Frank Lodato

Tug of war at 24 fathoms

Posted by: Frank Lodato in Frank's Water Column on Jul 17, 2009

In my younger days I aspired to be a lifeguard. I thought is was cool to see guys and girls chilling on the giant, white towers with their shades down low and sun block all over their faces. Well, I was discouraged when I had to swim from 12ft down with cinder blocks to prove how strong I was. Imagine doing this with a 91.2lb amberjack with a spear shot through its body. That was Keith Crescioni’s fate last Saturday morning 60 miles offshore.

After launching at 6:30AM from Venice Marina, Crescioni and other members of the New Orleans Aqua Aces suited up and dove down to 140ft. The outlook was good with a variety of red snapper, mangrove snapper, and grouper patrolling the depths. Suddenly a school of giant amberjack appeared and were swimming toward him. “I chose the biggest one of the group and got a great shot on him,” said Crescioni. Then, it was on!

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Knights of Nemesis hook a “Dad” on fishing

Posted by: Frank Lodato in Frank's Water Column on Jun 26, 2009

Shell Beach, LA 6/20/2009
Leaving Covington at 3:30AM for Shell Beach is no fun at all, but sometimes necessary. Last Saturday morning I woke the kid up for a long day of tournament fishing in Shell Beach for the 5th Annual, Knights of Nemesis, Hook a Kid on Fishing Rodeo. We stopped en route to buy live bait at Patty’s Fresh Shrimp and Live Bait in Slidell just in case the bait was scarce.

We arrived in Shell Beach to picture perfect conditions. The tide was moving in, wind around 8mph, and bait all over the place. Still, the bites were few and far between. We picked up a red, flounder, and a sheepshead that my friend Eric wanted to try to clean. (more on this later)

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Swap a pole for a pint glass!

Posted by: Frank Lodato in Frank's Water Column on Jun 04, 2009

Perhaps one of the most rewarding hobbies a person can have is home brewing. I know, all of you fisherman out there are thinking “No way, you can't beat catching a 4lb speck on top water baits!” Well, that is rewarding too but tasting your own beer is special in it's own way. Home brewed and craft brewed beers take on different personalities than what we buy at the neighborhood grocery. Theres just something about it...

You can taste all the homebrew, craft brew and local brew you desire on Friday or Saturday night as WYES puts on the WYES International Beer Tasting. Here are the events:

WYES PRIVATE BEER SAMPLING (50 beers)
Friday, June 5 at 7:00 p.m.
NOLA Brewing
3001 Tchoupitoulas Street

WYES INT’L BEER TASTING (200 beers)
Saturday, June 6 at 6:00 p.m.
Lakefront Arena
Tyler’s Hospitality Service

For event information call
Joan at (504) 486-5511 x 200 or visit wyes.org.

I hope to see you there!

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Fishing for Baby Carter

Posted by: Frank Lodato in Frank's Water Column on May 29, 2009

Listen up folks! June 20th at the Rigolets Marina will be the Fishing for Baby Carter Rodeo. All proceeds will assist in medical care for Carter’s condition, Tuberous Sclerosis.

Registration opens at 5:30AM and the tournament begins at 6:30AM and ends at 12:30PM. We'll be fishing for redfish and speckled trout with award prizes to the top fisherman in different categories. Plus, we will have a raffle and silent auction during the lunch program.

The cost is $60.00 per person. It includes your launch fee and lunch. All donations received from this tournament will go to help  get Baby Carter to a highly specialized treatment facility in  Los Angeles, CA so that he may have a chance of a normal life.  Thank you for all your support and generosity.

Location : Rigolets Marina, Slidell, LA Contact : Jason Hymel - 985-264-6529

Make all checks payable to: "Roslyn Hymel - Special Account"

Click here for more on the Fishing for Baby Carter Rodeo!

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What a difference a year makes...

Posted by: Frank Lodato in Frank's Water Column on May 22, 2009

Last year at this time, we were all watching the news and reading our papers to see if the Bonnet Carrie Spillway was going to close. The Northshore had green algae floating everywhere and getting caught in our props. Although the fishing was tougher, the fish never stopped biting. One thing about last year was the amount of black drum holding on the Causeway.

This year the trout showed up at the bridges a little early and seem to be in the middle of the lake instead of 4 miles from the Northshore. I'm sure that will change as conditions change, but the fish are there.

June marks the beginning of live bait season, so it's time to arm your fishing poles appropriately. The three ways to catch fish in the summer are:

1)    Popping Corks
2)    Sliding Corks
3)    Carolina Rigs

I would have a pole rigged with each one of these before hitting the water, especially a sliding cork. There’s nothing worse than seeing your partners pulling in specks at Seabrook while you try to build a sliding cork rig.

Three launches I've called have live shrimp: Chef Harbor, Rigolets Marina, and Bay Marina in Bay St. Louis.

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Sometimes, stupidity pays!

Posted by: Frank Lodato in Frank's Water Column on May 15, 2009

One of the dumbest things a man can do is ask his wife if he can go fishing while she watches the kids on Mother’s Day. The second dumbest thing is to actually go when she says, “Yes.” So, what do you think I did with the trout biting at midlake on the Causeway last Sunday morning? I went fishing!

