Proving the old ways still produce fish
When Capt. Mike Gallo called one evening, it wasn’t to give me a fishing report, it was to reminisce.
“I’m sitting here with my 86-year-old uncle, Dan, and we’re remembering how the fishing was back in the day,” he said. “We’re talking about how we used to fish for speckled trout back then. Redfish were pretty much considered trash fish, so really all our efforts in the coastal waters were geared towards catching specks.
“We’ve been remembering some of the old tackle we used, the popular baits, and how we gauged the success of our trip not by the precise number of fish we caught but by how many ice chests we filled up. Back then, all we had were 48-quart chests, and we always carried at least two or three boxes with us on every trip. It made it difficult moving around the boat, stepping over gear and tackle boxes and ice chests, and usually an extra gas tank or two,” he chuckled.
“Oh yeah, I definitely remember those days,” I said. “Absolutely. So many great memories of bygone days, old boats, long ago trips and old fishing buddies no longer with us.”
Which led to Gallo asking me to rustle up some old gear, old lures and older equipment like we used back then and take his uncle Dan Couvillion along for a trip to reminisce.
“We’ll see if the old gear still works as good as we remember, and hopefully catch some fish like we did back in the day,” he said.
I eagerly took him up on the offer.
Pulling out the old tackle box
Gallo’s plan was to head into the bayous of the northern end of the Biloxi Marsh where he’d had some recent success fishing in both the shallower waters of some of the area lakes and also in the deeper water of the canals and bayous.
“It’s transition time for the specks so they are scattered, some nice fish still hanging deeper but most now fanning out into the lakes and ponds and over the flats,” he said. “We’ll just move and try everything until we find them.”
I brought along a couple of half-century old Mitchell 300 spinning reels mounted to some old rods I dug out of storage, and uncle Dan had a very similar antique reel on an old fiberglass rod. Between the three of us, we put together quite an assortment of old lures that were popular back in the day (and still sold at many sporting goods stores).
We had several packs of the old Speckline shad rigs and a couple packs of shrimp touts. Uncle Dan’s old tackle box yielded a treasure of still unopened Boone shad rigs and a Delta shrimp tout, and of course the ever popular H&H Sparkle Beetles in a variety of colors. I even found one of the old Boone’s red and white colored shad rig floats like I used to use. I figured we were well equipped to reawaken some memories as we fished the same way we did back in the day.
Bottom rigs
Our first stop was at the mouth of a no-name lagoon where a deeper bayou intersected. Gallo made a cast with a brushy-tailed shad rig and got hit immediately, reeling in a pair of slightly undersized trout. We tossed the old shrimp touts, Sparkle Beetles and shad rigs, both under corks and simply retrieved, and while the trout readily hit the old baits without hesitation, most of what we caught was too small to keep.
Uncle Dan said he was going real old school and put a live shrimp on the bottom. A nice keeper-sized trout rewarded his effort and hit it hard. He repeated that twice more and Gallo and I quickly switched to bottom rigs to join the action.
When it comes to bottom fishing, there are numerous ways anglers employ to get a bait on the bottom and make it look presentable. Many just sink a bait on a heavy jighead, simple and semi-effective. Others use a sliding-sinker rig, or the old one-arm snapper rig. Gallo prefers a drop-shot rig, which he said is the most productive way he’s found to fish live or dead shrimp or plastic on the bottom.
I tied one of Gallo’s pre-tied drop-shot rigs on, which is what uncle Dan was using so successfully, and we proceeded to catch some nice-sized trout until the action petered out.
We caught most of them on live shrimp, but we also caught a few on some curly-tailed chartreuse plastics hooked through the nose on the drop-shot rigs.
The March outlook
Gallo said March can bring a bunch of fronts; making for moody, gray, chilly and windy days, and usually we do get some of those this month.
“But March can also bring bright sun and warmer spring-like weather,” he said. “I suspect we’ll have a warmer month, which means water temperatures are up and trout and reds in the marsh will be foraging more in the shallower waters, especially by mid-month.
“I’ll try to get into the ponds that have grass and fish along the edges where redfish and trout will be hunting and feeding on the small minnows in the grass. I’ll use a minnow imitation lure since that’s most likely what they’ll be feeding on, and I’ll fish under a popping cork because the popping noise draws the fish out to your bait.”
Gallo said he likes the Matrix Shads in the Purple Patagonia color, which he finds to be a good pogie imitation.
“You’ll probably have to move around a good bit because the fish are typically scattered all over the marsh,” he said. “It’s not likely that you’ll find them all stacked up this month.”
The trinity
Gallo said you’ll want to search for three things this month.
1.) Clean water – Look for the cleanest water you can find. March winds can stir up the bottom quickly and really muddy up the water. The key is to find clean water. Don’t waste your time fishing in murky water, Gallo said.
2.) Moving water – Moving water is another absolute necessity. Whether the tide is rising or falling doesn’t matter as long as there is a decent current flow. When the current stops so does the bite.
3.) Signs of life – Look for any signs of life; baitfish, mullet, needle fish, crabs, swirls… anything indicating life below the surface.
Any one or two of these conditions is worth trying, but when that trinity converges, fish there for sure, Gallo said.
We moved around a bit, now fishing with shrimp touts, shad rigs and live shrimp under corks. The live shrimp was what the trout hit most frequently, but the old baits held their own when compared to other plastics.
The bottom line
The old baits still work great. The trout still hit them without hesitation, and while we do like (prefer) the fancy new baits for a variety of reasons, the old school baits will still put fish in your box and awaken some nostalgia in the process. As for the old reels, well, they did work just fine, but we all got tired of endlessly cranking the handle on those old 4.2:1 gear ratio reels. It felt good to pick up my lightweight 6.2:1 geared reel again after I’d had enough reminiscing.
Overall, Gallo said he expects March to be a good month with trout and reds in the mix, along with sheepshead, black drum and the occasional flounder. Pick your days and give it a go. And don’t forget the shrimp touts.
Capt. Mike Gallo of Angling Adventures of Louisiana can be reached at (985) 781-7811.
