Trout fishing action in Dularge heated up later — so it should last longer
August can be a slow month for speckled trout fishing, but in the Dularge area this month, local guide Capt. Marty LaCoste expects it to be really good.
“I think our July and August trout bite is going to be better than normal just because (the trout) are late showing up,” he said.
LaCoste mentioned this summer is far from a typical one.
“In a normal August, we’re fishing trout usually up until the second week of August,” he said. “Then it gets so hot, the trout bite usually slows down and then we start targeting redfish in the deep holes on cracked crab.
“The way things are going this year, it looks like everything is late,” he said. “The trout are showing up late, so I’m thinking we’re actually going to be catching trout probably all of August.”
He said it’s also not out of the realm of possibilities for the trout bite outside to last even longer than that.
“Last year, we were actually still catching trout through mid-September offshore,” LaCoste said.
He pointed out many places that hold fish offshore out of Dularge.
“Anywhere from the island —West Timbalier, Last Island, Whiskey Island — any rig from West Timbalier all the way to Ship Shoal 26 (holds fish,)” he said. “The fish spawn in the passes, they spawn on the beach all the way through the last full moon in August.”
LaCoste fishes those structures with ¼-ounce double rigs. His favorite colors are green hornet, avocado and purple haze in the Matrix and Vortex Shad line of lures.
“If the water is super clear like last year, that holy joely was on fire for a whole month straight in July,” he said.
LaCoste will occasionally throw live bait, but only when plastic fails him and it’s absolutely necessary.
“If I’m going to fish live bait in August, it’s probably going to be croakers,” he said. “The only way I throw live bait is I go out and have a tough day — I struggle, and I see two or three other boats out there catching on live bait and they’re tearing them up on croakers, I’ll make it a point to have croakers the next day.”