In my English class, I am writing a research paper on Coastal Erosion in South Louisiana. I have emphasized my research on the erosion of marsh in Cocodrie, because I am most familiar with this area. Every time my grandfather and I go fishing, he always tells me how “this all use to be land.” But I never really understood how much land he was talking about. Reality did not hit me until he showed me old pictures of the marsh around our camp. In the first two pictures, (Present day vs 1995) it shows the view from across our camp. As you can see, there are little to no trees left across the bayou in that area. The 3rd and 4th pictures show a satellite image of Sevin Canal and Bayou Cantrelle. I believe that the google image has not been updated recently and shows the area in between 2016-2017. The old satellite image is a map that is hung up in our camp but does not have a date. My grandfather believes it’s from 1980-1995 but he is not exactly sure. It is jaw dropping to me to see how much land use to be there only 25 to 40 years ago. I wrote this report because the research I have done so far is eye opening to me. I find it crazy to believe that one day I will be in my grandfather’s shoes telling my grandchildren what used to be land. If anyone has any feedback I’d be glad to hear it.

Went fishing with my friend Jaden and originally tried to catch some trout. Couldn’t find any and with perfect weather conditions we went to deep water. Stopped at a little rig in Terrebonne Bay and tore up the Sheepshead. Caught all of them on shrimp on the bottom. Caught all the reds on a white matrix shad. Ended up with 16 Sheepshead and 5 Bull Reds for the weekend.

Stayed at my camp in Cocodrie for 5 days through the 4th of July and we tore up the trout. The best part about the whole trip was that we caught all the fish in Bay Negresse which is less than 10 minutes away from my camp. The way we caught the trout was by chasing birds in the bay. I used a Lemonhead Matrix Shad under a popping cork and even used a double rig sometimes. We caught a little over 200 trout by the end of the week. These were definitely some of the best fishing trips of my life.

Went fishing Saturday morning out of Cocodrie with my dad and my buddy Jaden. We chased the birds around Bay Negresse and managed to catch 44 trout. Everything was caught on artificial (Jaden and I were using Lemonhead Matrix Shad and my dad was using a Berkley Coastal Candy Rattle Shrimp). Hopefully the bite stays on for the summertime.

The fishing definitely slowed down in Cocodrie but still managed to catch some nice reds, drum, and sheepshead.

My buddy Jaden and I had a fun little weekend in Cocodrie. Made a hunt Saturday morning and got one beautiful Blue Wing. Went fishing after and caught a couple nice reds. Caught the reds on the bottom with a 1/4 ounce jighead using bait shrimp.

Caught a few fish over the Christmas break. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years.

Had a couple of great fishin trips during November with my family and friends.

My family decided to spend some time together this weekend on our fall break. We got to Cocodrie Friday morning and tried to go catch some fish. Despite the windy conditions and choppy water, we decided to go chase some birds in the bay. I grab my pole and got to the front of the boat. Before I even threw my line in the water, I knew I needed to pick up my phone just in case I fell in. I took my iPhone 7 out my pocket, which I got for my birthday less than a week ago, and handed to my mom. Well, that didn't go as planned because I lost my footing and it hit the front of the boat and went right into the water. After this incident, no one felt like fishing. After a few calls to Verizon we decided later that afternoon that we would go fishing again and we caught 4 trout and 1 redfish. Saturday morning we went a little later in the morning because of the showers that were popping up around us and we caught 11 trout. For some reason the trout that morning didn't want artificial and were only hitting on minnows. My dad and I made a trip Saturday afternoon and the conditions were perfect. We found a group of birds and caught 7 specks and 26 white trout. Almost all the trout we caught in the afternoon were on a chartuese DOA Shrimp. The whole weekend we managed to catch 48 trout and 1 red. Had an awesome weekend with the fam. Those new iPhones may be waterproof, but they aren't floatable. Also some of the photos are from me and my sister from years past.

Went Saturday morning with my grandfather and father. First place we stopped was Bay Negresse and once the bite stopped there we went to Bay Lucien. Caught 22 specks and 9 white trout. My grandfather and father were using live minnows under a cork and I used a Lemonhead Matrix shad under a cork. Hopefully the trout night stays on.

My buddy Dylan and I took his little 12 ft Jon boat with a trawling motor and launched at Cannon's Landing a couple of weeks ago. We just fished the bayou and caught 21 bass in 2 1/2 hours. We caught them all on Yum Dinger (Watermelon Red-flake) rigged weightless wacky worm style. I caught 12 and he caught 9. Hopefully the bite stays on.

1st Photo: Sunday morning my grandfather, dad, and I decided we would make a quick fishing trip before the rain showers would hit us. Eventhough they had showers all around us, we didn't catch a single drop of rain. We stayed close to shore just incase a storm would pop up on us ,and we fished in Bay Negresse. Started off pretty slow but when the tide changed we started pulling in fish. Caught a total of 23 specks and 4 white trout. I caught most of my fish on a DOA chartreuse shrimp and my grandpa and dad used live cocahoe minnows under a popping cork.

