Specks ‘still here’

Breton Sound trip results in early limit

Advocate Staff photo by JOHN BALLANCEBreton Sound Marina charterboat skipper Kerry Audibert shows off two hefty speckled trout that were part of a four-angler, 100-trout limit taken Friday near a wellhead in Breton Sound. After nearly two weeks of rough weather conditions in the sound, Friday was near calm and the bite was on at sunrise. The 25-per-angler limits were in the ice chest before 8 a.m. Live shrimp were the best offerings.

Kerry Audibert stopped a few minutes early Friday morning just to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

Ouch!

“They’re still here,” the young, but veteran charter guide shouted. “Hard to believe that after all that’s happened here the last two weeks that you come back to the same place where you caught them the day before all the bad weather came.

“But they’re here, and it sure is fun to catch them.”

The “they” and the “them” were speckled trout, spotted beauties that ranged from barely 12-inch “keepers” to solid 3 and 31/2 pounders.

The end result of a four-angler, 100-trout limit doesn’t tell the story of this trip.

Audibert’s Ought to be Fishing Charter operation (he runs from Breton Sound Marina in Hopedale) depends on timing, especially when it comes to fishing the wellheads in Breton Sound.

Friday’s schedule was precise: Be at the dock at 4:30 a.m., take 20 minutes to stow rods, tackle, tie Carolina rigs onto the rods (to get bait close to the bottom), cameras, stuff for the ice chest, get ice and, most importantly, make sure the 200 “boogie” shrimp were just as lively in the livewell as they were in the thousands-of-gallons holding tanks at Glen Sanchez’s marina baitshop.

He cranked the outboard on his Privateer shortly before 5 a.m. and putted down the bayou waiting for first light in the eastern sky. He hit the end of the rocks lining the MRGO, then out into the sound with enough light to pick out his target, a small wellhead in 15 feet of water.

It was on from the first cast: 60 trout were in the ice chest in the first hour.

By 7:45 a.m., just about the time hardhead catfish and the acrobatic ladyfish began taking a liking to the live shrimp, a new Marsh Works soft plastic named The C-Mac and Gulp! Jerk Shad, it was time to go.

The tide had slowed, too, and fisherman in a late-arriving boat knew it after 10 minutes of hauling in hardheads and ladyfish.

“It’s hot and the water moves early most days,” Audibert said. “Get there early and get there with live bait and you’ll be rewarded.

“I’m excited that after all the east winds and (tropical storm) Debby, that the fish stayed here and the water cleared up after only two days of calmer winds.

“But that’s Breton Sound,” Audibert said. “That’s why I love it here. People can talk about a lot of other places around the state, but no place produces limits after limits like this place.”

Hefting an ice chest that was 200 pounds heavier than it was three hours early proved his point.