December is a Geaux Anywhere Catch Anything Kind of Month

Whether you are new to kayaking or a tenured pro now is the time to be on the water in south Louisiana.  Right now you can choose to make an hour paddle or only 15 minutes and you can be on fish.  The abundance of Bass, Speckled Trout, and Redfish that have been flooding the docks and soft coolers in the backs of kayaks has been amazing.  Anglers that are used to catching 10 or so fish per trip are now coming home with limits of multiple species. 

If you’re looking to fill the dinner table with trout, look no further, the fall/winter transition has happened and the marshes are full of keeper size fish.  If you’re looking for larger trout, I’d suggest sticking with artificial lures, slow moving topwaters, slow moving suspending lures, and jigging plastics.  This month I have made a steady comparison between live shrimp under a cork verses artificial lures and time and time again, the artificial lures have won the battle of quality verse quantity.  I can’t exactly explain the rationale behind it, but trip after trip this month, it has happened time and time again.  If you want to fill the bag quickly with keeper sized fish, you just can’t beat live shrimp, but if you’re wanting to upsize you’re catch, make the switch to plastics.  Lately I have been able to find schools of 14 to 15 inch trout fishing live shrimp under a cork, and then in the middle of the frenzy I would throw out a topwater/suspending lure or a Matrix Shad under a cork and 7 out of 10 times I would bring in trout in the upper size length of the school  and up to 21 inches.  This is obviously not a scientific study and has only been confirmed by myself and clients, but the results have been duplicated weekly.

Within range of most kayakers, trout and reds have been found in high numbers from Little Lake all the way to Lake Lery.  Clean and moving water has been a constant find when drifting over the trout.  If you want to run to Lery, the western side has been producing better than the eastern shore.  If hitting Little Lake, start your search around the island right as you enter the lake on the left side and don’t ignore the mouth of Little Lake near the rocks.  I have found most trout aren’t sitting on the bank, and while it’s natural to want to work lures in the direction of a shoreline, shake things up some and work away from the bank.  This time of year I try to make it a habit of looking for trout away from the bank and reds towards the bank.

No matter where you decide to take you’re adventures, do your best to find current lines and clean water.  Now, clean water doesn’t mean crystal clear, it means water that is the cleanest of the surrounding areas.   Another option that has been producing well is the mouths of main canals that enter into larger major canals.  With high waters lately, the marshes are draining into one canal which is then being drained into a deeper major canal, and that’s where the fish have been sitting, both trout and reds.

The bridges near the north shore are still not on fire yet, there are some good fish holding there, but the bite tends to stop after daylight, but if you are looking for 4 to 6 big trout, it’s a great option if you’re chasing some trophy fish; it’s only going to get better as the temps continue to drop.

Shell beach has been producing a lot of fish lately, working the points of Lake Borgne to the drains coming in to the MRGO, trout, reds, and some bass have been spread out throughout the area.  You may not find them stacked up in one spot, but if you put in the work you can definitely fill the fryer.

Hopedale Lagoon is always a winter time hotspot for the kayaking community and this winter is no different.  If you like to jig, work the banks for reds, or troll this is an area you have to learn.  There are some points that are covered in oyster shells were the lagoon meets with Ameda, and also directly across the lagoon.  An easy way to learn where the shells are is to troll.  With a quarter or eighth ounce jig head and paddle tail thrown out behind you, keep your kayak at a speed of 1.8 to 2.1 MPH and in time you will come across some trout.  As you land the first fish, you can either choose to troll back over the same area time and time again, or you can turn around and get back to where that strike happened using a jig head and paddle tail and its highly likely there is a small pile of shells that the trout were sitting on, u should feel the shells during the jigging process.  If you can find it, it’s likely you can pull 5 or 6 by jigging and then move on to trolling again in search of another shell pile or school waiting to inhale your lure.

Always remember to where your PFD and dress accordingly, even if the air temp is a nice 75 degrees, the water this month is getting colder with every front that passes and the last thing you want is to have a 2 mile paddle home while soaked in freezing wet clothes.  

