Pay attention to the water movement, particularly on a falling tide, and you’ll catch more speckled trout this winter.
Since Capt. Chris Pike suggested anglers take along some live shrimp with them on their wintertime fishing trips to Delacroix Island, I wondered about the availability of live shrimp for December.
According to Jack Payne with Sweetwater Marina (504.342.2368), getting live shrimp during December shouldn’t be a problem. Although it would be wise to call ahead to check on their availability.
“As long as the shrimp season is open, we’ll have shrimp,” he said. “And the shrimp season will stay open as long as there are shrimp in the inside marshes.
“I don’t know how long it will stay open this year, but last year it was open through January.”
Payne suggested that shrimpers weren’t catching nearly as many shrimp this October as they were last year, so he wasn’t sure what effect that would have on the closing of the shrimp season. But he was confident that his marina would have good shrimp through December.
“It will mostly be white shrimp,” Payne continued. “The brown shrimp are spring, and the whites show up in the fall.
“Fish eat them both, though. The whites are a little bit harder to keep alive, but as long as you’re buying them from somebody who hasn’t beaten them up, you’ll be good to go.”
Although white shrimp are more available in the fall, Payne concluded by saying that brown shrimp made up at least a third of the shrimp in his tanks as late as early November.
They both fish the same way, though. Run a hook under the barb or back by the tail, and you won’t be able to tell any difference.
