As a bunch, speckled trout fishermen are obsessed with water clarity and color. Everyone seems to look for “trout green” water that is clear enough to see bait an arm’s length down.
Everyone, that is, but Venice speck fishermen.
Like other experienced fishermen from down the river, Brandon Carter commonly fishes in water that other speckled trout anglers would consider out-and-out muddy.
What he knows is that 3 to 5 feet below the surface water that has been muddied by Mississippi River discharges is clear, green seawater.
Venice anglers are die-hard wake-watchers, studying their boats’ wakes on plane, at idle and especially when they hit the throttle to jump up on step. The boat’s churning propeller will often turn swirls of green water to the surface, giving its presence away.
“That is, unless it is 5 feet down,” Carter said. “That’s too deep for my boat to turn up. Then I watch the wheel wash from the crew boats that are running the river and its passes.
“You would be surprised by how strong the tide (that brings in clear seawater) is. When the river is high, really pumping muddy water out, a crew boat can turn green water a mile up into a pass.”
