August heat shuts bite down pretty quick, guide says
Capt. Jack Payne, over at the Sweetwater Marina (504-453-8382) said the trout action should be as hot as the sweltering temperatures this month.
“I expect to do some great trout fishing this month in Black Bay and Breton Sound, “ he said. “You have to run a little bit to get to them, but it’ll be worth the effort. The fish will be hanging around the various platforms and gas wells, and the usual hotspots like the Wreck, Iron Banks, the Compressor Rig, the Black Tanks, Stone Island, and since the Big Muddy goes down this month, you should see some good action closer to the river around Battledore Reef also.”
Payne said the trout will be hanging a bit deeper this month because the water temperatures are already high.
“So the key to success is to fish deep and fish early,” he said. “The bite is usually over by 8 o’clock in the morning, sometimes as late as 9, but sometimes as early as 7:30, and then it’s done for the day. You absolutely have to fish early, or do the polar opposite and fish late, just before dark. The downside to late evening fishing is you have a very short window to catch fish and then you have a long run back to the dock in the dark. Actually, either way you have a short window to catch your fish, and either way you’re running in the dark, either early in the morning heading out, or late in the evening heading in. You choose.”
Whether you choose to fish early or late, either way you’ll want to load up the baitwell with live shrimp or croakers, and have your rods rigged for bottom fishing, which means a drop-shot rig, a sliding cork rig or a Carolina rig.
“The good thing about August is the action is usually fast and furious because the fish are only going to bite during that small window of time,” Payne said. “It won’t be stretched out over the course of the morning, so all the action comes in a frenzy and you can quickly load up the ice chest.”
Payne said if redfish is your target, you should find some real good action this month spread out all over the marsh.
“You can fish the fringes of the bigger bays like Oak River Bay, Bay Lafourche and Lake Campo, with live or market shrimp under a cork,” he said. “Toss your bait up at points and cuts where you see some good current movement, especially if you see bait movement on the surface. But you can also catch reds in the interior waters like Lake Lery, Grand Lake, Little Lake, Shrimp Lagoon, Lake John and Lake Batola, should all produce redfish. Just remember to get those reds back in the water quickly this month if you’re not going to keep them, because they die fast in the hot months.”
Best redfish baits: Live or market shrimp, live cocahoes, beetle-spins, gold spoons, and Berkley Gulp plastics under a cork.