Well with this cold weather we are having the speckled trout are moving out to deeper water, but the red fish are coming out of the broken marsh and shallow duck ponds. The red fish are grouping up in the bayous and dead end pipe line canals by the hundreds right now. It happens every year at this time of the winter when the hard cold fronts pass through and the wind blows out of the north for three days and blows all the water out the reds will group up in certain areas so thick it is like fishing in a barrel. I always did believe that the speckled trout can not take the cold water temperatures like the red fish. The speckled trout will move south towards the gulf of mexico where there is fifteen to twenty feet of water and it doesn’t get as cold as the shallow bays. They will hang out there the rest of the winter until the water temperature gets back up to around sixty degrees. Sometime in the early spring around the end of March or the beginning of April the small brown shrimp will start showing up and it won’t be long the speckled trout will be right behind them. Like anything else in the outdoors, once the food shows up the predators will show up soon after. That is the good thing about mother nature she is always changing her seasons and that gives up a chance to prepare for the next season. There is always maintenance to do on our boats and fishing equipment as the seasons rotate in and out. I have to say that it keeps the excitement at the forefront with the up coming speckled trout season.
As for the red fish during the cold winter months it is like fishing in a barrel with the tide being real low and the red fish stacking up in the dead end canals and deep holes close to the cabins here in Lake Hermitage. The style of fishing for the reds this time of the year doesn’t change much in regards to what we use for bait. Dead shrimp two feet under a popping cork is the way we fish for reds this time of the year. Remember you don’t want to set the bait too for under the popping cork because you are always throwing to the shore line and with the water level being low you don’t want that shrimp to be setting on the bottom. Red fish will not normally pick a shrimp off the bottom because they are not a bottom feeder. They like the bait to be in the lower column of the water level. Some time they will hit on top water but usually I find that they like it towards the bottom with out being on the bottom. We are catching red fish right now at the perfect size around sixteen to twenty six inches long. With the live shrimp being gone completely the menu has changed over to dead shrimp or small ditch minnows. They will feed on minnows the rest of the winter until the first corp of live shrimp move back in sometime around April. Another reason it is a blast catching red fish during the winter is that with the water level being low in the shallow duck ponds and small bayous around here is that they don’t have a lot of depth to go down while you are fighting them to the boat. Because they only have two to three feet of water you see a lot more of the fight while pulling them to the boat. The action is surely something you will not soon forget. The excitement starts at the time you set the hook and will last until you get him in the net and coming over the side of the boat. Red fish has a very special effect on leaving a good impression on everyone who comes through here during the cold winter months. But then again catching fish of any kind will leave a good impression on anyone if you like to fish.
Bayou Log Cabins Fishing Lodge is located about thirty five miles south of New Orleans Louisiana five miles off the main highway in the middle of a two hundred year old fishing village with about one hundred and twenty five camps alone side of a bayou. Our log cabins come with all the amenities of home, such as central air and heat, direct TV, full kitchens, swings, picnic tables and BB pits under each cabin. The fishing around these parts are the best anywhere in Louisiana and like I said we are only thirty five miles south of the city New Orleans. Just about everyone of our new clients that pass through here always seem to come back the following year as well as telling other folks about the fantastic time they had while fishing here. Building memories while have fun on the water is something that you can not buy anywhere else in the world. Having a balance in life is truly a wonderful thing to have. We spend so much time working and doing things that create stress that we once or twice a year we need to all do something that brings us joy along with building memories with the ones we love. A lot of times we get corporate clients that simply want to entertain there customers and they use our log cabins and our many different fishing charters for there stay. We offer daytime speckled trout and red fish fishing charters, nighttime air boat red fish bow fishing charters, nighttime flounder gigging charters using a all LED lights so you can see the flounder good as well as late afternoon air boat swamp tours that will surely leave you with lots of photo’s for conversation at a latter date with your friends. Once again spending time on the water with family and friends is a fantastic way to spend your vacation that you will not only have a great time but build memories that will last a life time.
