December usually delivers our first blast of really cold weather. We start getting cold front after cold front beginning in November, and by increments our weather changes from fall to winter with each passing front.
“By mid-December, you know winter arrived,” Capt. Nick Rando said. “That means the fish will go deep and huddle, and you’ll want to fish all the deep holes and channels where they’re known to congregate.”
In Delacroix, that means Oak River.
“From Orange Bayou to the Twin Pipelines, Oak River will hold fish, even on windy days,” Rando said. “The technique is simple: Anchor at the cuts and drains, and cast toward the middle of Oak River.”
Just be sure your jig is heavy enough to pull your lure to the bottom.
“On those colder days it is vital to get your bait all the way to the bottom or you will not catch fish,” Rando said. “It’s safe to say 90 percent of the fish I catch on cold days are caught right on the bottom, so if I’m not on the bottom I’m not catching.
“Normally, I’ll fish a 3/8-ounce jig with an Egret Wedgetail minnow in black/chartreuse, glow/chartreuse or all chartreuse; or a Matrix shad in the lemonhead color. On days with strong current I’ll fish a tandem rig using a 3/8-ounce jig on the bottom and a ¼-ounce jig on top. It might sound off balance, but that is a deadly combination for Oak River fishing on cold days.”
Rando said other cold-weather hotspots are the deep holes at the bends, turns and drains in False River, the ledges in the Twin Pipelines between Lake John and Crooked Bayou, and the deeper holes and ledges around the Spider.
“Sometimes I get to Oak River on those cold days after the front and the water looks dirty,” he said. “I’ve learned to fish it anyway, because sometimes the water is cleaner on the bottom.
“And I always tell my customers to fish slower on cold days. And the colder it is, the slower you have to fish. When you think you are fishing too slow, slow down even more, especially when the water temperatures fall below 50 degrees.”
But there’s an upside.
“The good news is, the fish won’t spook easy like they do the rest of the year, and when you find them you’ll catch a bunch all in the same spot,” Rando said. “It’s like shooting fish in a barrel; you can’t miss.”
We came back to the dock with a nice mixed box of specks and reds, and we caught and released some bulls, keeping only the smaller ones for the grill.
So, if you want to shoot some fish in a barrel, Delacroix is the place, and this is the time to do it.