Who doesn’t want to know some secret spot where you could find a trout feeding frenzy around the rim of some isolated island – a spot where you could fill our ice chest without so much as having to look at another boat?
Too bad the chances of that happening are about as good as Mickey Loomis allowing Drew Brees to hit the free-agency market.
Without going all Zen on you, sometimes the most isolated spots are those in the most crowded areas. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a fortune cookie that mentions anything about finding seclusion in the middle of a swarm, but Capt. Marty LaCoste with Absolute Fishing Charters out of Bayou DuLarge wouldn’t furrow his forehead if that were ever his fortune.
He would know exactly what it meant.
That’s because LaCoste routinely fishes one of the most heavily pressured lakes in southern Terrebonne Parish — Lake Mechant. In the lower Bayou DuLarge estuary, Lake Mechant serves as its own ecosystem of sorts that attracts just about anything in the water and absolutely everybody on it.
“Everybody heads to Lake Mechant when the fish are inside,” LaCoste said. “The place is so big that it has all kinds of places to fish, but the problem is that it gets all kinds of fishing pressure. (This time of year), I wouldn’t be surprised to find a small armada of boats fishing it any time of day.”
The primary school of thought when it comes to fishing Mechant is to find the birds or the boats, and ease your way into the mix because both congregate around bait and trout. However, if you’re not into asking somebody to move to make a cast, LaCoste pointed out 10 spots around the rim of Mechant that have been some of his best fishing spots.
“You might find some boats at some of them, but some you might not,” he said. “Nothing is really secret in Lake Mechant, but you can find a small spot or two that is stacked with fish that nobody else has found yet. If that’s the case, stay on them while you can because company is coming.”
• No. 1: Mouth of Bayou Chevreau
(N29 18 57.13 x W90 55 31.63)
More than a small cut, the mouth of Bayou Chevreau is some wide water where Bayou Chevreau dumps into Lake Mechant. LaCoste says this is a great spot to fish during a falling tide, and its size allows you to fish away from the crowd somewhat.
“When the tide is falling out, the trout will stack up in the middle of the bayou and at the mouth,” said LaCoste. “It stays about 5 to 6 feet deep, and the bottom is oysters from one side to the other, up the bayou a little bit and out into the lake.”
Because oysters cover the bottom of the entire area, LaCoste says the trout could literally be anywhere. He likes to look for shrimp jumping out of the water, and he would never pass up a flock of diving birds.
“You can tear up the trout here fishing double-rigged LSU Bayou Chubs, single Chubs, Tsunami swimbaits and maybe something like a DOA under a cork,” he said. “The worst wind here would be west because it will muddy up fast. I like the wind from the south or north, but you could even fish an east wind here.”
To learn about all 10 fishing locations in Lake Mechant, be sure and pick up your copy of the October issue of Louisiana Sportsman magazine on newsstands now. You can also click here and have each magazine delivered right to your mail box in the future.
