Trout, redfish, sheepshead, drum, ladyfish, jacks, sharks and a variety of other species call the rocks at the end of the MRGO home. And, while anglers can catch fish along them all year round, the real season for the rocks kicks off this month.
“I have to tell you: The rocks have saved my butt on many a fishing trip,” Capt. Jacques “Jakamo” Laboureur said, as he reeled in a respectable trout. “You know what it can be like on those tough days when you just can’t get the fish to cooperate — I’ll take customers out into the Sound, bounce around the rigs and wellheads, maybe fish the barrier islands, and have to head back in with very little to show for the effort.
“I always stop at the rocks on the way in, and many a day that’s where we find the fish. They’ve pulled my butt out of the fire many a time; otherwise I’d have gone home with a pitiful catch.”
Laboureur said he anchors just far enough away from the rocks so a good cast can still put a cork up next to them — but unless you are fishing for reds, you don’t want to cast up that close.
“The trout hang off the rocks anywhere from a couple feet to 20 to 30 feet or more,” Laboureur said. “Use that same cork rig, with either live shrimp or a curly tail Gulp in white, or … anything bright with a chartreuse tail.
“Naturally the best bait is going to be live.”
Laboureur said the rocks are also a good place to walk the dog with a MirrOlure She Dog.
“I love to see them explode on a topwater bait,” he said.
