Trout, reds invade Little Lake
I was surprised to hear Captain Ron “Ahab” Broadus (504-914-6063) say January was one of his favorite months to fish.
“It’s cold, it’s miserable, it’s windy — what can you possibly like about January?” I asked.
But he said the month provides great fishing conditions.
“We fish close to the dock,” Broadus said. “You choose your days and fish between the fronts, and when you find the fish they’ll be stacked up.
“Quick easy trips: That’s what I like.”
Broadus said he hopes this month will be just like last year, when the trout and reds stacked up in Little Lake in huge numbers and ate everything you threw at them.
“And they stayed there all month long,” he said. “We’d come out of Bayou Gentilly and, as soon as we hit Little Lake, we’d start drifting. We’d cast Matrix Shads in the lemonhead or shrimp creole colors, or Bayou Chubs in black/chartreuse or purple/chartreus about 18 inches under a cork, and the trout would just eat them up.
“It was non-stop action, and these were nice-sized trout.”
Broadus said he carries live shrimp when they’re available for those “finicky fish days,” but he usually catches everything this month on plastic.
“It just don’t get any easier than that,” he said.
If the trout aren’t stacked up in Little Lake, the guide said he’ll fish the west side of Point Fienne, Lake Batola, Skippy Lake, Lake Fausan and Grand Lake, as long as the weather stays mild.
You can drift or anchor up near points and cuts, and fish plastics under corks.
“If it’s cold, then I’ll fish the Oak River area between Little Crevasse to just past Skippy Lake,” Brodus said. “Basically, those are the areas I’ll stay in through the month of January if I am targeting trout.
“If I’m targeting reds, then I’ll fish the north or west shoreline of Grand Lake, or the points and small islands in Lost Lake with either market shrimp under a cork or just cast and retreive a black/chartreuse cocahoe along the bank.”
