Suspending twitchbaits working now for fat specks
Cabot Corso has been fishing in the surf at Elmer’s Island for 20 years, and it’s days like Monday that keep him coming back for more.
Along with his nephew Cory Corso and brother Rusty Corso, the men enjoyed a great morning of fishing and wound up with 36 fat speckled trout and five redfish between them. Cabot and Cory fished in the surf, while Rusty worked from a boat anchored off the beach.
“All the trout were nice, probably averaging about 19 to 20 inches,” Cabot Corso said. “We had a couple of 17s and couple of 22s, so they were all probably close to 3 pounds.”
A red and white MirrOlure suspending twitchbait did most of the damage Monday morning, a day when Corso said it was somewhat tough to pattern the trout.
“Nothing was consistent,” he said. “We caught some in the first trough, and later on we went out a little further to the clear water. In the morning, they were close in …. But the baitfish didn’t stack up and stay like they normally do. For a little while they were in the first trough and you’d catch a few fish, and then before you knew it, the baitfish just disappeared.”
Corso, who lives in Destrehan, said he doesn’t have a camp on Grand Isle, so he keeps a close eye on the marine forecast before heading down to surf fish.
“A light north wind is surely helpful for the seas,” he said. “If you have a strong south wind, seas are usually rougher, but I’ve caught them on different winds as long as it’s not too bad to stir the surf up where the waves are killing you. I look at the marine forecast and make sure it’s at least 1 to 2 — nothing bigger than 2-foot seas.
“The marine forecast isn’t an exact science, but I don’t like to go down there and get beat to death.”
And not every trip is a trout slam — just last week Corso said he went and lost five MirrOlures to jack crevalles for his trouble.
“This time of year it’s a lot of hit-and-miss. But usually around a full moon if you can get the surf down, the big trout will be in there,” he said. “That’s what happens every April and May each year. By the time late June and July come, there are so many trash fish in the there, the sharks get bad and the big trout have spawned, so they aren’t bunched up in there.
“And after the water gets hot, you start getting bluefish and ladyfish, and smaller specks come in. You can get a sow trout every now and then, but you won’t put together a stringer like we got at the end of June.”