Photo 2: That afternoon, 2 of my friends called me and asked if I wanted to fishing with them. Since the wind was picking up we decided to try for some redfish in the marshes. After an hour of doing that and not getting a single bite, we wanted to try for some trout. I knew Bay Negresse was going to be too rough so I told him to go to Bay Lucien. As soon as we got there the corks were going under water. Caught 21 White Trout and 9 Specks. All fish were caught on artificial (Vudu Shrimp and Matrix Shad).

Had an amazing offshore trip with 3 of my good friends this weekend. My buddy Andre asked me to go with them and I wasn't passing up the offer. Started the day by catching some Red Snapper and then we went go chase the shrimp boats for some Cobia and Dolphin. We caught a total of 32 fish (14 Snapper, 14 Cobia, and 4 Dolphin.) By far the best fishing trip I've ever been on.

My buddy Dylan and I decided yesterday afternoon to try something a little bit new, so we decided to throw out the catfish noodles that I recently made. We caught 2 Blue cats, 2 gar, and 1 big soft shell turtle. Also after we set out the noodles we caught 2 bass within 5 minutes. One on a wacky work and the other on a Squarebill. We used cut up bluegill for the noodles bait.

Noodle setup:
This was my first time making and fishing with catfish noodles. I cut both the noodle and the PVC pipe 12inches and also drilled a hole 2inches from the base of the noddle to thread the line through it. For the main line I used White Crabbing twine. I tied a swivel and connected 40lb mono with a 1/2 lead weight to the top of the mono. As a hook I used a 4/0 circle hook. Since this is my first time making noodles, I would appreciate any feedback to modify the noodles.

Went to our camp for Memorial Day weekend and while my family was Barbecueing; I went in my little 12ft aluminum boat and fished the pond behind my camp. The weather was perfect and I put my trolling motor on the first gear and fished the bank. I caught all the fish on a Vortex Shad, black with chartruse tail, and the best part was that I only had to use one of them. Caught 5 reds but had to throw back about 3 rat reds and also caught 2 nice sized flounder.

Went out of our camp in Cocodrie Saturday and all day we chased the birds near the mouth of Bayou Terrebonne. We only got about 12 keepers but threw back probably about 60 small specks that were from 10 to 11 1/2 inches long. We did the same thing Sunday morning and put 5 more keepers in the ice chest. I also hooked on too a really nice bull red but it popped off about 7 minutes into the fight. But luckily our next place we stopped I hooked on to another bull red and got him to the boat. Even though we threw back most of the fish we caught; we got 17 specks and 1 bull red throughout the weekend.

Been forgetting to post reports, so here are some of the bass that me and my friends have caught in April and early May. We have been trying to get on the water every chance we get. Lately all we have been using are Wacky Worms and Flukes.

Me and my 4 buddies decided to go fishing Sunday along a bayou that passes by our houses. So we loaded up 3 14ft aluminum hulls and hit the water before day break. It was a perfect day to fish. We caught a total of 37 bass that day. I topped the leaderboard with 12 bass, my friend Thomas caught 11, Dylan caught 8, Jacob caught 6, and William lucked out and caught 0. All the bass were caught on senkos. The best colors were Blue Junebug, Watermelon Red Flake, and Black with Red Flakes. Also all the bass were released.

My friend Richard invited me to go sac a lait fishin with him Sunday and I jumped right on the offer. We had a blast pulling in the fish left and right into the boat. My friend, his dad, and myself put close to 60 sac a lait in the cooler that afternoon.

Decided to do the same thing as last week and take my pirogue to the pond by my camp down in Cocodrie, but this time I made sure to get their early. By the time I reached my first little fishing hole it was 10 A.M. The bite was slow and then I finally found a little canals hat was loaded with sheepshead. I caught 8 nice sheepshead, a red, and a drum. Ran out of bait shrimp so I decided to go in and get more bait. After a lunch break I went back out and only caught 3 more sheepshead. I made a move to another pond and I noticed there were Pelicans and seagulls diving into the water. I got there and whenever I caught the first trout with bait shrimp I hurried up and tied on a Shrimp Creole Matrix Shad with 3/8 jig head and the bite was on. Every cast I was pulling in specks but unfortunately most were under size. Only 12 were keepers. I threw back close to 20 specks that afternoon. Also caught 2 reds and 2 drum that afternoon on the Matrix Shad. At the end of the day I caught a total of 11 sheepshead, 12 specks, 3 reds, and 3 drums.

Matrix Shad Review: Friday night my dad told me to go to academy and pick up a couple packs of the hottest soft plastics on the market right now 'The Matrix Shad.' Well now I see the big hype on the bait. The best part about the bait is how durable and well made they are. I caught over 30 specks and 2 reds and only used one bait and its still almost good as new. I give the Matrix Shad an A+.