In an interesting turn of events, Capt. John Pellegrin with Topwater Charters (985-852-9560) took some live bait out fishing Wednesday, but the trout didn’t want to touch it. Pellegrin was fishing on the coast below Cocodrie between Lake Pelto and Grand Caillou, and he caught all of his fish on swim baits.
“The trout are already around the little 4-piling cribbin oil wells,” said Pellegrin. “Some people might tell you that it’s a little unusual for them to be down there on that stuff already, but I don’t think so. These trout were already spawning on this last full moon, and they’re getting ready to burst on the early May full moon. All the fish we caught yesterday were just full of eggs.”
Pellegrin admitted he didn’t find any huge concentrations of trout, but the bite was consistent, if not fast and furious. He believes they are on the verge of some voracious eating on the lead up to the May full moon. Of the 40 to 50 fish his boat caught, most were between 14 and 20 inches.
“We tried the live bait, but they didn’t want it,” Pellegrin said. “I started throwing a Berkley Powerbait Swimming Pogy, and that was exactly what they wanted. We would just throw it up by one of the wells in about 5 feet of water, let it sink a few seconds and slowly reel it straight back in. The dorado and the black/chartreuse colors worked best, but we did catch some on the bluegill-colored swimbait that Storm makes. These are those pre-rigged swimbaits with the hook already embedded in the plastic.”
Pellegrin also tried a few topwater baits, but the trout were reluctantly hitting them at best — just a few swirls with no really aggressive bites. The few trout that tried a swipe at the topwater never even got hooked.
“The only thing that might knock this bite back is the wind we’re expecting the rest of the week,” Pellegrin concluded. “I think I can still get to them as long as the wind isn’t blowing 20 or 25. All the barrier island stuff is about to be on, though. Anything from East Tim to West Tim and Coon Point should be hot. As soon as the wind dies down, I’m going to try it all.”