Start at Lake Five, Kenner angler says, and figure out where reds are, what they want
Robert Lazarine of Kenner is an avid fishermen, and for years, his favorite haunt has been the waters around Myrtle Grove. His most-recent trip produced more than 75 legal-sized redfish — he and his crew only kept the legal limits. That’s a memorable day on the water by anybody’s standard.
“I really like fishing the Myrtle Grove area,” Lazarine said. “I fish it all year-round, so I’m familiar with it, and while I do fish other areas, it’s my main go-to launch site.”
Lazarine said his routine is pretty much the same, summer and winter.
“I start by heading straight to Lake Five,” Lazarine said. “Some people start close to the launch and work their way out; I start out at my farthest point and work my way in. I concentrate on the shorelines along ledges and at any drains from the marsh. I fish live shrimp under a cork, and I fish plastics, both tight-lined, jigged off the bottom and also under a cork.
“Me and my son, Chris, usually fish together, and we fish different ways to figure out what the fish are biting on, and what pattern are they in. He’ll start out fishing live bait under a cork; maybe I’ll throw plastics tight-lined. If nothing bites, we’ll fish deeper or shallower, and we’ll use the same technique at points, cuts, drains and shorelines until we find them. Then, once we establish what pattern they’re in, we follow it throughout the day, because it will usually hold true even if we move to another lake.”
Other options
Lazarine generally gives Lake Five a couple of hours every morning to produce before trying elsewhere.
“I also fish Round Lake pretty much the same way, focusing mostly on drains from the ponds, cuts, points and along shorelines,” he said. “I don’t usually fish or drift in the middle of the lakes, although some people do, unless I see birds diving out there.”
On the colder days, after the north winds have blown the water out of the ponds, Lazarine will focus on deep canals and passes where reds hunker down and congregate in the deeper water.
“Then we fish live shrimp, dead shrimp or Matrix Shads in the shrimp creole color, off the bottom or under corks along the ledges,” he said. “And as most anglers familiar with the area know, on those low-water, winter days you generally don’t have to run farther than Wilkinson Bayou right outside the marina to find reds.”
