The Morgan City area is a great place to fish in May
There’s a wide area east and south of Morgan City where the bassin’ action can be fast and furious in May.
The Bayou Black area harbors plenty of bass, Bill McCarty knows from experience. The Morgan City outdoorsman regularly heads that way to catch bass, particularly this time of year.
“Find pretty water coming into pretty water,” McCarty advised. Fish drains along Bayou Coppersaw, Bayou Penchant, Superior Canal or Turtle Bayou Pipeline.
“It’s pretty easy to sit at a drain and catch a couple of limits of bass,” he said, noting most of them are 12 inches to 14 inches long.
McCarty, a St. Mary Parish School Board member who owns WHM Services LLC, an oilfield-related company, said those bayous and canal are among the choice destinations for bass anglers in south central Louisiana. Other parts of the area are worth probing with soft plastics, spinnerbaits and small Rat-L-Traps, too, he said.
Bass fishing success in the area’s main lakes themselves — Lake Penchant and Lake Hackberry — can be very good, also. Look for grassbeds and clean water, McCarty said. Clumps of grass or lily pads are the top targets and most of the time the bassin’ is best early or late, he said.
Based on recent sightings and developments, though, more and more of that underwater vegetation in the area is disappearing because apple snails are devouring it, he said. Those apple snails are half the size of a man’s hand, he said.
They leave pink eggs “all over the place” in bushes and trees. A state biologist recommended knocking whatever eggs that can be seen off the structure they’re on and into the water.
“It’s bad. It’s amazing how much less grass there is in two years. They’ve eaten a bunch of it,” he said. “It looks like a snail on steroids.”
He has seen evidence of the grass munchers in the Stephensville area, he said, which concerns him.
If you do find places with a lot of grass in the Bayou Black area, a 3/8-ounce chartreuse/white or chartreuse/blue buzz bait or a white Stanley Ribbit plastic frog are hard to beat to put bass in the boat.
Also, fish with a watermelon/red flake Senko, or a ¼-ounce chartreuse/white or brown/orange Humdinger spinnerbait, or a ¼-ounce chrome/blue Rat-L-Trap.
The Turtle Bayou Field is approximately 13 miles at a bearing of 150 degrees from Morgan City. The lower end of the Turtle Bayou area is where Turtle Bayou joins Bayou Penchant at or about 29°31.878’ N. Latitude ~ 91°05.185’.
The northern stretch of Turtle Bayou can be reached via the Intracoastal Waterway. A canal leads to the crow’s feet area at or about 29°37.319’ N. Latitude ~ 90°59.917’W. Longitude.