Joey Hedrick knows of at least three “sulphur mines” that people fish along the Louisiana Gulf coast. However, the one he most-frequently fishes is the collection of cast iron, wooden pilings and steel cables just north of Lake Pelto.
“There is just a tremendous amount of structure you can see above water there, and just as much if not more under water that you can’t see,” Hedrick explained. “You’ve got to be careful trolling around in there.
“I kind of learned my lessons the hard way, but it holds a tremendous number of trout.”
Apparently, it also holds some big trout. Hedrick landed his heaviest trout ever there this past spring — a fish he estimated to be 5 or 6 pounds.
“My scales weren’t working, but it bowed up on both sides when I put it in a 48-quart cooler,” he said.
Although this particular Sulphur Mine holds a lot of fish, Hedrick has noticed the last couple of years that they start moving off of it as the water gets really hot in late July and August.
“They move to the nearby rigs in 9 or 10 feet of water versus staying in the 4 to 5 feet of water around the Sulphur Mine,” he explained.
Knowing how to fish this area is key to filling the box rather than just picking up a few fish, and one of Hedrick’s favorite ways to fish it is to get in the middle and throw live bait under corks out to the circle of open water.
“But there are also a few places around the outside that hold some fish. Out there, I fish the drop shot. On the inside, I fish under a cork.”
According to a report from Capt. Paul Titus on LouisianaSportsman.com, the Lake Pelto Sulphur Mine is located about 2.7 miles north of Trinity Island and East Island of the Isles Dernieres chain of islands and 2.7 miles south of Bay St. Elaine.
Titus went on to write that the mine is a small 500-yard island that forms a small V in a north-south direction with the northern part of the east side of the island at or about N29 06.156 x W90 40.555.
