Keith Lusher 10.29.24
It’s one thing that all of us expertise at one time or one other. You resolve to fish a brand new space. then after putting out, vow to by no means fish there once more.
John Gibby of Mandeville, LA, skilled a nasty journey to a brand new space however determined to offer it one other shot. Goose Level is a well-liked fishing spot positioned on the northern shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain. The spot is barely a 5-minute boat experience from the launch and simply is sensible from his viewpoint. “I normally fish the Hopedale/Biloxi Marsh space, and I really feel extraordinarily assured fishing there, however three hours of these journeys are simply sitting within the automobile, and that’s three hours I’m not with my child, mates, or household,” Gibby mentioned. 
On Gibby’s first journey to Goose Level, he didn’t handle to catch a single fish, which had him questioning why he didn’t simply keep on with fishing his outdated spot. However after just a few months glided by, Gibby determined to offer it one other attempt. “I watched just a few YouTube movies made by people who fished the realm so I had some kind of start line to work with. I reside solely a pair blocks from the lake so it could be good to learn to fish right here, ” he mentioned.
Gibby determined to order 3 days to solely deal with fishing Goose Level. “I wished to check myself. I wished to see if I might learn to fish this space. Individuals inform me there’s a variety of fish to catch in October so I gave myself 3 days to determine it out,” Gibby mentioned.
On his first day, Gibby lined a variety of water and noticed a number of baitfish within the water. He had just a few hits each time he fished within the baitfish that was breaking the floor. He ended the day with solely 2 speckled trout. “I really feel like I made a bit of progress, or not less than sufficient to construct upon. I’ve downloaded a variety of knowledge on this journey,” he mentioned.
On the second day, Gibby cruised the shoreline, specializing in what put fish within the boat on the day gone by. He scanned the floor for baitfish and located a college of baitfish. Gibby picked up 3 speckled trout. “I used to be discovering my groove and I began to see the potential on this space,” he mentioned.
Then all of it got here collectively as he began catching trout by casting into the baitfish along with one thing referred to as eel grass or Vallisneria. The eelgrass grows in lengthy strands that may attain lengths of 6 ft.
“Individuals say that these patches of grass are what to search for and it wasn’t till I reeled up my line and I had a strand of the eelgrass hanging on my lure that I remembered,” Gibby mentioned. Gibby began fishing the patches of grass with baitfish and began placing trout within the boat. It was about this time that Gibby realized the facility of dedicating time to fishing a sure space.
However the spotlight of the day got here after a protracted bomb solid into an space of floor turbulence in a patch of eelgrass.
It was 9:20 a.m. Gibby was utilizing a 4-inch Z-Man Smokey Shad Swim Bait with a 16-ounce bullet weight when he felt a thump and set the hook. “That drag was pulling and after it flashed I knew that it was a gator trout,” he mentioned. Gibby battled the fish and tried to regular the web for a touchdown however missed on two passes. Then the trout swam by once more and he swam proper into the web. Gibby was shaking and respiration closely. “I’ve been grinding all morning and at last caught what I got here right here for. I knew there have been huge trout in right here,” he mentioned.
Gibby had landed a 20-inch speckled trout, which was simply shy of his private finest. “When you would have advised me that I used to be going to catch a 20-inch speckled trout right now, I might have mentioned that you simply had been out of your thoughts. Gibby completed off the day with just a few extra trout to succeed in a complete of 15 for the day. However extra importantly, he had the boldness and data to flip the realm from “no man’s land” to his new stomping floor, and it didn’t even take him his allotted three days to do it!
