January 21st wasn’t supposed to be a day fit for man nor beast according to the local weather forecasters. The predicted squall line made more than a few anglers decide to stay on the dock rather than risk the weather. When Captain Olin Rodrigue of Coastal Charter Services (985-856-6494) got to the ramp at DuLarge, he noticed that his customers weren’t the only things missing. The parking lot was vacant.“I called up a few buddies and asked them if they wanted to go fishing after my customers canceled,” said Rodrigue. “I’ll admit that the weather look horrible when we arrived. But, we only got one little sprinkle while we were launching and another one while we were fishing.”
It didn’t matter whether Rodrigue and his crew targeted speckled trout or redfish – they both bit with a vengeance surpassed only by the clouds lingering on the horizon.
“The fishing has been on fire at DuLarge since the hurricanes,” he said. “It’s only gotten better since we haven’t had any really cold weather. We were able to get our limits of trout, and the only thing keeping us from getting our limits of redfish was that we were catching too many over 27 inches – a nice problem to have.”
The key to catching fish on Rodrigue’s trip was to stay on the trolling motor and not drop what he called the “Anchor of Death.”
“We caught our trout in three feet of water,” Rodrigue said contributing their shallow location to the fact that the water temperature was 63 degrees. “All our fish came on an LSU ReAction Bayou Chub fished on a lead head jig. There’s something about that bait at DuLarge. If I’ve got a boat full of anglers, and we aren’t getting bit, I let them go through all the bait changes. I know sooner or later they’re going to turn on to that purple and chartreuse minnow.”
Rodrigue reported that the water at DuLarge was as pretty as he has ever seen it. Where he would usually expect to find muddy water churned up by the wind, he found crystal clear water that was dead flat. He also found loads of hungry fish ganged up around small marsh islands and oyster reefs. He and his friends could see all the structure they were fishing.
“After we got our limit of specks we started going after the reds,” he said. “They were hanging out around the cuts and points in a little cove that funneled into the main bayou. Every one of those little spots had a red on it. We caught 20 to 25 fish, but 12 of them were over 27 inches. We never even changed baits. They all came on the same Bayou Chub minnow.”
Rodrigue reported that he isn’t the only one catching big redfish. He’s talked to a few other captains that have told him that they were also catching larger reds than normal.
“They seem to be running big this year,” Rodrigue said. “It’s unusual to catch reds like this in the marsh this time of year. I mean, it’s not like we’re fishing cracked crab or anything.”
