Try these two spots if you want to fill your box with chilly December specks.
Dealing with the crowds is an inevitable part of life for Louisiana sportsmen who want to get in a little speckled trout fishing during the winter. The Sulfur Mine near Golden Meadow and the Pen near Lafitte are perfect examples of just how crowded a small saltwater lake can get.With all the possibilities near these two lakes, it makes one wonder why there may be 70 boats crowding the Sulfur Mine on a Saturday morning when there may only be five in the surrounding ponds and canals.
The Pen is no different. It’s not unusual to run into the Pen only to find that 40 other boats beat you there. Just like at the Sulfur Mine, though, there may be just a few boats working the surrounding bayous and canals.
Why do so many anglers gather in such great numbers in these relatively small lakes when there are so many other places they could go? It’s not so they can gather for warmth.
Why do so many anglers gather in such great numbers in these relatively small lakes when there are so many other places they could go? It’s not so they can gather for warmth.
The reason the boats crowd the Sulfur Mine and the Pen is because speckled trout crowd the Sulfur Mine and the Pen.
“I have fished both areas extensively over the years,” said Capt. Mike Daigle of Cast It Charters. “Although I haven’t run over to the Sulfur Mine since the last couple of storms, I’ve been over there enough and in the Pen enough to have learned some important similarities and differences between the two.”
While Daigle can make a very valid comparison of the Sulfur Mine and the Pen, it’s a given that the Sulfur Mine is usually way more crowded than the Pen during the winter. And if learning how to deal with the crowd is important at the Pen, it has to be more important at the Sulfur Mine.
That’s where Capt. T-Man Cheramie comes in. The Sulfur Mine is essentially right outside of Cheramie’s back door, and he has dealt with the crowd more winter days than most. With the help of Daigle and Cheramie, anglers should be able to fish these crowded lakes with confidence.
The primary difference Daigle sees between the Sulfur Mine and the Pen is when speckled trout show up in each and how long they will stay there. Much of the difference has to do with the fact that the Pen is farther north than the Sulfur Mine, and the water in the Pen is a lot shallower than that in the Sulfur Mine.
“The Pen definitely isn’t as deep as the Sulfur Mine,” said Daigle. “The Sulfur Mine has silted in over the years, but it used to have water up to 25 feet deep. Lately just about all you can find is 17 to 18 feet. On the other hand, the deepest water you’re going to find in the Pen is 8 to 10 feet.”
Being that the Pen is shallower than the Sulfur Mine, that means the trout will abandon it at some point during the winter in favor of places like the Texaco Canal system up Bayou Dupont. They may also move to Bayous Rigolettes and Perot, both of which have a little bit deeper water because of some navigational channels cut in them.
The Sulfur Mine has no such problem. In fact, cold water actually drives more fish into the Sulfur Mine because of its deep water. Daigle says the Sulfur Mine continues to churn out great fishing even when the temperature drops to freezing.
“I’ve caught fish at the Sulfur Mine with 20 yards of ice extending from the bank,” he said. “No way that happens in the Pen.
“Both places are great because the trout will gang up in them to gorge on the baitfish, but the Sulfur Mine bite will last all winter, whereas the Pen won’t.”
However, assuming the water in the Pen hasn’t fallen into the low 50s, there are way more similarities between these two lakes than there are differences. One of the primary ways the Sulfur Mine and the Pen are alike is in how trout adjust to warming temperatures and how anglers catch fish.
The primary fish movement at both areas begins with the trout suspended somewhere in the deepest water early on the coldest mornings. As the sun comes up over Southeast Louisiana and the water starts to warm, the deep trout will move progressively shallower the warmer it gets.
“This means anglers out there at daybreak should target the deeper trout with some kind of tightline presentation,” Daigle explained. “My general rule of thumb is to stick with that until it gets warm enough to start peeling off clothes. Start looking to make a move when you take your jacket off. You can eventually follow them all the way to the shoreline as the (air) temperature climbs into the upper 60s and low 70s.”
Of course, those who have been fishing these cold-water community holes for a long time will tell you that the best thing to do is to simply forget about tightlining in the deep holes and get a little extra sleep each morning.
The way Cheramie sees it, why wait on the cold water for the fish to move shallow when you could be waiting in your warm living room?
“I fish a cork most all the time,” he said. “And I can catch fish under the cork all day long unless we’ve had three straight nights in the 30s. That’s what it takes to really put them in the deep holes in the Sulfur Mine.
“But a lot of times I won’t even leave the dock until 10 or 11 in the morning. By that time, it’s warmed up and everybody else is on their way back home.”
If there is any difference in fishing the Pen and the Sulfur Mine during the winter, it is that the cork tends to work earlier in the morning at the Pen being that the water isn’t nearly as deep. Daigle frequently keeps an eye on his fish finder while making a drift.
If he sees fish at 3 to 4 feet, he goes all out with the cork. However, if fish seem to be suspended in the deeper water around 8 feet, he has somebody check the tightline. If trout start banging the tightline, he switches everybody over to that.
While the Sulfur Mine and the Pen are likely to produce most any given day during the winter, Daigle pointed out that some days are definitely better than others, and some days are worse.
“I’ve limited in both lakes fishing right before a cold front,” he said. “The key is to be on the water the day the front hits but to be in front of the change in wind direction, the wind and the drop in temperature.
“The trout will sometimes immediately shut off on the backside of the front. However, you can catch them the day after. Two days after? That’s the day to stay home and clean your reels because you’re probably not going to even get a bite.”
As for the crowds, Daigle and Cheramie believe patience is the greatest virtue anglers can have when fishing the Sulfur Mine and the Pen this winter.
“If you don’t think you can handle people running over to fish around you when you catch a fish, if you don’t think you can handle people running through your fish, if you don’t think you can handle people generally being people, then don’t fish either one because all three are going to happen to you on any given day,” Daigle said.
However, if you have the temperament of a saint, you might just want to give one or both of these cold-water community holes a shot this winter. If the crowd isn’t enough to keep you warm, landing and unhooking all those fish surely will.
Contact Capt. T-Man Cheramie at (985) 693-6828 and Capt. Mike Daigle at 985-331-8548 or www.castitcharters.com.
