But weekend forecast looks promising; target fish in deep bayous off main lakes, guide says
Last week at this time, Capt. Marty LaCoste with Absolute Fishing Charters out of Bayou Dularge was getting excited about the prospect of a trout bite that seemingly was getting better by the day.
Then Mother Nature happened.
This week’s unusually chilly cold front that brought snow as far south as Shreveport and Monroe pretty much put the brakes on the trout bite. LaCoste waited out the worst of it with a couple duck hunts and a redfish trip, but he’s happy to see the extended forecast for this weekend.
“Trout were just starting to bite in the lakes,” LaCoste said. “This cold weather might have kept them from biting for a few days, but it didn’t keep them from moving. And if the past is any indicator, they’ve been moving into the deep bayous and canals off the main lakes.”
A lot of these typical winter spots run anywhere from 7 to 10 feet deep, and trout stack up just above the bottom in the deepest holes.
LaCoste explained that the cold weather pushes trout into these areas,where they basically remain tight-lipped until the water temperature starts rising.
“It won’t take much,” he said. “It was 51 degrees today [Wednesday]. It seems like 53 is the magic number. It’s an up-and-down cycle where they won’t bite immediately after the front, then they’ll go crazy just a couple days later.
“You just never know when that day is going to be, but with the weather warming up this weekend, I’d bet it’s Saturday and Sunday.”
Fishing the deep holes couldn’t be any simpler. However, contrary to popular fishing logic, LaCoste said the best way to catch them is to anchor and cast down current.
“It can be a fast bite, but it is slow fishing if that makes sense,” LaCoste laughed. “In other words, you can catch a bunch of them, but you’ve got to fish slow to do it. Casting down current helps you fish even slower.”
LaCoste has caught tons of trout in these deep holes by letting his bait sink and just holding it barely above the bottom, letting it swim in the current without even reeling it back.
“I use the green hornet Matrix Shad a lot, and it just kind of drifts around in the current and dances right in front of their faces,” he said. “Even when I’m not reeling, that Matrix Shad is down there swimming in the same spot. Then I just barely crank it back – just fast enough to keep it off the bottom.”
One of the tricks LaCoste uses to know if he needs to speed up his retrieve slightly is to watch for grass on his bait. He tells his customers that if they’re catching grass with every cast, they need to pick up the pace just a little bit.
Rather than there being only one spot to fish, LaCoste said any of the major bayous and canals running off Lake DeCade, Lake Mechant and Sister Lake are potential fall hotspots.
