Capt. Marty LaCoste knows what to feed trout once he finds them
The biggest challenge most speckled-trout anglers face is finding fish. Once the fish are located, catching them is generally not too complicated, provided you’re angling ability is better than the average child’s.
On the contrary, one place that doesn’t follow these terms this month is Dularge.
Capt. Marty LaCoste with Absolute Fishing Charters favors areas like the Pickets, Last Island and all the near-shore oil platforms. According to the veteran guide, finding fish isn’t the issue; it’s figuring out how the fish want your lures.
“The fish are going to be there,” he said. “Whether they’re going to be biting is all dependent on the tide and (other variables).”
If you pull up to a random near-shore structure, chances are you’re probably in the right area, according to Lacoste.
“Most of the rigs by (May) have fish on them,” he said.
The difficult thing with fishing the oilfield structures out of Dularge is figuring out a presentation the fish prefer, so LaCoste makes sure to try everything.
“I’ll have one person reel fast, one person reel slowly and one person twitch,” he said. “You want to do a variety of things until you figure out what the fish want.
“Some days, the fish are on the bottom. Other days, you may have a strong current, and you don’t have to reel it at all; you just let the baits drift.”
One thing that does stay the same, however, is what the guide ties to his and his clients’ line. LaCoste throws nothing but double-rigged Matrix/Vortex Shad throughout the summer.
His favorite colors are green hornet, avocado and purple haze.
“When the bite’s hot, they’ll hit anything you throw,” he said.
Once he pulls up to a structure, LaCoste makes sure to work it methodically.
“I’ll circle the entire rig,” he said. “When you’re fishing the rigs, it’s not really about the time you give it; it’s about fishing each side of the structure.”
LaCoste does, however, prefer a certain side of the tide.
“When you pull up to the rig, a lot of times the fish are up-current of the rig, so the majority of the time, we’ll pull in up-current of the rig and start casting out,” he said.
For anglers who don’t own big enough boats to run outside, May is not a complete waste for hardcore speckled trout anglers, LaCoste said.
“Usually there’s still some trout in the interior marsh in the lakes through the second and third week of May,” he said. “There’s always some trout that stay inside through June and July, but most of them are small trout — 11-inch trout, like you pulled up on a flock of birds.”