The hottest part of the summer is upon us and the speckled trout are still feeding like crazy on the oyster reefs & surf near the barrier islands.
This weekend I had the pleasure of fishing with a group out of Baton Rouge Louisiana. I picked them up from the log cabins at five thirty Saturday morning and headed south across Barataria Bay towards the barrier islands. We had a very slight breeze out of the north west and the sky was clear of any rain. The guys were very excited because of the good conditions we had on the ride out. When we arrived at the first fishing spot we started catching a bunch of throw backs and it didn’t take long for us to move the boat. We picked up and headed south to the beach. As we got closer and closer to the surf I notice the water clarity was getting better and better. The tide direction was coming in and the gulf water was very clean. When we turned the corner on to the beach it was slick clam and the birds were working the shore line as far as the eye could see. We pulled away from the main pass because the tide was too strong right there on the corner where the water relieves itself from the surf to the main pass. When I fish the beach I never like to fish too close to the main passes because the water rushes around the point to get into the main pass. I always like to run down the beach at least a half a mile or so then pull up to the brake in the waves and anchor down. Remember when fishing the surf, it is a promising idea to try and anchor your boat down close enough to the break in the surf that you can reach that point. What happens to the bait feed is that they lose control in the wave when it is about to cress. That is where you will find the monster speckled trout feeding on the live shrimp and other bait feeds in the surf. Remember earlier I said that the slight breeze Saturday morning was out of the northwest. That made the shore line of the surf lee shore and is was a perfect morning to set up and catch some beautiful speckled trout. We found a perfect spot on the surf and anchor down and went to work catching some awesome speckled tout. The average trout we were putting in the boat was running about twenty inches long. As always one of the guys were throwing right in the hot spot and seem to be catching more than the other guys. Of course, he was letting everyone on the boat know he was putting most of the fish in the boat. The other fellows remained patient and continue to let him brag and then the luck if you will change and the other guys started catching more than he was. If there is one thing I learned a long time ago is never start to mouth off when you are doing because you never know when the bite can stop at one location and start up on the other side of the boat. There was a verity of baits running the shoreline and the big yellow mouth speckled trout was there to feast on all the bait bumping the shoreline. This is the time of the year that you will find days that the conditions are right to fish the beach for these big speckled trout. Anytime you find any kind of a north wind during the latter part of the summer like July or August you should always try to make a stop on the beach just to see if the big yellow mouth trout are taking advantage of those perfect feeding conditions. We were using live shrimp three feed under a popping cork and I can tell you it was a fast and furious bite. The trout were very aggressive and we were only in about three feet of water and it was Chrystal clear. Once the trout was hooked and you started your retrieve back to the boat, you could see the fish under the water fighting every step of the way. That my friend is a sight for sore eyes. Something about catching these big hogs on the surf in Chrystal clean water and watching the fight all the way to the boat. It truly is an experience you will never forget. We sat there and caught a full box of the big speckled trout without one interruption. The guys told me that fishing trip was one of the best trips they have ever been on. I spend a lot of time on the water and for me, that is one of the best trips I have every been on as well. We headed over to Grand Isle after we had filled the box up with trout and stopped off at the Sand Dollar Marina for a shrimp po-boy sandwich. It was African hot so it was nice to be able to get out of the heat and into the air condition for a while. After enjoying our shrimp sandwich, we got back into the boat and headed back north across Barataria Bay towards the fishing lodge. When arriving at the fishing lodge the guys were nice enough to help me clean the catch. That is always a tremendous help to me and allows me to focus on cleaning my boat and getting it ready for my next fishing trip. We sat around for a while and talked about how the fishing trip went. I like to do that after every trip I take because it allows the group the opportunity to understand why we did certain things during the day. Everything is happening so fast when you are fishing you really don’t have time to explain why you are parking the boat a certain way or other things that would be helpful to them later on in life.
