At 38 years old, Donavon Hinton has been around Lafitte fishermen long enough to have picked up a few tricks of the trade. He gained most of his insight when fishermen would return with their catches to his parents’ C-Way Marina.
One thing that stands out in his mind is that he has a greater chance of catching redfish on shrimp when there are fewer shrimp in the water. And since shrimp are on their way back out to the open-water bays toward the Gulf of Mexico during November, Hinton thinks there’s no better time to be tossing market shrimp.
“During November, what we throw depends on a lot of different conditions,” he said. “Water clarity, the moon, the tide not being right — all of that goes into the decision of what to throw.
“But the general lack of shrimp up close to Lafitte means redfish are more likely to eat your shrimp. And sometimes when the redfish get in a bad funk in dirty water, you’ve got to have that smelly shrimp to get them to bite.”
If Hinton sees redfish up actively cruising just under the surface, he might put his shrimp down long enough to try a gold spoon or a spinnerbait. But there are times that even when redfish would seemingly slam a spoon or spinner, the only thing they’ll consistently touch is shrimp.
“That’s why I never leave the dock without it,” Hinton said. “I might can catch them on a spoon or spinner, but I know I can catch them on a shrimp.”
