Louisiana Fishing
Year Round
By Cory Hart
Louisiana is a sure bet for outdoor enthusiasts, from novice to expert, seeking fun filled coastal Louisiana Fishing. Within one hour of downtown New Orleans awaits the very best of Louisiana's saltwater marshes, bayous and bays for a fishing adventure sure to satisfy! Unlike most fishing destinations in North America, south Louisiana offers superb fishing year round. Nutrient rich estuaries bordering the Mississippi Delta feed the seemingly infinite populations of game fish. Very liberal limits consisting of 5 redfish, 10 flounder, and 25 speckled trout per angler per day exist here.
Redfish can be caught literally every month of the year, while speckled trout are most common from March thru December. A couple of flounder are boated each day; however, late summer is prime for larger catches. Trophy speckled trout are common in March, April, May, September, October and November. Bull Reds (those weighing greater than 12 pounds) are most common from June thru November, but can possibly be encountered in smaller numbers from April thru June. You'll stalk redfish and speckled trout in pristine shallow flats covered with marsh grass, near oyster reefs, along cane lined shores, on the sandy coastal beaches, next to granite boulder jetties, and around the many near shore oil and gas platforms. Whatever you may envision, the Mississippi Delta has it all!
I went out with Capt. Gerry Glueck a friend of mine from New Orleans, LA that is now a fishing guide. I thought I would put him to the test to see what kind of fish he could put us on. We met up at 5am then had a 1 hour drive to the boat dock where we launched his 24 foot Skeeter boat. We then took a 30 min ride by boat out to some gas rigs in the outer bays near Black Bay in Delacroix. I don’t think the water ever got any deeper than 4 ft anywhere we went. Everywhere I looked it was tall cane patches or gas rigs sticking out of the water.
Captain Gerry pulled the boat up to this gas rig that had a rock levee just barley sticking out of the water. This rock structure was about 100 yards long. Just on the other side of the rock structure was an oyster boat dragging the bottom for oysters. Captain Gerry was not too happy about seeing this oyster boat right on top of one of his hunny holes.
We started casting a little ¾ oz. jig head with a purple body and chartreuse tail. On my third cast I hooked into a nice speckled trout. Then Capt. Gerry hooked one. Then it was one right after another. We ended up catching 50 speckled trout. I looked at Capt. Gerry and said now I am warmed up how about some Redfish.
He moved the boat on the other side of the rock structure and boom my first cast a 9lb. redfish. Wow what a fight that was, line ripping off my reel as that redfish is smoking my drag. I could not believe the fight that these fish put up. We moved into another spot and after a couple of cast I felt a little tap then boom fish on. That’s right another 15 min fight on my hands as I would reel in 5 feet of line the redfish would take out 15 feet of line. Back and fourth, I wasn’t sure which was going to ware out first me or the redfish. All I knew was I had a lunker on. A lunker it was 19lb. redfish. I thought I was in heaven because we continued the day with 5 more just like it.
As we headed in to the dock Capt. Gerry gets a call from Capt. Brent Roy of Venice Charters who where fishing over in Venice where he said the fishing was hot. They had caught and released over 20 Bull Redfish using a mirror colored suspending lure with color stripes down the back. I already set my dates for June 9th-12th with Capt. Gerry to visit the Venice waters to go after some big game fish like Tuna , Marlin and Wahoo. I will be testing out some new products and lures from Braid Products which seems to be the choice of the Louisiana anglers. Check out their products at: www.BraidProducts.com
If you are interested in some great redfish
fishing these guys will put you on them.
Capt. Gerry Glueck (504)259-6723
Capt. Brent Roy (Venice Charters) (226)268-8420 |
