Well it is the first week of March and we are still catching beautiful speckled trout in the shallow lakes here around Bayou Log Cabins Fishing Lodge. We are located thirty five miles south of New Orleans in the middle of a two hundred year old fishing village. There is about one hundred and twenty five camps along side of a bayou called “Lake Hermitage Bayou” that feeds a five mile diameter lake. What a fantastic location to fish for speckled trout and red fish because of all the oyster reefs and shallow duck ponds. We normally keep red fish in our area year around and the speckled trout migrate in from the barrier islands in the early fall and will hang around until the spring. This location along the Mississippi River is known as one of the best locations for inland speckled trout fishing south of New Orleans because of the amount of marsh we still have that holds lots of bait feed. It is very important for the live shrimp and other bait feed to have a place to grow during the early summer and this place has just that environment. Just yesterday I went out on my live shrimp boat to see if any brown shrimp was showing up and much to my surprise I caught about two hundred. That is the first shrimp that I know of that is showing up for this season. As the water temperature warms up a little bit more the brown shrimp will began to show up more and more. I normally keep about twenty thousand on hand at any giving time so if any of you folks need live shrimp to fish speckled trout with just five us a call or stop by to get your live shrimp for your fishing trip. Using live shrimp for bait while fishing speckled trout can make a world of difference because that is what the trout are use to eating. Now I am not saying you can’t catch trout using artificial bait but what I am saying is that you can not compare artificial to live shrimp. Live shrimp will beat plastic baits every time, that is a proven fact and don’t let anyone tell you any difference. I have been fishing on the south side of Barataria Bay on some large oyster reefs before and one boat catching trout one after the other while the boat next to him are simply not getting a bite and it wasn’t because of the boat positioning, it was because of the bait they were using. I find hooking the live shrimp under the horn of the head and in front of the black spot is the best way to allow that shrimp to look most natural in the water. Some people like to hook them in the tail or in the back but like I said for me the best way to fish live shrimp is to hook them in the head under the horn.
This week I had two separate groups in, one from New Orleans and the other group was in from up north. The folks from New Orleans had there own boat and have been catching speckled trout and red fish for the last two days. They had three small boys on the boat and the dad was telling me there are having a great time. Of course he is having to teach the boys how to be a little bit more organize when the trout bite is as fast as it is because things can get a little tangled up when three boys are bring in trout at the same time. Anyway he told me after the first two hours on the water he had them all straight and they were giving the right-a-way to the one another as needed so they weren’t getting tangled up as much. By the end of the first day those boys were catching fish like they been doing it for years. Now for the other group from DC they flew in to New Orleans a few days ago and they rented a small boat here from the fishing lodge. They were used to fishing fresh water and was a little rusty getting started. After the first day of fishing we brushed up a little bit on a few things and that was all it took. The second day on the water they had a blast catching both speckled trout and red fish. In fact I had to lend them my fry daddy last night so they could fry up some of those trout they caught yesterday. I gave them my fry daddy and some seasoning along with a few pointers on how to prepare the fish and about one hour latter they were kind enough to bring me a sample of fried trout and holy molly it tasted just as though I cooked it. There truly is nothing like fresh fried speckled trout. Today there are on a mission to find a few red fish because I was telling them how we half shell them and cook them on the BB pit putting the scales down on the grill and basing them with a collection of butter and certain seasoning, so that is what is on the menu for tonight.
It truly is a pleasure watching folks come spend time here at Bayou Log Cabins Fishing Lodge and experience the outdoors on the water doing things they never done before. The memories they build while staying here is unforgettable. They may only be here for a few days but what they experience will last a lifetime. Doing things out of your comfort zone can sometimes be a good thing as long as you plan safety in the event. We always plan safety in everything we do around here because we are always dealing with folks that are not use to being on the water. Come build some lasting memories with us here at Bayou Log Cabins Fishing Lodge In Lake Hermitage Louisiana.
