This man-made canal is the perfect winter hotspot
As we turn the page on the calendar from November to December, the cold fronts are beginning to have their effect on the fishing here in Southeast Louisiana. North winds are not only dropping water temperatures, but are also pushing water out of the marsh. For anglers in search of redfish, this means the pattern is changing.
But for those willing to adapt and continue hunting redfish through the winter, there’s a man-made canal just off the Intracoastal Waterway that offers a dependable option when the fronts roll through. Locals call it the “Bypass Canal,” a man-made cut that stretches about 6 miles, beginning and ending in the ICW. It’s straight, deep, and looks every bit like it was engineered for a purpose.
“Somewhere along the line, there was construction in that ICW that blocked barge traffic, so they dug a canal that served as a detour for the barges,” said Jerry Porter of Folsom.
Porter has been fishing the Bypass Canal since he was 28 years old. That’s when his father, Gus, first showed him how productive the man-made canal could be in cold weather.
“I remember the first time fishing there,” Porter said. “We hit three spots and were about to jump back into the ICW when Dad spotted an area of water near Chef Pass. I made a cast with a gold Wob-L-Rite spoon and felt a thump and set the hook. Before I could get the redfish close to the boat, Dad already cast out and had another one on.”
That trip left a lasting impression on Porter, and he still follows the same lesson his father taught him that day. Find the clean water.
“In that canal, it’s just about automatic that you can find the redfish if you find clean water,” he said.
Drained duck ponds
The Bypass Canal is surrounded by duck ponds that drain into it, and those ponds are the key to its winter redfish bite. When December cold fronts drop temperatures and north winds push water out of the marsh, the ponds empty. Water temperatures in those shallow areas can dip into the 30s and 40s, forcing redfish to move out in search of deeper, more stable water. The first deep water they find is the Bypass Canal, where depths range from 8 to 12 feet.
Since excavators dug the canal, it has sharp ledges that drop off about 10 feet from the shoreline. Those ledges are where Porter focuses most of his attention.
“I throw my trolling motor down and start casting to the grass edges,” he said. “The canal has plenty of grass, so you can expect to pull back a lot of vegetation if you’re throwing anything with a treble hook.
Porter’s setup
While trolling the shoreline, Porter uses a Curado baitcaster paired with a 7-foot rod spooled with 12-pound monofilament. His go-to lure is a 4-inch H&H Cocahoe minnow rigged on a 3/8-ounce jighead.
“I like the dark colors in December and January,” he said. “I have more success on the dark, bold colors.”
When the bite slows, Porter switches things up by grabbing his spinning rod. He sticks with the same H&H Cocahoe minnow but adds a gold redfish spinner to add flash and vibration in stained water.
The winter pattern in the Bypass Canal will hold steady through the season. As long as cold fronts keep dropping water temperatures and pushing redfish from the shallow ponds, the canal will stay loaded. For anglers who can locate clean water and stay patient, this stretch of man-made canal can deliver steady limits of redfish all winter long.
