Speckled trout are starting to show up on the oyster reefs near the barrier islands in the Grand Isle area. This week I had three trips starting on Tuesday with the winds very light and beautiful weather. I picked my clients up from the cabins early Tuesday morning and headed south towards the barrier islands where we been catching some nice speckled trout. We arrived at our destination and the water was very clean. You could see at least three feet down into the water. Normally that is not good for catching speckled trout however it did not seem to bother them at the reef we were fishing at. The trout were hungry as you could see the live shrimp jumping out of the water. The trout were after the shrimp making them jump out of the water and the sea gulls were diving and scoping them up as they jumped out of the water. It looked like a sizzling summer day in the middle of the summer when the shrimp are plentiful, and a feeding frenzy moment was going on. The wind was calm as I said, the tide was falling out to the gulf and the water was clean. The folks I had on the fishing trip had a fantastic time catching their limit of trout and had lots of stories to tell when they get back home. The ride out in the morning was beautiful with the sun coming up in the east as we crossed Barataria Bay. They took lots of photos of everything on the trip as the day unfolded.
Thursday morning was a little different as the weather was a little different. I picked the customers up from the log cabins at about the same time in the morning. After loading up the boat we headed south towards Barataria Bay with a slight breeze out of the southwest at about ten miles per hour. When we got to the open water I had to slow down a little bit as it was too rough to cross the bay at fifty miles per hour. They were lots of action going on as we headed across the bay towards the barrier islands. We saw lot of different flocks of sea gulls working at various locations. I know the trout were inside all along the interior bays however they were school trout. We stopped a couple of times to see if they had any size to them and they were all eleven to thirteen-inch speckled trout. Se we continued across the bay towards the reefs where we been catching some beautiful fish. When we arrived at the location the wind was picked up a little bit and the water clarity was not as good as it was two days before. I really didn’t know what to expect with the change in conditions, but we pulled up to the spot and anchored down. It wasn’t long after we got settled down that the bite turned on. The fish was just as plentiful as the last trip and the bite got better and better as the morning unfolded. At one time I could barely keep up with the group as they were pulling them over the side of the boat two and three at a time. A couple of times the guys on the bow of the boat was taking the fish off their line and baiting up with a fresh live shrimp before I could get to them. They really knew how to fish and understood how the boat works when the fish are biting as good as they were. We had a bit of a problem with some dolphins that moved in on us before we were able to limit out. When the dolphins moved in on top of the oyster and started cutting up and feeding on the speckled trout we were trying to catch, well it destroyed the bite. The fish turned off like flipping a switch on the wall. We moved the boat a few more time trying here and there and fondly found another bite that was almost as good as the one we were at early that morning. The guys were able to finish off their limit and cap off another wonderful day on the water. The ride in was slow as the wind picked up and the waves were hitting the boat on the numbers. Of course, that will cause a spray to come over the front quarter of the boat and tends to get everyone wet. The temperature was a little on the cool side and by getting wet made for a chilly ride in from the fishing hole.
The third and final trip for the week were some folks from Memphis Tenn. And they wanted to stay in the marsh and catch some red fish, so we did just that. Good thing they wanted to catch some red fish because the wind was blowing about fifteen miles per hour that Saturday morning. We left the cabins and headed to a place I know of not too far from the fishing village where the cabins are located. We got in a pipe line canal that is protected from the wind by some thirty-foot-high trees and believe me they had a fantastic time catching some beautiful redfish. When fishing redfish in the pipe line canals you must troll down the canal and throw live shrimp under a popping cork towards the bank. I like to fish redfish about two to three feet from the shoreline. I always believed the redfish would prowl the banks looking for their food in the shallow water. That way they don’t have to chase the feed like they would have to in deeper water. The shallower the water the less they must work to catch the feed. Not to say you will not catch fishing redfish far away from the bank, but it is much better to fish in the shallow water right next to the bank.