Good luck and until next time,

Stay Safe & Catch1

 

 

 

 

When plagued with rain, wind, and muddy waters, open up the history book

 Fishing in south Louisiana is well known for the phrase that lines most of our local license plates, "Sportsman's Paradise", due to the many species that lie within our coast lines, from quail to deer, Tarpon to Tuna and Speckled Trout to Largemouth Bass, there is an abundance of game that people travel thousands of miles to experience.  But recently, we have been under an aerial attack of constant rainfall mixed with high winds and muddy water. And while many parts of the Louisiana coast have continued to produce great numbers of specs and reds both inshore and off, you have to really pick your days wisely and most of all safely. 
Over the past several weeks I have been following schools of redfish throughout the marshes of Delacroix, La.  And while it usually seems easy to just launch your boat or kayak and begin catching reds within minutes, this past weekend was a completely different story. 
Most recently, I have spent my time within a 10 mile radius of my launch location, and every day I ventured out I was able to quickly get on some good action.  Clear and shallow water site fishing around vegetation that was matted up on the surface, like a field of 3 day old cut hay, seemed to be the ticket.  The thick grass was keeping the water filtered and it was almost like fishing in an aquarium.  There were many times where the fish weren't tailing above the water, but with the clarity being what it was, we could see the fish in pods up to 50 to 70 yards away glowing in the sunlight.  It was weeks of nonstop action, and easy numbers for clients.  Sometimes we would go just half a day and easily see over 100 redfish.
And then just when you began thinking you hung the moon, a 25 mph south east wind blows in and shakes it all up.  On one day the water levels were normal and the next they were two feet higher, all the grass matts were now below the waters surface, the 12 inches of water we were catching them in was now 3 feet deep, and what seemed like an army of redfish the day before, quickly turned into a popular hunting ground that was cleaned out by a forest fire.  There wasn't a redfish to be found for miles. 
After about 5 stops in the normal hot spots and only landing a few specs and bass where the reds were supposed to be.  We finally decided to make a move to deeper water.  It wasn't deep to most, but when you have been fishing 10 inches to 3 feet all day, moving into a fast moving canal with a point on it and a drop off from 3 feet to 11 feet, that's what we consider deep.  We ended what started out as an extremely slow and frustrating day with a box full of redfish in less than an hour.  Now, the question is why?  Why did these fish move out of the shallows?  All of the bait in the world had been blown up and into where the fish were the day before, but on this day with water levels were two feet higher and they were all gone.
What was it that made them move and congregate into deeper water, and were we catching them coming back into the shallows, or were we catching them congregated in the deep? It's a little bit of that "chicken and the egg" question.
Now, it's never uncommon for fish to move on a daily basis, and staying ahead of that pattern is what really separates the consistent anglers from the not so consistent ones.  We have all fished with people that swear by an area, because last time they fished it they caught a million fish, but when you show up with them you catch nothing, and they give that dumbfounded face followed by, "I don't know what happened, they were here last time???"
This is a great opportunity for a teaching lesson, nothing major, just the simple things like: what time of year was it, what were the conditions, falling tide or rising tide, south wind or north wind, before a front or after a front?  These are just some simple questions that you need to ask yourself before venturing off to ones honey hole, or better yet your own honey hole.  Get a journal(or what I refer to as "the history book"), record the same information time and time again, and within a year, you will already have a good idea of what to expect next year.
Redfish and trout, along with hundreds of other species,  can be very predictable if you understand and follow the patterns.  Keep an eye out on the forums and local fishing magazines, document where the reports are coming from and pin them on a map.  Over time, you will notice that year in and year out the same patterns and transitions begin to arise.  Sometimes they may be a week or three ahead of or behind schedule, while other times they may be spot on.  If you take the time to read books, like Trout Masters for example, you can learn a lot about the habits of fish, and more important than learning their habits, is learning what causes those habits.  Knowing this will keep you ahead of the fish and following their transition before they even make it, like spawning salinity, when do they spawn, where do they spawn, where do they hold before a spawn, the forage hatch, is it shrimp or pogies this month, big shrimp or small shrimp, what does a north or south wind do to certain areas in terms of clarity, salinity, and temperature.  It may take a little homework, but if you document it as you live it, you will always have it as a quick reference, and the next time your buddy says, "lets go hit my honey hole," you can quickly respond with a few questions or possible suggestions that could make your day on the water a lot more enjoyable.


