It’s a rare day when the trout aren’t biting out of DuLarge. The fish are going to bite. It’s just a matter of where and on what. Capt. Olden Rodrigue of Coastal Charters Services (985-856-6494) said the where is pretty easy right now. It’s the what that can be a little tricky.“We’ve been catching some nice trout all along the coast and out on the structures like Enstar, Pickets and Mardi Gras,” said Rodrigue. “Enstar is the shallowest at 8 feet, and Mardi Gras is in about 15 feet.”
These three areas are producing well during the day and at night. Rodrigue said the daytime fishing has been best using live bait on the bottom.
“I’ve been doing well fishing live croakers or shrimp on a Carolina rig,” he revealed. “You can catch a few on plastics, but the best bite has been on the live stuff. It’s pretty easy to get live bait to the bottom and let it do all the work. You’ve got to adjust your barrel weight with the current, though. I go anywhere from 1/2-ounce to 1-ounce depending on how strong it is. A 2-foot, 30-pound leader has been just right.”
If you want to try the plastics, Rodrigue said you could do well fishing purple/chartreuse or glow/chartreuse Bayou Chub Minnows on a tightline around the platforms. Rodrigue said if they aren’t eating one of these two plastics, you might as well go to the live stuff.
“Trout will move up to feed on baitfish under the lights at night,” he continued. “You can fish the glow/chartreuse Chub on a tightline or a tandem rig and catch them. And, since these fish are up in the water column, they’ll come up and eat a topwater at night too. I wouldn’t recommend fishing on the bottom at night because all you’re going to catch is a bunch of catfish. I’ve found that a pretty good night bait is that DOA Speckulizer.”
Rodrigue added that he got quite a surprise in Terrebonne Bay just the other day. He caught a tripletail that covered the top of a 72-quart ice chest while he was trout fishing. The fish wasn’t far out at all, and it hit in 7 feet of water.