Many people seem to overlook a peculiar fish that makes its appearance every summer in Lake Borgne. I must admit that even before a recent fishing trip, I too hadn’t given much thought to catching tripletail. However when tough trout fishing became discouraging, a quick change of plans provided me with a great new experience.
With a high chance of rain that Saturday, I awoke at 4:00am to check the weather before I made my once weekly fishing trip. With the rain being forecasted to stay at bay until the afternoon, and no wind to speak of, I quickly left Metairie and headed for the Rigolets Marina in Slidell to beat the morning rush. I arrived and stocked up on a few live shrimp. My plan was to make my first fishing trip to the eastern side of Lake Borgne in search of trout. I arrived at my first stop just as the sun was breaking the horizon and found birds working a shoreline covered with shells. I could see shrimp jumping out of the water everywhere. My first thought was, “This has got to be the mother load!” So I put a live shrimp on my popping cork rig and cast away. BAM! A fish hits my cork. I can’t believe it. Next thing you know my cork plunges and fish on! But doubt quickly sets in as I can tell by the fight this isn’t what I’m after. Five gafftop later I decide it’s time to move. I head a little farther east and fine a nice point where the incoming tide it creating a little rip. Five gafftop later I decide to move again.
With a high chance of rain that Saturday, I awoke at 4:00am to check the weather before I made my once weekly fishing trip. With the rain being forecasted to stay at bay until the afternoon, and no wind to speak of, I quickly left Metairie and headed for the Rigolets Marina in Slidell to beat the morning rush. I arrived and stocked up on a few live shrimp. My plan was to make my first fishing trip to the eastern side of Lake Borgne in search of trout. I arrived at my first stop just as the sun was breaking the horizon and found birds working a shoreline covered with shells. I could see shrimp jumping out of the water everywhere. My first thought was, “This has got to be the mother load!” So I put a live shrimp on my popping cork rig and cast away. BAM! A fish hits my cork. I can’t believe it. Next thing you know my cork plunges and fish on! But doubt quickly sets in as I can tell by the fight this isn’t what I’m after. Five gafftop later I decide it’s time to move. I head a little farther east and fine a nice point where the incoming tide it creating a little rip. Five gafftop later I decide to move again.
Moving around and catching gafftop went on and on until about 9:30am. I’m thinking to myself, “What am I going to do?” I burned a decent amount of gas and didn’t want to get much further from where I launched. Then I remembered some advice I’d received recently on catching tripletail and figured, “What the heck I might as well give it a shot.” So I headed northward and saw a line of crab traps in the distance. They looked old, unworked and covered in algae. PERFECT! I kept the boat throttled just enough to stay on plane and cruised by the first float. I couldn’t believe it. There floating sideways directly beneath that float was a tripletail. I killed the motor and trolled up while I tied on the same rig I use to fish trout on the bottom, a leader of 30lb test with a #6 trebled hook, minus the egg sinker above the swivel. I grabbed a live shrimp and began tossing in front of the fish’s nose and letting the current drift the shrimp to him. After about five casts he inhaled and I held my breath and set the hook. FISH ON! The battle began and I noticed he was only lip hooked. He spit the hook and my heart sank. The adrenaline rush was incredible and I had failed, but I didn’t give up. I worked my way by a couple more floats and quickly found another fish. Using the same method as before I again got another fish to inhale my shrimp. This time I gave him a three second count before I set the hook. Ten minutes later after a tense adrenaline laden battle I was staring at my first tripletail on the deck of my boat. My hands were shaking uncontrollably so much so that I had to sit down and relax before I could even snap a picture with my phone. WHAT A RUSH! After a few minutes of yahooing in celebration I decided one wasn’t enough. I worked my way down the line and quickly found another fish. Ten minutes later my second tripletail had hit the deck. After that I continued my hunt and found one more fish, but this one was smarter than the others and would go down just out of site every time I would troll by. I finally gave up on him around 11:30am and headed back to launch satisfied with the morning’s outcome. -Matt Peterson
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