to prove this area decent fishery.
From stinking bayou to ruddock I set out fishing everyday after class.
Even went sporting good shop in Hammond Billy ables to ask for advice.
I even got map whole maurepas area marked with spots I either found or got advice from bill able sporting goods or tackle shop off airport road that was behind guys house years ago.
In 1990's after hurricane Andrew ldwlf said ruddock didn't have enough
Forage to stock bass in it after they got help to stock area rivers.
The idea was to take pressure off spillway.
Back then that area had it's spots but never was great.
Catch a few bass here and there.
I was sitting eating lunch one day saw 3 huge bass come by and lowered worm down to it. The bass was 5 lb bass. So I knew it held fish.
In run outs when use to rain alot and water run through culverts I would see cane polers
At night off old hwy catch ice chest full of 5lb bass off rapala silver broken back minnow.
It was even in a pamplet from 1990's about where to fish around baton rouge.
It's just back then bass were in certain spots .
Now I fished normal bassy looking banks in various spots the fish were there were you couldn't find a bass years ago.
Impressed my theroy that this area can hold nice population of bass has been proven. It won't be Toledo bend size bass but typical dinks to 3 lb bass with mix some 5lbers.
Now get it right ......Ruddock belongs to Cooper (the grandson). I am the North Shore fisherman http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif
Any compliments are appreciated, but anyone could have the same success. It all boils down to line in the water. I am fortunate enough to have a profession that allows me to be on the water a lot. And the catch ratio goes way up when you are actually out on the boat.
If anyone ever questioned the forage base in the entire I-55 corridor, they should go to Ruddock and launch. There are hundreds if not thousands of bait balls on top of the water.
Another comment I will throw in is the amount of fisherman that are hammering the I-55 corridor. And it is still improving.
Also, what about the Sac-O-Lait. They are also starting to thrive again.
It's nice to see all the people with low post counts finnally coming out. We always knew there where a lot of "Lurkers" that fish in that area. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/thumbsup2.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/thumbsup2.gif
we were at ruddock from about 7 till about 2...there were quite a few boats out...we managed around 30 or so...kept 15 dinks to eat...talked to 2 other boats that were catching too...
we did slip in to the lily bayou area for a minute, but we did most of our damage at another location... we stumbled on one spot that for about 15 minutes we were catching on just about every cast...
Since wife and I are from St. Charles parish...we cross over Manchac to visit them a lot...
I am curious as to bass size in events there...heard in the late 90s that 8 pounds wins there but never fished it...
can anyone post for sure...3 event winning bags last fall when the bass should be larger?
Maybe Ruddock area has great fishing too...just never see it posted T-wise Top 3 weights or whatever.
reelman...ruddock/manchac areas are very very prone to low oxygen black swamp water fish kills every few years...granted, the fish kills dont kill every thing, a few fish do survive, because every now and then we catch a 5 or 6 piunder... but the numbers being caught are a "new crop" of fish...they are growing though...last year the average fish i caught was only 8-10 inches, with a few 12s mixed in...the 2 trips ive made this year im seeing 12-14 inch fish and a lil bigger alot more common...
mr jeff might have some different input, but thats my explanation...
It will continue to improve without hurricanes and Tropical Storms. Same thing with Blind River and all the local waters.
pulled this one out of ruddock today...
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...2/98b5d323.jpg
<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by marshman »</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">reelman...ruddock/manchac areas are very very prone to low oxygen black swamp water fish kills every few years...granted, the fish kills dont kill every thing, a few fish do survive, because every now and then we catch a 5 or 6 piunder... but the numbers being caught are a "new crop" of fish...they are growing though...last year the average fish i caught was only 8-10 inches, with a few 12s mixed in...the 2 trips ive made this year im seeing 12-14 inch fish and a lil bigger alot more common...
mr jeff might have some different input, but thats my explanation...</td></tr></table>
My only comment here is that the fish I was finding last year were not alot different in wieght. The areas that had the schools of smaller fish (8's and 10's) were definitely heavier this year.
The places I know that hold a solitary bigger fish seem to be holding the same size fish as last year. Go figure. I have no explaination of that.
The area as a whole for the past 3 to 4 years has not seen anything like right after Katrina. I can say for a fact that I have seen more dead nuetria rats than dead fish in the Ruddock area. I saw some dead bait fish at the Ruddock ramp one time after a water rise. But that was the extent of it.
My opinion.....there alot.......alot of those 10 to 14 inch fish there. Until the next hurricane. The bait / forage base is there for this spring
Thanx...makes sense...we almost retired to Hammond in 2004 but chose Vidalia...
yesterday 19.98 and 19.41 1st-2nd on Bruin while 14+ won 1st-2nd on Black River Lake where I was messing up all morning so finished 9th/26...so its working out here.
Well, let's hope the Manchac comeback continues!!!
I think after people read this post we may see the local water rise 2 inches on weekends due to the added amout of boat traffic
No worries.
The water here was 56-59 yesterday....a month early for that range...so this warm winter trend will fire up the bass and the guys...I wasted my time deep yesterday (18+ feet) and at about 11am realized my dry livewell was screaming >>go shallow!
Had a brain fart when the Humbd read 56 just before blastoff and did not change my Plan A.
We generally see a lot of bottom baiters when we are crossing at Manchac.
All u guys catch a limit for me and stay safe....its near bustin out time!
Years ago I was fishing that little L like canal and I was almost to the end.
My friend and I looked to side and hear rumbling of something running in the woods.
It was alot and I mean alot of nutra rats running from a guy hunting them.
A guy was hunting the nutra to feed to his gators.
Just amazing how many nutra there was.
I've been told those dead nutria floating are burrows that are trapped or killed for bounty... they cut the tails off and turn the tails in for bounty... is this true?? a few weeks ago I saw at least 10 floating in the main canal, and then another few on another spot...