April winds influencing trout bite out of Dularge

LaCoste says most specks are now in process of transitioning southward

Speckled trout are biting out of Dularge, but when the wind is blowing it’s been tough to find a consistent pattern.

That’s the word from Capt. Marty LaCoste, with Absolute Fishing Charters, who said the trout have been pretty cooperative in calm conditions.

“This time of year, the wind is always a killer for trout,” LaCoste said. “Wind and trout fishing usually don’t go together. It disturbs the water, the water gets dirty and bite will shut down.

“As long as the winds are calm, the bite is on if you can find clean, fishable water. The fish have shown up in the summertime pattern. The water is warm and they’re transitioning south — some have already transitioned and some are in the process of transitioning. It just depends on the wind.”

Last Friday and again on Sunday, LaCoste said he went out with customers and was greeted with a stiff breeze that stifled the bite. But when the wind died later in the morning each day, action picked up almost instantly.

“Boom, it was like a light switch went off,” he said. “We were catching them on every cast, and we caught our limit.”

What hasn’t shown up consistently yet aroud Dularge are shrimp: LaCoste saw some on Tuesday for the first time in about a month.

“When we started seeing them three or four weeks ago, we should have been seeing them every day since, and we haven’t,” he said. “There should be birds diving on shrimp all over the lake, and they’re not.”

He’s been catching trout in 3 to 4 feet of water over oyster reefs with shrimp creole Matrix Shad under a cork, and by tight-lining green hornet Matrix Shad with a 1/4-ounce jighead. For redfish, he’s been using Matrix Shad in tiger bait, purple haze and Spartacus.

May can be windy as well, but LaCoste said usually it’s a bit more consistent.

“We prefer a south wind in May,” he said. “You can get behind those islands and a lot of times you get protection form a south wind behind and the water is clean on the backside and you can catch some fish.

“With a north wind, it’s blowing up on it and dirties everything up. You’d have to get on the Gulf side, but usually the wind has been blowing out the south, so the water on the Gulf side is typically dirty.”

About Patrick Bonin 1315 Articles
Patrick Bonin is the former editor of Louisiana Sportsman magazine and LouisianaSportsman.com.