Has spring arrived early? Tommy Vidrine couldn’t believe the type of action he saw yesterday, Feb. 18, in Grand Isle.
“I’ve never caught that many big trout in February in Grand Isle,” he said. “It’s like a late April bite.”
The conditions were pretty great yesterday. Vidrine was out on the water at 8:30 a.m. and he caught 5 trout in the first 30 minutes. He said the bite quickly went cold and they wouldn’t touch shrimp.
After lunch he returned to the Caminada Pass with his wife and they fished where the rocks are exposed. They started whacking the redfish and trout on live shrimp.
“When there’s shrimp at the marina,” he said. “That means they’re close by. The fish are eating them. That’s a sign there’s going to be trout.”
The tide is important
When he’s fishing the tides, Vidrine said his rule of thumb for around Caminada Pass is the tide is always two hours later than the charts say.
“You want to be there when the tide changes,” he said. “The tide chart said that it was going to be 4:30 so I figured two hours later, it’s always two hours later at Caminada Pass.”
Vidrine said the temperature played a major part in yesterday’s success as well. It was 75 degrees so the water was around 65 degrees. He said the water had been about 55 degrees and that the jump really helped.
“Ten degrees makes a big difference,” Vidrine said. “They start eating again. If the temperature stays like this a lot of people are going to find trout.”
Vidrine also mentioned that sheepshead are thick in Grand Isle. He said he and his wife released 20 sheepshead throughout the day.
“They are stacked up,” he said. “Sand Dollar rocks, Caminada Pass rocks, almost any rocks are loaded with sheepshead.”
Vidrine ended the day with 7 redfish and 20 trout. He was using a 1/0 kahle hook on small shrimp.
“We’re blessed and excited that they are biting in late February,” he said.
Click here to get more fishing tips on Tommy Vidrine’s YouTube channel.