Don’t you just love it when the weather forecasters call for 5mph winds, but when you arrive at the launch the flags are stiff? That’s what happened to us. Perhaps this was the wrath of my wife raining down as a result of my decision to fish.

The water was so rough that there were boats that launched in front of us who were heading back to the launch as we were heading out. It looked like 2 to 4 ft seas with your occasional 15ft swell. (Probably only 3-4 ft) I gave my buddy Danny Carlos the look, you know the “should we go back” look, and he just screamed, “We’re already in the dog house; we might as well sleep in it!” It was at this point he decided it would be best for us to go as far into the lake as we could go, 12 miles out.

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The old, wise man

Posted by: Frank Lodato in Frank's Water Column on May 08, 2009

All week long I’ve watched the weather and had Friday tagged as my day to play hooky. Of course as the week goes by, the 5 knot winds turn to 5-10, then 10-15 on the forecast. Today, I would say it was more like 99-100 knot winds. That’s CAT3! Well, that’s what it felt like anyway. At one point I was actually casting 45 degrees from my target to get within 30ft of where I needed. It turned into a casting contest! We casted the twin spans, the trestles, HWY 11, and Chef Pass just to make sure our skill applied in all areas. You would think with all that casting we would have accidently put the bait in front of one fish: NOPE!

One thing I did observe: At the twin spans there were 24 ft Tritons, and Hydra Sports boats with power poles and other worldly radar equipment. However, it was the old, wise man in small flat boat that was driving with one hand and fishing with the other who was catching big trout. He was trolling with his tiny rod and huge bait casting reel and catching fish. Everyone else was pounding the pilings and catching nothing.

I don’t fish every week, but when I do I want to enjoy myself. Trolling with hard plastics seemed to be less stressful than managing a trolling motor in that wind. We gave it a shot, but really didn’t have the right “lake” setup and I lost my kid’s college fund (AKA Mirror Lure) on a piling.

Still, it was better than being at work!

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Rodeo time!

Posted by: Frank Lodato in Frank's Water Column on May 01, 2009

It wont be long now when the winds start to subside and us recreational fisherman can take to the waters with a fury. One thing you can do this summer is mix it up with some fishing tournaments. If you haven’t done it before, I recommend trying it. It adds a different flavor to your fishing day and you might just win a new fishing pole.

Rodeos are common in the Grand Isle and Venice areas during the summer months, but Lake Pontchartrain has a fair amount of tournaments as well. The Pontchartrain Yacht Club on the Northshore hosts 2 tournaments in the early fall which are great to fish considering how good the action is on the Causeway that time of year. The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation kicks off their annual rodeo on 5/16 out of the Seabrook Harbor Marina.

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Fishing for wabbits

Posted by: Frank Lodato in Frank's Water Column on Apr 11, 2009

The good thing about being a fishing freak is that you're going to be related to other fishing freaks. This weekend we're headed to my Aunt's camp in Bay St. Louis for an Easter crawfish boil. More importantly, we will announce our presence to the fish of Bay St. Louis. We'll have a mix of relatives pretending to enjoy the crawfish while scanning the boat slip and canal for ripples. Any excuse to grab a pole will do!

While the frenzy of relatives and crawfish is underway, we must not forget that Mr. Easter Bunny will be paying the kids a visit. I'm not sure, but I hear that he may “hippity hop” through the marsh grass and deliver his eggs and chocolates early Sunday morning. Maybe he has upgraded to a Pathfinder bay boat with a 150hp Yamaha to help distribute treats more efficiently. Come to think of it, I did see Easter Bunny life jackets the other day at Academy. Perhaps those are for members of the Bunny family that will be skiing this weekend. That Easter Bunny sure seems prepared for his holiday boating fun. Let's do the same!

Happy Easter!

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Troutzilla caught and released

Posted by: Frank Lodato in Frank's Water Column on Apr 03, 2009

This will probably be my “big fish” story of the year. Capt. Lee Warmke out of Matagorda Bay, TX landed this monster 31” trout while wading in 3 ft of water. “I had a 10lb scale and the scale immediately pegged out so I couldn’t get an accurate weight. The current record in Matagorda Bay is 10.8lbs. I have no doubt that she would have shattered that record,” says Lee.

He was standing on a mushy, mud bottom and throwing a sub-surface, corky bait. They had been putting 7 lb’ers in the boat all day, but when he set hook on Troutzilla he shouted, “She’s a giant!” Lee had hooked into the trout just after tangling lines with a customer and had to cut the customers line off of his. As he turned his reel he could see the leftover knots from the mess sliding through his eyelets. “I was real nervous that the line was going to break.” said Lee.

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Tug of war at 24 fathoms

Knights of Nemesis hook a “Dad” on fishing

Swap a pole for a pint glass!

Fishing for Baby Carter

What a difference a year makes...

Sometimes, stupidity pays!

The old, wise man

Rodeo time!

Fishing for wabbits

Troutzilla caught and released

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