Oyster Bayou is out of the way, and can be hit and miss, but it also can bail out trout anglers struggling to limit out.
Capt. Marty LaCoste with Absolute Fishing Charters exited the mouth of Bayou DuLarge at Pelican Pass. Only this time, rather than pointing his bay boat toward more-familiar destinations like Coon Point and the Mardi Gras rig, he turned sharply toward the west and ran the coastline toward the often-overlooked Oyster Bayou.
LaCoste spotted some action on the surface as he neared his destination and soon realized he was looking at speckled trout jumping out of the water to eat shrimp that were doing the same.
Amidst the excessive display of gluttonous behavior around him, LaCoste (985-856-4477) and his crew of anglers began casting double-rigged soft plastics into the middle of the free-for-all.
“That was the earliest I have ever limited out on trout,” LaCoste recalled. “We were done before 7 (a.m.), and it was right there at the mouth of Oyster Bayou. I wouldn’t call it a secret, but this is a spot that maybe is just enough out of the way that many people don’t think much about it.
“For me, though, it’s always in the back of my mind.”
And who can blame them? For anglers launching at Bayou DuLarge, making the decision to run to Oyster Bayou means they’re going to have to pass up plenty more popular and possibly more-productive fishing spots.
“It’s one of those kinds of spots where you literally have to go over there in hopes that you hit it right,” LaCoste said. “Because if the tide isn’t falling, you’re not going to catch anything.
“And by the time you figure that out, you’re missing out on catching fish if you had made the decision to go to the Mardi Gras, Coon Point or anywhere else.”
Besides being a little bit out of the way, Oyster Bayou also has another variable that forces some anglers to place it way down on their lists of spots to hit: Oyster Bayou basically connects Four League Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, and Four League Bay is at the mercy of the Atchafalaya River.
“That means if the river is high a lot of muddy fresh water gets pushed into Four League Bay,” said Capt. Travis Miller with Miller Time Charters (985-981-6434). “Add that up with a strong west wind, and you can see that a lot of that fresh river water will eventually make its way through Oyster Bayou.
“That throws off the salinity, and the fish just kind of disappear.”
Because of the uncertainty that comes with fishing Oyster Bayou, Miller typically puts it at the bottom of the list of places he’s going to try during a fishing trip.
In other words, it’s a spot he might try on his way back in just to see if the trout are there and biting.
“I actually consider Oyster Bayou as a last-resort, holy-crap, I’ve-got-to-find-something kind of place to fish,” Miller said. “Say I’ve been fishing Mardi Gras and I’m over there by Blue Point, I’m thinking then that we might as well hit Oyster Bayou just to check if they’re there.”
Although it doesn’t seem to have much going for it on the surface, it is those days like LaCoste mentioned earlier that forces him and Miller to at least keep it in the backs of their minds. And when it does pay off, it pays off in a big way.
It has been LaCoste’s experience that trout start to show up there at the end of April and, even through he’s caught trout there as late as September, they generally stick around throughout the summer and into August.
“Oyster Bayou is a major transition route for the trout,” LaCoste noted. “It’s a big bayou with a lot of water moving through there. It’s the kind of place trout use for a spawning area.
“They spawn on the beaches and in the major passes — typical summer fishing on the coast.”
If you are in the Gulf of Mexico looking at the mouth of Oyster Bayou, there is a big flat on the east side that LaCoste says is just a couple of feet deep. From there, it drops off and gets deep right in the middle of the bayou.
“We mainly fish over the flat and on the drop-off,” LaCoste explained. “And I don’t change anything when I fish over there: It’s the same double rigs I throw everywhere else.
“The only change I make in how I fish them is totally based on the direction and strength of the current.”
In other words, instead of having to bounce his double rigs like he might at some of the islands or rigs, LaCoste simply casts up current and allows the baits to wash back to him while steadily reeling up the slack line.
“Yea, there ain’t much reeling,” he said. “It’s just throwing them out there and letting the baits drift in the current until the trout pick them up.
“Now it’s a little bit different if I have shrimp jumping out the water all around my boat. In that case, I’ll obviously cast into all that. But a lot of times you only get that shrimp activity first thing in the morning.”
Like LaCoste, Miller generally sticks to the mouth of Oyster Bayou when he hits it on his way in, and he just about always throws double-rigged plastics.
However, he isn’t averse to bringing along a few minnows just in case.
“You can throw cocahoe minnows up in there and catch a lot of trout,” Miller said. “All it takes is hooking them on a Carolina rig with a 1/2- to 3/4-ounce egg weight and a No. 3 Kahle hook.
“I generally don’t use live bait, but sometimes you got to roll up out there with it if the bite has been off an on.”
One method that Miller is excited to try at Oyster Bayou and surrounding areas this summer is what many anglers are calling the Rucker Rig. When it’s all said and done, the Rucker Rig is nothing more than a Carolina rig with a plastic D.O.A. shrimp on it rather than live bait.
“Since you’re not using live bait, you’ve got to impart the action,” Miller explained. “You have to pop it very aggressively — one pop and let it sink, one pop and let it sink. Trout will hit it as it drops.
“It’s a little challenging to feel the bite, but it’s cool if you don’t have live bait and they’re not hitting the standard double rig. It’s just a little different way to fish plastics on bottom in deeper water.”
If you decide to give Oyster Bayou a try this summer, both anglers pointed out that it might not be worth your time moving on up into Four League Bay unless you’re just looking to explore a little bit and maybe catch redfish with an occasional trout or two.
“There will be some fish up there in Four League Bay,” LaCoste said, “because there are some good oyster reefs up there. Sometimes I drift them, but the majority of fish are right there at the mouth (of the bayou) out to maybe 400 yards.”
Miller agreed.
“I’ve only been up to Four League Bay maybe six or seven times, and all I’ve found is fairly brackish water more suited for redfish,” he said. “It can get fairly dirty because of the river water, and it’s not the deepest area.
“It’s my experience that the trout don’t travel up too far into that open water.”
And if you are looking for redfish rather than trout, LaCoste concluded that the deepest part of the mouth of Oyster Bayou gets loaded up with big bull reds and black drum.
If that’s the kind of fishing you’re looking for, he suggested bringing along some heavier Carolina-rig gear and some cracked crab.
“It’s kind of like fishing Grand Pass back over at Bayou DuLarge,” LaCoste said. “Just anchor out and throw cracked crab on the bottom with a Carolina rig.
“This is deep water close to the Gulf of Mexico, and those big fish will be in there.”
Oyster Bayou may not be as popular as places like Coon Point, Pelican Pass and the Mardi Gras rig, but if you’re looking for a second-fiddle kind of place that has a lot more fish than fishermen, it might be worth a try.
You may not limit out before 7 a.m. like LaCoste did, but if you find the tide falling and shrimp jumping you are going to catch just enough trout to put Oyster Bayou forever in the back of your mind.