Live shrimp under a cork the ticket, guide says
Ahab Broadus has been fishing Delacroix for more than 25 years, and he said this May is setting up to be one of the better ones for anglers who like to fish the outer edges of the popular St. Bernard Parish port.
“We were cleaning trout (in March) with eggs,” he said. ”That tells me the females are spawning, or getting ready to spawn. Some of the eggs are in-between (stages of the spawn).”
Although Broadus runs to the outside this month, the gas-guzzling journeys aren’t necessary. Anglers with smaller boats can still have plenty of success.
“You can catch trout on some of those outer bays like Lake Campo, Bay Lafourche and Grand Point Bay,” he said. “When you start getting beyond those — Bay Gardene and Black Bay — you need to have a bigger boat in case the weather gets bad.”
When Broadus is fishing in Black Bay, Breton Sound and the outer edges, he prefers chucking cork-suspended live shrimp to make it easy on his clients. Having said that, Broadus doesn’t leave the plastics at home. He also throws ¼-ounce jigheads with artificial lures.
“If I’ve got a really strong current, or I’m fishing a rig in 8 feet of water, I’ll go to a 3/8-ounce jighead,” he said.
Many anglers who fish Lake Pontchartrain know about what locals have deemed the “Pontchartrain Pop.” This refers to the aggressive jigging of soft-plastics to elicit strikes from speckled trout. Although this is an effective technique that works in many other areas across the coast, it isn’t a preferred technique for Broadus.
“I’ve had better success with a steady retrieve,” he said. “I try to keep it a little bit off the bottom if I can because out there you’ve got so much debris that you can wind up changing a lot of lures.”
Fishing the outside waters of Delacroix around the platforms is especially enjoyable for those who don’t like to dirty up the ruler.
“In May, outside, is when you’re consistently talking about getting your 14-inch-and-better trout,” he said.
A lot of the specific areas Broadus likes when fishing the outside depends on the height of the Mississippi River.
“Generally, if the river is down, we fish south of Bay Gardene down to Iron Banks, out to the Black Tanks and the Wreck, but if it’s full of fresh water, you can forget about it,” he said.
