Fishing Report for Aug. 23, 2012
Maybe all it took was persistent southeast winds, or maybe it was those two not-so-cool cool fronts, or maybe it was August’s new-moon period last week.
Whatever it was, or a combination of those three, the trout are back in the Grand Isle area, although not in the numbers fishermen found May through mid-July.
For bass fishermen, the steady catches in and off the Mississippi River near Venice and the early morning and late afternoon action in the Atchafalaya Spillway are spicing up late-summer trips.
Continuing the terrific offshore trips during the past month could face a big hurdle this weekend with the approach soon-to-be Hurricane Isaac.
Weather
Steady 5-10 knot southeast winds are predicted to increase to 10-15 knots by Sunday and push nearshore conditions from 1-foot waves to 2-3 footers by Saturday, then 3-4 footers by Sunday. Offshore conditions will get bumpy, too.
The high-pressure system is in the forecast. It’s supposed to move off the state’s coast Sunday and, hopefully, keep Isaac in the eastern Gulf.
Expect morning lows near 70 and afternoon highs around 90. The Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers are holding steady at 2.1 feet at New Orleans and 2.5 feet at Morgan City, respectively.
The coast
Live shrimp produced some 25-speckled trout-a-day limits and several near limits in from the Four Bayous-Casse Tete area west to The Fourchon and Timbalier areas during the past week.
Moving was the key: That meant hitting the islands’ surf and nearshore reefs on rising tides, then working the ends of the islands when the tide shifted. The rock walls in Caminada Pass produced specks, white trout, some reds and flounder.
Rigs in the Timbalier area, over into lakes Pelto and Barre and out into Caillou Boca held trout along with the western-most islands in the Last Island chain. MirrOlures and a variety of soft plastics under corks and on jigheads caught a mixed bag of specks.
The Breton Sound rigs continue to produce early morning trout limits on live shrimp and croaker.
Freshwater
Fishing clear, moving water with reddish soft-plastic creature baits is the latest trick in the Venice area. Most fish are coming near stands of Roseau cane. Some days, the baits are black with a red flake, sometimes it’s a redshad, or strawberry red with blue flake, or the California 420-like colors.
Spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and jerkbaits are producing Spillway bass from Pigeon to Grand Lake and Lower Bayou Sorrel. When the sun is bright, go to pitching plastics in heavy cover.
Sac-a-lait catches are solid, but few are talking about specific spots.
Delacroix is loaded with bass and redfish. Use spinnerbaits with chartreuse-colored or the Slammin’ Sammy colors of soft-plastic minnows, or chartreuse swimbaits and a variety of topwater plugs.