Speckled trout bite on fire out of Dularge

Pickets artificial reef, Enstar platform two speck hotspots now, Lake says

The speckled trout action out of Dularge right now is the best May bite Capt. Bill Lake has seen in at least 10 years.

“Last year it was cold and the winter dragged on, and we didn’t really start catching a lot of fish until the end of May,” said Lake, who owns Bayou Guide Service. “But this year we started catching them in mid-April, and this month so far has just been incredible.

“You can just about limit out everyday in a couple of hours. It’s crazy. We have tons of fish down here right now. I can’t even exaggerate how good it is.”

He’s had success double-rigging chicken-on-a-chain Wedgetail Mullets in 8 to 9 feet of water at the Enstar platform just a couple of miles northwest of Raccoon Point.

“There were probably 5- or 600 trout caught on that platform Thursday,” Lake said. “Some people were catching them on plastic, but they had a lot of people fishing with live bait — croakers and live shrimp — and they were just loading the boat.”

Another popular spot where the action has been almost non-stop is the artificial reef constructed late last summer by CCA where the Pickets once stood.

“We all thought it would take a while, at least a year, but we’ve caught 1,800 trout on that reef in the last three weeks,” Lake said. “And that’s just my group of people. That’s not counting everybody else that’s been fishing it.

“We had three consecutive days on that reef where we caught a hundred fish in less than 45 minutes double-rigging them. Two at a time on every cast – it’s just crazy. It’s the best thing since sliced bread, and the word is out.”

On Thursday, Lake fished deeper water to escape some of the pressure and put together a quality box.

“We decided to get down in about 20 feet of water, and that’s where we caught some big trout,” he said. “The Gulf was laid out slick, and it was a beautiful day. We caught 85 today, and we had 24 fish over 3 pounds.

“At the reef at the Pickets, they’re a little smaller — averaging 14 to 18 inches. Fishing deep water structure in 20 feet of water, they’ve been running 18 to 22 inches.”

But to get out to deeper-water structures, like Ship Shoal 28, Lake said the wind has to cooperate.

“The wind is definitely our No. 1 factor in what makes us or breaks us. Even though the wind can blow hard, there’s a lot of good reefs and structure behind Last Island out of Cocodrie where you can get out of the wind and catch plenty of fish in (Lake) Pelto,” he said. “But out here to the west where we fish, it’s open water with no protection. So a 14 or 15 mph wind will hurt us pretty bad.”

The cool front that arrived overnight should provide solid conditions today, but the wind might kick up as the long Memorial Day weekend progresses.

“It may get a tad bit windy for the weekend,” Lake said. “I saw it was going to 15 to 20 (mph) by Sunday afternoon.

“I guess Saturday we’ll have to see what happens the way this cool front sets up.”

Lake can be reached by cell phone at 985-637-3712.

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