Fish ledges with little current, New Orleans area guide says
With this week’s cold snap and water temperatures in the mid- to upper-50s, Capt. Mike Gallo has been successful fishing in deeper water with little current.
“Because we’ve had north winds since Tuesday afternoon, I wanted to find deeper water, because it stays cleaner and it’s where those fish are going to go when the water temperatures drop,” said Gallo, who operates Angling Adventures of Louisiana in Slidell. “Those fish want deeper water without as much current, because it takes energy to swim in the current.”
In these conditions, he likes areas like the Intracoastal Waterway and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet.
“They’ve got deep water that’s consistent in depth because they’re man-made, without a lot of current,” he said.
On Thursday, Gallo was anchored in 33 feet of water and casted up onto a ledge in 15 feet of water to fish the drop off.
“That’s where the fish were,” he said. “As the water warms up, they’ll move up those ledges into shallow water. But they’ll remain close to deep water in case we have another couple of cold days and the water temperature starts dropping.”
For speckled trout, he’s been using live shrimp under a cork or Deadly Dudley’s bay chovey in opening night or shrimp cocktail.
Gallo said flounder are now spawning in Lake Pontchartrain, and he’s hearing reports of some success for specks under the bridges.
“I think this cold front that hit us the last couple of days is going to move a lot of the shrimp out of the lake,” Gallo said. “And when those shrimp move out of the lake, the bridges and the structures are going to be places where the baitfish are going to be hanging around, and that’s going to be the bait of choice for speckled trout when the shrimp are gone.
“I think they’ll settle back in on those bridges, and unless we have a real cold snap that keeps the water cold, I think they’ll show up on the bridges soon in increasing numbers.”
For redfish, Gallo said take your pick from the three “S’s:” shrimp, spoons or spinnerbaits.
“Most of the submerged grass in the marsh is gone, and what’s left of it I’m sure the ducks are eating now, so it’s not really necessary to use a spoon, but that’s a personal choice,” he said.
The forecast calls for a gradual warmup this weekend, with east-southeast winds on Saturday and south winds on Sunday, with a 70-percent chance of rain.
“I don’t see the water temperatures dropping into the low 50s where it’s going to halt the bite of the fish,” Gallo said. “So I’d say this is going to be a pretty normal November weekend. You don’t have to leave at crack of dawn – you can leave at 8 and fish until 2 and probably have a decent box of fish. And you can fish through the warmest part of the day.”
