Captain Owen Langridge with Big “O” Charters (225-978-1136) wasn’t sure if a redfish report would set anybody’s world on fire, but he couldn’t resist telling about how good the bite has been at the mouths of the passes below Venice. “We caught over a hundred just the other day,” he said, “and that was with only two people in the boat and me not fishing.”
Langridge says that the majority of the redfish have been at the mouths of the passes all summer long due to the increased amount of freshwater coming down the river. However, as they are gearing up to make their move up the river, the concentrations of fish seem to have become thicker.
“These are all good reds, too,” Langridge said. “Not necessarily good in that they are 17-inch fish for the grill, but good size fish that are just right for having a blast reeling them in. There are a ton of 24-to 28-inch reds right now, and some buddies of mine caught two the other day that weighed 15 pounds… very good tournament fish.”
One of the reasons the reds are starting to stack up in the mouths of the passes is the Mississippi River has finally started to fall. As it continues to do so, Langridge says the reds will start moving up into the passes.
“I’ve seen some boats fishing in the passes already, so some of them may already be moving up the river,” he added. “Most everything that I’ve been catching has come on either live or dead shrimp on a 1/0 Kahle hook under that Billy Bay Aggravator cork.”
Langridge points out that most any of the passes from South Pass all the way up to Dead Woman Pass have been productive lately. That’s a lot of ground to cover, but picking a few that are nearby and fishing them all day should produce more than enough reds to make it exciting.
“The good thing about the reds moving up the passes as the river falls is that the trout won’t be too far behind,” Langridge concluded. “Then it becomes an entirely different ball game. I don’t know if it’s going to be like it was two years ago after Katrina, but if it’s anything close, we should have a very fun fall.”
