Bayou Bienvenue trout

Tony Cuccia, Jr. has been selling bait at his Fisherman’s Friend Bait Shop for the past 40 years.

Anglers are crossing their fingers for fine weather

February is an “IF” month, according to Tony Cuccia over at Fisherman’s Friend Bait Shop (504-577-1078), located behind the motel on Paris Road, in Chalmette.

“Fishing will be great IF we have a relatively mild winter, and IF the shrimp hang around and IF those nasty north and northwest winds don’t persist and push all our water out, and IF we aren’t plagued by cold, dirty water and super cold air temperatures,” he said.

Cuccia said the trout action was exceptionally good toward the end of 2024.

“We saw surprisingly good trout action at Seabrook, reminding me of the old days,” he said. “Anglers were consistently catching limits of trout. Even now our customers are still catching fish from Seabrook to the Castle, and all the areas in between.

“An odd thing I found early in the new year is how many big shrimp we were catching in late December and January. Usually we catch a lot of small shrimp this time of year, but this year the shrimp were big late in the season. Probably due to a milder winter initially, but since then we’ve had much colder temperatures and strong north and northwest winds which dramatically affects the shrimp. Point being, it’s hard to forecast whether we’ll still have live bait in February.”

Cuccia usually closes the bait shop in February and reopens in March.

Warm fronts

Cuccia said the MRGO has been producing fish on both sides of the Green Bridge and along the rocks down towards Violet. The Intracoastal Waterway has also been pretty consistent at the junctions with the various pipelines and in areas like Bayou Thomas, Bayou Bienvenue at Lake Borgne, the backside of the Wall, and the area around the Castle.

“Thankfully, we do usually get some warmer fronts this month, and anglers should be able to catch some specks on the milder days between the cold fronts,” he said.

On those milder days, try drifting lakes and bays casting suspending baits, soft plastics tightlined or under popping corks, or with topwater baits while drifting or trolling over flats and reefs. Every year some very nice trout and reds are caught in February on topwater baits.

Otherwise, you’ll want to fish the bottom with live bait if it’s available, or with dead bait or soft plastics on a bottom rig or a jighead in deeper bayous, holes and turns in the bayous.

Cuccia said February is also a good month for catching sheepshead, black drum and redfish, and the shorelines of interior lakes and along the rocks should hold plenty of them.

Troll the bank and cast soft plastics, spinnerbaits or live bait, if available, under a cork, or park at a point or cut and soak live or dead shrimp under a cork. Remember, you want to fish slow in the colder months because the fish aren’t as frisky, and if you catch a keeper stay there and fan cast all around the boat and hopefully you’ll find more ganged up.

Another good thing about February: You don’t have to leave the dock so early in the morning. Give yourself and the fish a little time to warm up!

About Rusty Tardo 378 Articles
Rusty Tardo grew up in St. Bernard fishing the waters of Delacroix, Hopedale and Shell Beach. He and his wife, Diane, have been married over 40 years and live in Kenner.