Set your sights between the first and second sandbars, angler says
Micah Doyle is a full-time student at LSU, but when he’s away from the classroom during the summer, he loves targeting speckled trout. The avid angler makes several trips throughout this month to get in on the wade-fishing action at the beach on Grand Isle.
One of the major reasons why people don’t have success doing this, Doyle said, is because they do not wade far enough out.
“All the people you talk to in Grand Isle say not to go past your ankles in the water,” he said. “From my own experience, and I feel like I’ve got quite a bit of experience with fishing the surf in Grand Isle, is that has never worked, and the fish are always between the first and second sandbars”
One easy way to tell if you’re far enough away from the beach is to visually look for the sandbars.
“If the water is real clean, you can see that second sandbar,” he said. “If you can, throw to that second sandbar and fish the trough between the second and first sandbar.”
Doyle starts his summer trips before the sun comes up, but he said not to be flustered if the fish don’t bite at daybreak.
“If the fish aren’t biting, especially during the summer, you can guarantee that eventually you’re going to catch fish,” he said.
A key part of success is tide movement.
“The water has got to be moving,” he said.
Doyle starts off almost every morning with a topwater rigged up. It’s one of his favorite ways to fish, and it can be super productive up until a certain point in the day.
“There’s always this finite point where they just stop hitting topwater, and then tight-lining with a Matrix Shad on a GoldenEye jighead always seems to work,” he said.
When tight-lining, Doyle works his bait in a unique way.
“In Grand Isle I find you cast, let it sink for a second and then just continually pop it,” he said. “I don’t really fish like that anywhere but in Grand Isle.”
For anglers who are looking for big fish, wading in Grand Isle might not be your best option — but it can provide a lot of fast action.
“Very often, you’ll get smacked as soon as the bit hits the water,” he said. “When they’re biting, they’re biting. If you catch one, it fires them all up.”