
Start on the outside, and work your way in for more fish
The fishing in Venice depends on the Mississippi River more than humans rely on oxygen, and a slowly falling, high river in October will shove the November redfish farther from the river, according to Capt. Dustin Bounds.
“It should start cleaning up, and maybe toward the middle of November, we might start seeing some green patches in the river where you start trailing them from the outside and working your way back up closer to the river,” he said.
Bounds advised anglers to start at the major bodies of water and work their way in.
“If they’re starting to move in, we’ll start at the end of the passes and slowly work your way in the passes,” he said. “If you’re fishing South Pass, we’ll start fishing the very end of it, and then you can just kind of follow them all the way up the river.”
The Venice guide targets redfish with cork-suspended live and dead shrimp hurled right against the canes on the bank. When throwing to the canes, Bounds said it never hurts to see some vegetation as well.
“When we’re fishing the passes, we always look for those flats where the canes meet the grass,” he said.
Bounds mostly fishes the shallow water of the flats, but he said not to be hesitant to fish deeper water.
“They’ll be hanging around the drop-offs, too,” he said.
November is littered with cold fronts, and although they’re not a deal breaker, Bounds said you want to do your best to avoid them — and be prepared to make a lot of casts if you can’t.
“You have to work harder. It’ll slow them down, and you just have to wait them out,” he said.
The good thing is, cold fronts don’t shuffle the fish around like in other parts of the state.
“(Fronts) don’t really move the fish a lot. The fish are there,” he said.
Bounds said most of the fish anglers can expect to catch are slot redfish, but he also finds a good amount of rat reds. Additionally, sheepshead, flounder and the occasional trout will be in the mix.