Eric Rachel’s success in the woods has brought him a fair amount of fame and notoriety.
The only anglers immune to the buffeting winds the last few days are those in the protected duck ponds chasing redfish. Capt. Bill Lake with Bayou Guide Service (985-851-6015) says he’s been taking what he can get while he waits on the trout to turn on.
“The wind had us down the past couple of days,” Lake said. “I even had to postpone a few trips because of it. We had been catching a lot of trout out on the oyster reefs in Mechant and Sister Lake, but there’s no way we could stay out there in this stuff.”
Before the wind started blowing, Lake was limiting out on the trout over the open-water oyster reefs. All his bites were coming on the LSU Bayou Chub minnow fished tightlined. A lot of these fish were in the 12- to 15-inch range, but Lake said that prior to last weekend, he wasn’t catching nearly as many small fish.
“I really expect the trout to turn on after the next couple of cold fronts,” he said. “It’s usually in full swing by the middle of October, but we haven’t had enough cold weather to get them started. It’s running a little bit behind.”
Lake indicated that the fronts that had rolled through weren’t nearly strong enough to make a difference. He expects that to change early next week.
“We got one coming this Friday that isn’t supposed to be very much,” he said. “But the one coming after that around Monday is supposed to make us break out the coats and jackets. That’s the kind of front we’ve been waiting on.”
Lake also pointed out that there were a lot of working birds in Mechant right now. There are a lot of shrimp in the marsh, and the birds are picking pretty heavily. Each group of birds has school trout under it with the east and north banks of Mechant being the most productive.
“Other than that, we’re slamming the reds,” Lake said. “They’re biting the LSU Chubs and gold spoons in the duck ponds. We’ve caught over 400 reds in the last four weeks. It’s been fantastic fishing in about 2 to 3 feet of water.