Capt. Owen Langridge of Big “O” Charters (225-978-1136) in Venice was impressed with what he saw taking place downriver last spring. He admits he didn’t expect it to be as good this spring, but what he has already seen before spring has sprung makes him believe it’s going to be another outstanding season for trout and redfish anglers.
“We’ve been catching a bunch of trout in the marsh from Yellow Cotton Bay to Empire,” said Langridge, “and we’ve been doing all right downriver. They’re a little spotty down there right now, but you can get in a good group of fish and stay with them a while in shallow water.”
Langridge has been filling his box with trout from 15 inches to 4 pounds, and he explained that it has been like that for the past two or three weeks. Most of the trout have been coming from 2 to 4 feet of water.
“There’s a new bait out that looks like a DOA except it’s got the holographic tinfoil on the inside of it kind of like a Tsunami,” he said. “It’s called a Billy Bay Halo Shrimp, and it’s made in Virginia. I found a few at Superior Bait and Tackle in Baton Rouge the other day and just kicked butt with them.”
The Halo Shrimp have been working best for Langridge when fished 18 to 20 inches under a popping cork. The neat thing about this particular shrimp, according to Langridge, is that it sinks a lot slower than other soft-plastic shrimp. Therefore, it’s still in the strike zone when a fish comes to inspect the sound of the cork.
“We’re also catching a bunch of redfish in the canes,” Langridge said. “The water is a little muddy downriver right now; it jumped up to about 6 feet, and it has a little color in it. I’ve been throwing a black/chartreuse ReAction Bayou Chub under a cork with a little piece of shrimp on it. I kind of stayed off the reds last weekend because all the tournament guys were out.”
That didn’t matter to Langridge, though, because there were enough trout biting to keep him from even thinking about the redfish that he thought he was missing.
