Specks at Bay Coquette and Breton Island, redfish at Flatboat Pass and Octave Pass
Speckled trout and reds have been solid producers out of Venice and Buras recently, and with light southerly winds anticipated this week, the fishing forecast remains favorable.
Capt. Jon Lemle with Run N’ Gun Outfitters in Boothville said fishing has been strong on both sides of the Mississippi River.
“It’s been really good,” Lemle said. “The redfishing has been great out of Venice on the east side off of Flatboat Pass and Octave Pass. We’ve been catching a lot of big fish.”
For reds, Lemle uses plastics like Slayer Inc.’s Fire Tail Series in purple nurple or chicken off the chain, along with a piece of dead shrimp floating under a cork.
“I tell people that you can throw it without it, but that little piece of shrimp is a difference-maker,” he added.
For specks, he had great success fishing oyster reefs and sunken islands in Bay Coquette before the recent west winds started blowing a couple of weeks ago.
“You need the right conditions. Any kind of west or southwest wind blows all that out,” Lemle said. “When you get a hard west wind, everything from the Empire Channel all the way to Coquette just gets pounded with waves and it turns it inside out. It dirties up the water and takes a couple of days for it to clean up.
“I was on the trout real good there week before last, and I’ve been itching to get back out,” he said. “I know the fish are still there.”
Specks also have been biting on Carolina rigs in deeper water and live shrimp under a popping cork at the old sand bar on Breton Island, as well as in the cove on the northeast side of the island.
The dog days of August make it a hot trip, but the fishing is good, so Lemle recommended getting there early.
“With the heat, you’re dealing with some smaller fish and a lot of bait stealers, but if you get out there early, you can still catch a lot of nice fish,” Lemle said.
And this week it looks like the wind will be coming more from the south, good news for fishing interests on both sides of the river.
“The forecast is south 5 to 10 for the next four or five days, so that should be good,” Lemle said. “Ten mph or less and everything back there is fishable.”
