There is still a lot of river water in Black Bay, but Captain Gene Dugas with Rather Be Fishing Adventures (985-640-0569) said that it’s not slowing down the fishing much. However, it is forcing anglers to stay on the move and try to catch some trout here and some trout there.
“Where I fish is all based on the wind right now,” Dugas said. “If it’s down, I head out into Breton Sound, but it hasn’t been down too much the past few days. Because of the wind, I’m spending a lot of time on the edges of Black Bay and Eloi.”
Dugas’ plan his past few trips, which have been successful, has been to find groups of fish with live shrimp. Once his group banged a few on the same spot, he had two anglers switch to plastics while the others stayed with the shrimp. Keeping the live bait in the water sustained the bite while the artificials did their job.
“We just got the live shrimp this past Monday,” Dugas said. “We started fishing them about 2 or 3 feet below a cork and on a light Carolina rig with a 1/4-ounce weight. The trout have been coming on the points, the shorelines, the reefs and the oil field structures. The way I see it, pick your favorite summer spots and start going from spot to spot until you find some fish.”
Dugas also suggested that anglers keep an eye out for the diving birds while they move between their chosen areas. They are out and working, but the size of the trout under them varies. Even if you’re catching small fish, Dugas said to stay with the birds because the next group could all be 2-pound fish.
“We’re catching a lot of 2-pound fish right now,” Dugas added. “But there are some bigger fish up to 4 pounds showing up, too. The key is just to not expect that they are going to be everywhere. You can’t pull up and slam them with the anchor out right now. You might get on a good bite in one place, but you’re going to have to do some looking for that place.”
