Rising Mississippi River dampens trout bite out of Buras

River forecast to crest at 16 ½ feet — just below minor flood stage — on May 30

The combination of a rising Mississippi River and howling winds have definitely put a damper on what was a hot trout bite out of Buras.

“It was brutal today,” said Capt. Todd Seither, with Cajun Fishing Adventures. “The trout bite is non-existent. I mean, we have a 16 ½-foot river and the wind is blowing its tail off. Literally, I caught one trout today and I heard a couple were caught yesterday.

“But as far as any consistency, we haven’t had it since the river spiked up 4 ½ feet. Nobody’s been catching. You could probably go out and try at some of the islands and catch them, but ever since the river spiked, the wind has been blowing 20 or 30 mph. You just can’t get out there — at least not in my boat.”

The good news is that redfish are readily available — but you have to stick and move now, Seither said.

“I haven’t found them stacked up on any one spot. I didn’t catch more than three on any one spot all day,” Seither said Wednesday afternoon. “It was one here, two here, one here, three there — we were picking and pecking all day.”

Seither, who fished on the east side of the river Wednesday because of strong northwest winds, said he used a purple-and-chartreuse Z-Man Swimming Trout Trick tipped with dead shrimp under a popping cork to catch reds.

“Everywhere you go, the key is not to find clean water, but just a little cleaner water,” he said. “Because you can’t find clean water — you just have to find something a little bit cleaner than anywhere else …. There’s a lot of redfish on the west side right now, but when it’s blowing like this you can’t get to them.”

Redfish are thick down in Venice now as well — Seither said two other CFA guides had their limits with clients by 8 a.m. this morning, and probably caught 50 keepers.

But speckled trout-wise, all they can do now is wait — and from the looks of the river forecast, it could be a while.

The Mississippi is expected to crest at 16 ½ feet at New Orleans on May 30 and remain steady through June 2, then begin a gradual drop on June 3.

By June 4 — 11 days out — it’s still projected to be just under 16 feet.

“It was just getting right, too,” Seither said. “We were smoking good trout on the west side at 10 feet (river stage.)

“Now we just have to wait for the river to come back down and the trout to come back in, because right now they all have to be being pushed to Lafitte, Cocodrie and from Delacroix on up.”

About Patrick Bonin 1315 Articles
Patrick Bonin is the former editor of Louisiana Sportsman magazine and LouisianaSportsman.com.