Easterly winds mean fishing best on west side of river, farther north in Buras
The river is too low, the river is too high. This, and complaints about a certain oil spill that occurred a few years, ago seem to be excuses pushed by fishing guides as of recently.
Capt. Lloyd Landry of Outcast Fishing Charters knows there always seems to be some kind of excuse when the Mississippi fails to yield gnarly trout numbers. But sometimes you just have to get out there, improvise and fish.“It’s really just the wind. The wind is killing us. Usually they are skull-dragging the trout on the east side of the mouth (of the river) this time of year,” Landry said. “Buras is still doing pretty good, though.”
Anyone thinking about heading down to the mouth of the river within the next few days should expect conditions to be somewhat favorable for trout fishing on the west side, but the trout fishing farther east will not be as viable.
Landry experienced very high water due to the harsh easterly wind conditions. This causes shrimp and baitfish to hold up farther in the grass and cane of the marsh, where the redfish follow.
“I went fishing on the east side (of the river), and just decided to go and sight-fish the reds back in the marsh,” Landry said. “We had to work for them but had 15 reds in the boat by the end of the day.
“I just used a Gulp! chartreuse curl-tail and H&H black minnow with chartreuse tail, but I find that Gulp! under a cork really turns the fish on if I’m having a tough time.”
The average redfish at the mouth of the river seem to be bull reds because the high water allows the slot reds to get even farther back into the cane and grass surrounding the bays around Venice.
“We’re catching more 28- to 35-inch reds than normal. The rat reds just aren’t there like they are normally.” Landry explained.
The forecast for the weekend (June 22-24) isn’t very promising, with NOAA calling for 15- to 20-knot winds all weekend. These brisk breezes will be from more northeasterly, so that’s a plus for those heading to the western side of the river.
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