Deep water, Madison Bay are best bets for speckled trout fishermen, charter captain says
Trout have been sparsely distributed throughout the marshes, bayous and lakes of South Louisiana for the past few weeks. Madison Bay and Lake Bordeaux out of Chauvin haven’t been exceptions to this transitionary period.
According to Capt. Scott Walker, cooler water temperatures have caused the fish to stay in deeper water early in the mornings before moving toward shallower flats and oyster reefs in the afternoon.’We caught most of our fish early in the morning in deeper water,’ Walker said of a recent trip. ‘The trout were pretty hit or miss; we had to move around a lot.’
Walker fished a deep canal in close proximity with Lake Bordeaux before the day warmed up and he moved into the lake itself.
That wasn’t a great move, however.
‘We didn’t catch one fish in Lake Bordeaux; it was fresh. More fresh than salty,’ Walker said. ‘So we took a ride to Madison Bay on the east side of Cocodrie, and ended up catching most of our fish there.’
Walker said he drifted the deeper areas of Madison Bay around 11 a.m., catching most of his fish on Carolina-rigged plastics.
‘I’ve been fishing the area ever since I was a little kid, and all I’ve ever used is solid chartreuse-colored artificials,’ Walker said. ‘In deeper water, I put them under a Carolina rig, and in the shallower areas I’ll put them about 1 ½ feet under a cork.’
He ended up with about 25 trout — 80 percent of which were caught in deep water under a Carolina rig — at the end of the day.
March should usher in some great fishing in Lake Boudreaux and Madison Bay as more shrimp move into the marsh, according to Walker.