Trout await close in at Cypremort Point
Take it from a fisherman who got married on the water at one of his favorite fishing spots on Vermilion Bay: Many of the piers and wharves in front of the camps at Cypremort Point offer potential honey holes for speckled trout.
And August is perhaps the best time to target speckled trout there, New Iberia’s Don Naquin said.
The 55-year-old veteran angler has been fishing them since the mid-2000s, when he was first introduced to them.
“A good friend of mine, Troy Amy, taught me how to fish them and some of the better places to fish around them,” Naquin said.
Since then, the biggest trout he has boated was a 5-pounder. Valeria Naquin, his wife, got a 6-pound, 2-ounce beauty once.
The biggest speckled trout reported caught at the piers and wharves was an 8-pound, 6-ounce lunker reeled in by Julaine Schexnayder of Jeanerette, Naquin said.
The Naquins were married on Aug. 12, 1998, at the Trash Pile, the first place Don Naquin ever fished in Vermilion Bay.
The Naquins have been fishing together ever since, inseparable during saltwater fishing rodeos and tournaments.
This time of year, they like to visit the piers and wharves, some of which have nearby artificial reefs of riprap and other material positioned by camp owners. These areas attract and hold baitfish, and — of course — speckled trout.
Naquin said the key is to respect people’s property. Many camp owners dislike boaters tying to the piers and wharves rather than anchoring away from them. And camp owners want to protect any underwater lights they may have.
“You don’t know which ones have underwater lights. Try to respect them all,” he said. “It’s a touchy subject. We all try to work together.
“The majority of the wharves, there’s no problem.”
Why do speckled trout hang around the structures? Naquin explained that, as the water warms during the dog days of summer, speckled trout seek cooler temperatures in the shade and moving water under the structures, particularly the pilings that also hold baitfish they like to eat.
“They always have a current and shad under the wharves, so it’s cooler,” he said.
The Naquins like to fish around the pilings with swim baits and soft plastics such as H&Hs. Their favorite swim bait, their go-to artificial lure, is a 3-inch Storm shad-colored model.
“It’s been a really good bait. I hear Tsunamis produce better, but we stick to our Storm,s” he said.
Typically, he said, they use a ¼-ounce leadhead. If the current’s really strong, they’ll switch to a 3/8-ounce leadhead.
As weighmaster of the Coastal Conservation Association’s Sugar chapter, Naquin was sure some speckled trout will be caught around piers and wharves Aug. 13 during the chapter’s annual Specks & Spots Tournament.
For the second straight year the chapter is partnering with Wounded War Heroes, he said.