Mother Nature threw Plaquemines Parish a curveball this year, but May is the month speckled trout anglers should hit it out of the park.
While there are no guarantees in New Orleans East right now, Captain CT Williams with Big Fish Charters (504-610-6914) says the start of the squeeze play between the mud coming out of the mouth of the Mississippi to the south and the mud coming out of Pontchartrain to the north is pushing fish to Breton Sound.
“The best thing right now is the bite is getting better every day,” said Williams. “If Mother Nature smiles on you the fishing is unbelievable. On the other hand, if we get a little bit of wind or tide that pushes dirty water up from the river, it can get a little tough. It’s all weather dependent right now.”
Two places where Williams has had a lot of success the last couple of days are Bay Eloi and the MRGO rocks, with the rocks being most productive of the two spots. As Williams said, “The rocks are easy fish. Most boats are just drifting the rocks and scraping out decent boxes of fish.”
William’s most productive tactic right now is what he calls, “flirting with disaster.” Simply put, this tactic involves bouncing jigs in the rocks. While this has been his primary method of catching trout, there are other ways that are producing.
“You can also fish some of the Gulp! plastics or minnows under a cork and catch fish,” Williams said. “What we’re seeing with some of the suspended mud is that you can start with the cork then switch to the tightline when that bite shuts off.”
And that bite will probably shut off sometime during the day, especially if the tide picks up. Trout that had been up in the water column will move toward the bottom because they find less resistance down there.
“The same can be said for fishing the muddy areas,” Williams added. “If you’ve been catching fish in clean water, and it muddies up, don’t quit. Just start fishing deeper. If that doesn’t work, then get out and find another place.”
Unlike Venice with it’s muddy top and green bottom, by the time the mud gets to the Hopedale areas, Williams said it tends to be more suspended throughout the water. That doesn’t mean there isn’t some green water down there somewhere, but you probably won’t be able to find it by watching your prop wash.
“The mud moves in like a wedge,” Williams concluded. “It’ll shut you down at first, but if you’re sensitive to the subtle changes, it’s dramatic what you can catch.”
