Clean water, speckled trout away
This past Friday (May 27) was one of the few days Louisiana anglers have had recently to fish without having to worry too much about the wind. Dr. Sam Field and his wife Michelle took advantage of the opportunity to introduce me to a little wade-fishing out of Cocodrie.
Our morning started off bleakly, but the Fields eventually found their spot. Together, we caught 75 trout before lunchtime.
As we idled away from their camp in Coco Marina, Sam Field told me we were headed west to fish Coon Point to the west of Raccoon Island. He and his wife, who live in Sunshine just south of Baton Rouge, caught several fish there a couple weeks earlier during some unseasonably cool weather, and he thought those fish might still be sticking around.
However, the farther to the west we traveled, the dirtier the water got. By the time we reached Coon Point, we weren’t sure we would find any water worth fishing. And to top that off, there were already approximately 20 anglers already wade fishing in that general area.
We tried a spot on the Gulf of Mexico side of the point by some rocks, but the Fields quickly realized it wasn’t worth sticking around for too long. We loaded back up and ran around to the north side of the point, but the water was just as dirty there.
Michelle Field quickly hooked and landed a nice trout, but it turned into nothing more than a water haul after that.
“Let’s load up and head east to try to find some cleaner water,” Sam Field said as we climbed back into his bay boat. “Usually, the farther east you go the better water you can find. I sure hope we do, anyway.”
By the time we reached Whiskey Island, the Fields were excited about the better-looking water. Although there was still an air of futility hovering over us, I told them both that I had a good feeling about this particular spot. Little did I know how right I would be.
Michelle Field and I headed toward some waves crashing over the top of a submerged island. We were both fishing Carolina-rigged live minnows, and we hooked up within our first few casts.
Sam Field stuck with his tandem-rigged sparkle beetles, and it quickly became evident that the trout didn’t care if our baits were real or fake.
Over the next several minutes, we stood knee deep on the edge of this little submerged island and caught trout after trout after trout. The tide was pushing in against us as we cast toward the south, and the fish were stacked up in about 3 feet of water. Sam Field even caught a couple while his bait was just dangling in the water while he was unhooking fish.
Soon, the tide switched directions, and the bite shut down. That’s when we noticed the boats out in front of us started picking up lots of fish. We waded out a little deeper and found the bite again. Only this time, the trout seemed to be consistently larger than they were earlier.
We finished our limits before noon and waded back to the boat where Michelle Field served up a round of trout salad sandwiches. And with the day wound up, the Fields motored back to their camp with the ingredients for a whole lot more.