Keep these tips in mind when fishing near Dulac
September is typically known as a transition month in Cocodrie. According to Capt. Tommy Pellegrin, for the past few years, fishing in September hasn’t been consistent with a traditional fall pattern. But this year, the speckled trout action is back in full swing.
“It’s a good thing to see this many trout. There’s a heck of a lot more trout than there’s been in the past two years. Trollers are catching 11-inch trout in their skimmers in Lake Mechant. These schools are so thick that the trout can’t get away.”
The high trout numbers include many small fish. But keepers are also present, especially in deeper channels, said Pellegrin.
“There are a tremendous amount of trout in all of the ship passes. The fish are balled up north of Lake Pelto,” he said.
Anglers are almost guaranteed to catch fish if they are using a Coastal Candy Berkley Rattle Shrimp 2 feet under a silent cork, Pellegrin said. He said the speckled trout were not hitting the plastic lure under his noisier corks.
Lunker trout
While fishing on Wednesday, Sept. 18, Pellegrin got on the smaller trout quickly under birds. He decided to move farther south toward the north shore of Lake Pelto while the tide was still falling to search for lunkers. He was not disappointed.
Pellegrin and his fishing mate Carliss McCarthy Jr. (Owner of Outlaw Baits LLC) dropped croakers, shrimp and the Berkley Rattle shrimp 3 feet under corks and caught some larger trout in a deep channel where the fish were suspended in the middle of the water column. They caught all of these fish on a falling tide. Once the tide stopped, the speckled trout turned off completely.
“Right now, it’s transition time. And all these trout are in these big bayous heading north. So they can be in one place one day, and another the next,” Pellegrin said. “There are a lot of good-sized slot redfish and drum in these deep holes, so I just set up on cracked crab and waited to see a bird start circling to find the trout.”
On Saturday, Sept. 14, Pellegrin’s son caught over 50 keeper trout, 19 drum, and 15 reds. The next day, Pellegrin himself caught 40 trout, 10 drum, and 4 reds before 9 a.m. The following Wednesday, Pellegrin put 48 trout in his fish box.
