One summer about five years ago, a Houma charter boat captain was looking around for deep holes holding bull drum to target for an upcoming local saltwater fishing rodeo.
Capt. Bill Lake went to an area he normally didn’t fish for redfish in August. The veteran charter boat captain, who’s marking his 33rd year in the business this year, found some deep holes all right, along Buckskin Bayou located just off Blue Hammock Bayou near Lake Mechant.
“We wound up catching more redfish than drum. We started fishing it (every August),” Lake said, warming up to the subject of catching redfish in the bayou that runs south into Bay Junop.
The surprising discovery was duly noted and logged for future reference. By now it’s a go-to spot for redfish, one of several that give up redfish during late summer in the Cocodrie region.
Lake said 12- to 20-foot depths hold the redfish as they move into cooler and deeper water whenever the dog days of summer arrive. Buckskin Bayou’s hard turns and curves offer that deep water that attracts redfish, as do cuts and drains that are draining along the bayou. Many of those deep holes have oyster bottoms that attract redfish, according to Lake.
Fishermen can ring the dinner bell for the redfish in Buckskin Bayou by fishing Carolina-rigged small crabs or cracked crabs on a 4/0 or 5/0 Kahle hook with a ½- to 1-ounce weight, depending on the current.
Other options
Other bayous featuring deep holes recommended by the Bayou Guide Service owner include Bayou Raccourci off Lake Mechant and Blue Hammock Bayou south of Lost Lake via Coup Platt Pass. The latter winds from Lake Mechant to Four League Bay.
“If we go there (Buckskin Bayou) I (also) always go to the mouth of Rice Bayou,” he said, adding redfish typically can be caught in Rice Bayou at the southwest corner of Lost Lake “right in the middle of the bayou.”
The fishing is best in Rice Bayou when the water’s clear and the current, which usually flows fast, is slack.
Lake pointed out that tides generally run a little higher in August, often 1- to 2-feet above normal, and that extra water sends redfish into “duck ponds” to gorge themselves. Much of the action is around the cuts along the north shoreline of Lake Mechant as well as the north bank of Sister Lake.
“Redfish usually get in the duck ponds and go crazy,” Lake said.
He catches them on soft plastics such as a green hornet Matrix Shad and/or a Vudu Shrimp under a popping cork, but some of his better days that result in limits of redfish are with an injured mullet- or gold bunker-colored Vudu Vixen. He’s also enjoyed plenty of success on ¼-ounce gold or black Johnson Silver Minnows. Black works best on cloudy days, he said.
Lake said he always checks to see if the reds will chomp on a ½-ounce spoon because it has a larger hook than a ¼-ounce spoon. Sometimes redfish come unbuttoned on the smaller hooks.
