Speckled trout still haven’t returned to Lake Ponchartrain, guide says
Speckled trout still haven’t made their move back into Lake Ponchartrain yet, but the Biloxi Marsh redfish bite continues, a fishing guide said.
Capt. Mike Gallo, with Angling Adventures of Louisiana, said he heard a few reports recently of some smaller specks being caught by the rocks on the south shore of the lake, but nothing indicating the larger fall run had begun.
“It’s not very consistent from what I’m hearing,” Gallo said. “But it should happen sometime soon.”
As specks begin to stage and prepare to move back into southeast Louisiana’s coastal lakes and bays, Gallo suggested the eastern exterior edge of the Biloxi Marsh as a potential hotspot this weekend, as well as the western shoreline of Lake Borgne.
Three Mile Bay, Bay Boudreau, Lake Eugenie and Lakes of Bayou Marron are all locations to try with live shrimp under a cork, but Gallo said now is the time of year to keep moving if the bite’s not there.
“I think those fish are migrating in from open water, so they’re going to hit that eastern edge of the Biloxi Marsh first as they’re making they’re way in,” he said. “But being that it’s August and it’s sort of a transitional timeframe, we don’t really expect to stop at any one spot and catch a great number of fish. Practice the ten-minute rule.
“If you don’t catch anything in ten minutes, move.”
He said he’s seen a lot of pogeys, traditionally an excellent trout bait this time of year.
“Look for big concentrations of mullet and pogeys. We call it nervous water,” Gallo said. “They know there are things around wanting to eat them. If you throw your cork and it hits the water and all those mullet jump, you know they’re on edge. That’s a good sign. If you’re fishing where there’s edgy mullet, you know there are predators around.”
The opposite also holds true, he said.
“If you throw your cork in the middle of a bunch of mullet and they don’t even bother with it, you might as well move,” he said. “There probably aren’t any big fish around.
“You gotta read those signs.”
If you do run across a school of specks using live shrimp, Gallo suggested throwing a Deadly Dudley Bay Chovey shrimp cocktail with a chartreuse tail if you want to mix in artificials.
Redfish-wise, almost anywhere inside the Biloxi Marsh around a point with current could work, including Muscle Bay, Petes Lagoon and Stump Lagoon, he said.
“Throw your shrimp up against the grass and let it drift around the point. When it drifts to where it’s just sitting in the current, real it in, cast up-current and let it drift past that point again,” he said.
The extended weather forecast calls for low rain chances with 5- to 10-mph winds from the southeast, Gallo said.
“That’s very fishable,” he said. “It’s supposed to be a real nice weekend.”
