A few reports of trout showing up on the Breton Sound rigs are starting to come in to Captain CT Williams (504-BIGFISH), but he says it’s just a school or two popping up here and there. “Right now, I would focus on the islands and birds,” he says.
Williams pointed out that the typical spots like Two Trees, Stone Island to the south of Breton Sound Marina and the Point Chicot area to the northeast as being some spots where the birds have been diving. Although the birds are there, Williams pointed out that they are spotty.
“Even though I would love to say come on and fish the birds, I just can’t,” Williams said. “However, while there aren’t as many groups of birds working as you might like to see, there are trout under them right now. It should stay like that throughout May, but in June there’ll be a lot of gafftop and lady fish under them.”
Although the fish under the bird action have been consistent when found, Williams says that most of the trout seem to be ganged up and just waiting to go along the coastal areas. He added that the one thing that is holding them back is the lack of bait because it hasn’t shown up yet.
“Just fish as coastal as you can,” Williams said. “All those islands are potentially holding fish. And the bays on both sides of the MRGO are holding fish, too. This is also the time of year to start fishing the shell oyster reefs outside Malo Bayou over in Lake Borgne; it should turn on just any day. If you get on them good over there, you can fish topwaters.”
If there is any trick to finding trout right now, Williams said it is fishing hard points on the islands that have water moving over them. The hard points with moving water are the only places where the little bit of bait out there is collected right now.
Although the trout aren’t busting the top yet, they can be caught on hard baits if you want to fish them under the surface. Try suspending baits that can be twitched one to two feet down and that give off lots of flash. These lures are also attracting the attention of the bigger fish.
Anglers that don’t want to throw the suspending hard baits can tie on a popping cork and fish either a Gulp! soft plastic or dead shrimp in the same areas.
“The redfish are everywhere,” Williams concluded. “The biggest key to finding them is to fish the most broken marsh you can find. Don’t get on one point and expect to be stacked up. They’re in all the pockets right now not the points. The broken marsh gives you more opportunity because it gives you more of those pockets the reds are in.”