Until Next Time,

Stay Safe & Catch1

December....A Month to Remember

 Let me first start out by saying that the month of December has been one of the most diverse fishing experiences I have endured in years.  I have taken hundreds of photos, logged a pile of different data, learned new locations, and best of all, made some new friends. 
Over this past month I have been able to entertain 13 different people on the water, from 5 different states and 2 different countries.  I have helped experienced anglers journey into the land of new techniques, and new anglers journey into the land of kayak fishing all together. 
This month I have fished, Hopedale, Delacroix, Port Sulphur, Buras, Venice, Point A La Hache, Reggio, and Myrtle grove. I have logged more miles on the water than I ever imagined doing in a month.  And most of this was done in an effort to help others in their quest of chasing La saltwater fish from a kayak.  I was also fortunate enough to compete in the final AOY event of Bayou Coast Kayak Fishing Club, of which I finished 5th, and I helped a film Crew for a couple of days on the water land enough redfish and bass to make several episodes of TV ready action, that will hopefully begin airing in April of 2015 on NBC.
To say it again, December, has been a month to remember.
The temperatures this month have ranged from the 30s into the 80s, the water temps have ranged from the high 50s to the mid to upper 60s.  The red fishing has been remarkable and the size of the upper slot reds have been extremely heavy.  The water has been clean up in the marsh ponds, the grass has died off in most areas I ventured, while in some areas, the slime has begun to implant itself along the muddy bottoms.  
The trout fishing has also been phenomenal.  One day in Hopedale lagoon, I was able to land a limit of trout by 730 am, while another day, I fished until 2 and only took home 17.  The trout in the goon are getting better in size, and a lot less throw backs than month ago.  I think we still need a couple more cold fronts before they get really heavy and schooled up in the area.
My best spec fishing has been in the hour before the big boats show up, it's almost as if the fish knew they were coming, from 6 am until 715 it was strike after strike, and after about the third boat showed up, it all slowed down.  I haven't been able to find good schools of fish in their normal winter holding areas yet, but they are scattered throughout.  One day, I caught most of them trolling, while two other days, I caught them all jigging, and working hard suspending lures early.  Jigging for specs during the winter bite is an art, it's that time of year where light jig heads, 1/8th to 1/4 oz heads work best.  The fish are beginning to get lethargic as the water temps continue to drop and their attack on lures is very subtle.  When I mean subtle I mean they just tap it with ease, and if you don't set it, they spit it.  Now is the time for line watching, at the first sign of your line making the slightest out of sync jump, set the hook.  If you use braid and the sun is high, line watching can be tough due to the small diameter of the line, this is where a quality fishing rod comes into play, I use 13 Fishing rods in M and MH, which I have found transmit that subtle bite extremely well. 
The Feel: If you were to set your lure on the ground, let your line out for about 20 yards, and have a friend walk up and just tap your line, that is what the trout bite has felt like lately.  It's very subtle, soft, and quick, and the faster you learn what it feels like, the better off you will be.
Reds on the other hand have been aggressive to a degree.  In deeper water they have been attacking the lure hard and then turning immediately and running with it.  In the shallows, they have been attacking it, but then sitting down on it, and not usually turning and running.  99% of my redfish have been caught on the Seein Spots Inline with Kamikaze Vortex Shad or the Black and Chartreus Vortex Shad.  In most cases I am site fishing and watching the fish inhale the lure and then stop.  They aren't turning, or running, in several instances, I watched them just grab the tail and hold it.  Watching and learning this has caused my hook rates to increase dramatically.  As they grab the lure I immediately stop my retrieve and give them a second or 4 to actually turn with the lure in their mouth, its very similar to fishing a fluke or a topwater frog, don't set the hook until you feel resistance after the red has attacked the lure.  I watched several people over the month set their hooks immediately to only have the lure come flying out of the water with the Chartreuse tail missing off the back end of their plastic.
The bass in the brackish waters have also been a little odd.  I have found that the Berkly Powerbait swimbait in Fire Tiger has been the best approach when you know where they are sitting.  But if your throwing a spoon, a little cleo specifically, they are attacking it throughout the marsh.  If I am in Delacroix or Reggio and am beating the banks for reds and bass, I will throw the little cleo all day.  If I am specifically targeting bass on stumps, pilons, and docks, I have bee throwing the Fire Tiger with the best success.  I have landed a few large mouths on the inline
spinner too, but the spoon and swim bait have been dominant when making a conscious effort to catch bass. 
Overall, December has been a blast.  I apologize for not being specific to all locations and all trips, I have been too busy with work travels to stop and put everything down for a trip by trip break down, so for the first time ever, I have included an overall monthly breakdown from what I picked up throughout the month. 
If you're looking to get out on the water for some fun, now is the time.  Winter fishing is hands down one of my favorite times of the year.  The topwater bite isn't always the best, but when you find the fish and figure out what and how they want it, you can fill the bag easily in under an hour with nonstop action.  Not to mention, the fish are close to home, being able to make the short drive the Shell Beach or the Delacroix/Hopedale area is always icing on the cake.
I'd like to give a special thanks to those that helped in my experiences this month, so



Rick, Nick, Gary, Jorge, Chad, Ken, Jason, Hans, Tommy, Daniel, Charlie, Craig, and Mr. Terry........THANK YOU.

Until Next time,

Stay Safe & Catch1