Venice is a great jumping-off point for hot ling fishing action.
When the Mississippi River starts getting lower, the water gets cooler and the river current starts getting slower in October, Capt. Larry Averitt (225.268.9616) says the specks and reds start moving up the river and feeding better.
“They move into the marsh and start feeding for the wintertime,” Averitt said. “They move in during October, and you can usually point to the full moon in October as the time you want to start getting back on the water.
“I’ve been guiding down here 15 or 20 years, and I see that full moon as being the time when fishing just goes off the charts. ”
Averitt revealed that he likes to fish Main Pass a lot during October, and that he prefers bouncing jigs off the bottom and Carolina-rigging live shrimp. So the fishing is a little bit different because he’s not fishing under a cork as much as he did back in the summer.
“Basically the fishing returns to what we call the inside,” Averitt explained. “Starting in October, you don’t have to run outside the marsh and fish the islands or rig structures. And the good thing is that you can go back to artificial baits. You can still use live shrimp, but it’s kind of like the springtime because you don’t have to.”
And one of the great things about fishing during October, according to Averitt, is that you can limit out on redfish and speckled trout sitting on the same spot without ever having to pull in your anchor.
“The places like the points we fished out in Customhouse Bay today will be great places to limit out without moving,” Averitt said. “That’s the reason that October is my favorite time to fish out of Venice.”
Editor’s note: This article is part of the Take Home Angler feature in the October issue of Louisiana Sportsman. Digital editions can be downloaded right to your computer or smartphone.
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