Down on the coast, it’s prime time for speckled trout. Whether it’s over reefs, in tidal bayous, or dead-end canals, you can’t go wrong casting a weighted Clouser or shrimp pattern set about 30 inches below a VOSI, the flyrodders’ popping cork.
Early, late and on overcast or foggy days, topwater action should be excellent. Pencil Poppers, Skipping Bugs and Crease Flies will draw strikes from bigger trout.
North winds will drop tide levels, giving fly anglers fishing from canoes and kayaks opportunities to sight-cast to reds, drum and sheepshead. Best flies will be Charlies, Spoonflies, Kwans, Redchasers and various crab patterns.
If we finally get a dry spell, look for stream action to be at its peak. Spotted bass and longear sunfish (aka “killer gobbules”) will eat poppers, woolybuggers and fluff butts.
One of my favorite species — the chain pickerel, aka “grass pike” — is very active this month in North and Central Louisiana reservoirs. Toss red/white or red/orange Seaducers along grass lines. Make long, erratic strips and watch for wakes of the grass pike that follow.
Stocking of rainbow trout renews this month in two tailwater rivers just north of Shreveport: Mountain Fork near Broken Bow, Okla., and the Little Missouri near Murfreesboro, Ark. Early in the season, olive or black woolybuggers are all you need.
