Trout bite best before the sun gets up this month, guide says
In the winter, speckled trout reside in areas devoid of current. Fish in fast-moving tide on a frigidly cold day, and you’ll probably not set the hook the entire trip.
With a polar opposite season comes an opposite pattern, and Grand Isle fishing guide Capt. Danny Wray said a big tidal range is crucial for fishing the area in July.
“You want to look for a lot of water movement, so I try to fish closer to the passes,” Wray said. “If there’s no tide, you might as well go back to the house.”
He starts every morning at Bridge Side Marina in Grand Isle and picks out live shrimp for his clients.
Wray said the early start is critical for fishing in the summertime — and many people make the crucial error of sleeping in.
“Most of the boats don’t show up until first light is already over,” he said. “If you’re missing the morning bite, lower your expectations quite a bit.”
The guide said fishing gets considerably tougher as the sun gets high in the sky.
“In cold weather they become harder to catch, and in hot weather, they do the same thing,” Wray said.
After spending the morning near the passes, the captain moves over to reefs in Hackberry and Creole bays.
“You run it just like a milk route,” Wray said. “You’re not going to see birds working or shrimp popping.”
In those bays, Wray fishes over oyster reefs that are in about 5 feet of water, and he throws live shrimp under popping corks to induce strikes from speckled trout.
Speckled trout are certainly not at the top of the food chain, and that’s more evident during this season than any other time of the year, according to Wray.
“The worst thing around here is when you get on a hot trout bite and the dolphins move in and mess it up,” he said.
