Fishing Report for April 24, 2008
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We have water and we have fish: The prevailing problem during the last couple of weeks is finding the water holding the fish.
Finding clear water is not a must in freshwater areas, but finding clear water will help on saltwater trips.
Coming off last weekend’s full moon is a strike against you. A plus is stable weather deep into the weekend.
Weather
Mostly light, southerly winds inland and along the coast with a shift to the west and northwest and an increase to 10-to-15 knots Sunday. Expect temperature ranges from the low- to mid-60s into the lower-80s with rain chances in the 30-to-40 percent range Saturday-Monday when a cool front moves to the coast.
The rivers crested Tuesday, and will begin a long, very slow fall.
The coast
Redfish are everywhere — ponds, canals, the edges of lakes — and have started moving out into the bays. Points leading from runouts, bayous and canals into bays are holding redfish up to 40 pounds.
Find dingy/dirty water and you’ll need market shrimp (the fresher the better) in the ice chest. Use the fresh shrimp on a hook under a cork or hooked to a Carolina rig in all these areas.
Find clear water in these spots and you’ll be able to take the reds on topwater plugs and speckled trout on black/chartreuse and purple/chartreuse soft-plastic lures on a jighead.
Most of the best redfish and big speckled trout reports continue to come from the east side the Mississippi River. Trout in the 2-to-5 pound range are coming on those artificial lure colors “down river” from Venice. If winds and seas allow for trips to Breton Island or the Chandeleur chain — the best conditions are rising tides and southeasterly winds — topwaters and soft plastics are taking trout up to five pounds in these spots.
At Grand Isle, the reefs behind the island and up the Barataria Waterway to the Bay St. Denis area produced limits of 12-to-15 inch speckled trout on soft plastics under a cork or worked slowly tight-lining on jigheads. Redfish were in the ponds and on the edges of islands.
Canals and old canal spoilbanks in the Leeville area held loads of redfish and small black drum. Spinnerbaits with black/chartreuse plastic tails were productive on the reds.
Freshwater
For the folks with small bateaus, the action along the Atchafalaya Spillway levees has been terrific on bass. Spinnerbaits and lizards worked in the grass along the levees have been taking largemouths. There are stretches of posted lands along the levees, so make sure you launch in a public area and don’t get out of your boat until you arrive back at the launching site.
Sac-a-lait are being taken along the treelines near the levees and catfish are showing up in the same areas where the bass are moving — in the levees’ grass — and are taking shrimp, nightcrawlers and cut bream.
