Trout and reds are crushing baits everywhere
“It’s wide open right now and trout action is exploding everywhere,” Capt. Tommy Pellegrin, said.
Pellegrin said the trout action turned on earlier than usual this year, no doubt due to a no-show winter and an early spring warm up.
“We’re finding action all along the beaches, in the surf and behind the islands,” said Pellegrin, with Custom Charters out of Houma. “Last Island, Timbalier, Whiskey Island, Coon Point… everywhere. The water is thick with shrimp so you want to fish with live shrimp or a good shrimp imitation bait, and in my opinion the best shrimp imitation bait out there is the Berkley Rattle shrimp in the Coastal Candy color. Fish it two feet under a simple clip-on cork around points, over reefs, in current lines, and hold on. The trout will find it.”
Pellegrin said schools of bull reds are also marauding along the beaches in the surf.
“On calmer days you’ll actually see them tearing up the surface of the water chasing shrimp,” he said. “On choppy days look for the birds to show you right where they are. Throw that Rattle shrimp in the fray and hold on tight to your rod.
“This is also a great month to fish the well-heads in Lake Pelto and Terrebonne Bay for specks and reds. These bays are dotted with well-heads and all of them are worth trying. The water is about 7 feet deep and the bottom is littered with old oil field debris so you’re going to lose a lot of tackle if you fish the bottom. I fish it using a sliding cork, about 4-5 feet deep, which suspends my bait in the strike zone and keeps it off the bottom. The trout are eating up baits out there right now, and we’re catching some keeper size reds in the mix.”
Pellegrin said some anglers are also doing good chasing reds in marsh ponds this month by throwing weedless spoons.
