Jigs under a cork tipped with worm catch bigger fish, angler says
The wind was blowing and it was still a little cool a few weeks ago when my son Garrett and I launched into Lake Verret from the Attakapas Landing. And the water was muddier than I expected.
It didn’t seem to matter — boats were bobbing amongst the flooded cypress trees for as far as we could see.
A few stops in the lake provided zero action, so I just put the boat back on plane and turned into Crackerhead to find some clean water.
I was soon watching my cork plunge beneath the water as one of Lake Verret’s famous pan-sized bluegill sucked up my cricket.
Garrett soon joined the fray, and we worked that little dead-end for all it was worth, catching 19 big bream and a gazillion bait-stealers before we trailered the boat again at noon.
Not bad for a few hours.
But things should really pick up this month, as water temperatures stablilize and (hopefully) the fronts stop blasting through the state.
“From experience, I expect in May when the water temperature reaches 70 to 75 and higher the bream will be on,” LouisianaSportsman.com user Andy Bourgeois said.
Bourgeois, who is known on the forum as “tiger555,” recommended scheduling trips a few days before and after the full moon on May 21 to maximize your time on the water.
“Places like Bay Alcide, Texaco Canals, Crackerhead, the Oxy Fields, Bayou Sherman, Cheramie and in Lake Verret around the trees will be good,” he predicted.
I’m a firm believer in crickets — I never leave the landing without 300 or so of the little jumpers — and Bourgeois confirmed that a lot of fish can be caught using them.
However, he said he prefers another tool.
“Use crickets under a cork for numbers, but if you want size, I usually use jigs or beetle spins,” Bourgeois said. “Jigs under a cork tipped with a piece of worm works best for me for size and numbers.”