Marsh & Bayou’s
Rigolets
Fishing Forecast
Lake
Pontchartrain
by Chas Champagne
DockSide TV / Matrix Shad
985-707-9049
[email protected]
Shrimp are Moving into Lake
Pontchartrain and Many Different
Species of Fish Await under the Birds
Amanda Lewis
with a beautiful
slot red caught on
Matrix topwater.
22
August 2016 www.marshandbayou.com
It’s been good lately with signs of life showing
great progress in Lake Pontchartrain. Since July,
small shrimp sightings are being reported under diving birds all over the Lake. This is a very good sign of
things to come for this upcoming fall. When running
around the Lake, make sure
to keep your eyes peeled for
any bait or bird activity. Now
while temps are still sky high,
don’t be surprised when you
pull up to a flock of birds and
it’s all lady fish or jack fish underneath. Have fun with
them as they both can be a
blast, although they’re not
well-known for table fare.
What is most desired when
approaching a diving flock of
seagulls is redfish and speckled trout. Once temps cool
and we get closer to fall, the
lady fish and jacks will give way to the more desirable
species.
On a recent trip, Amanda and Blane Lewis struck gold
on their first-ever trip to Lake Pontchartrain and a first
trip on their friend Jason’s brand new boat. While
cruising around a slick, calm Lake Pontchartrain, they
ran across a huge flock of birds and were lucky
enough to have redfish in a frenzy just below. They
both tied on a Matrix Mullet and went to work on big,
bronzed-back redfish. The reds were aggressively
blowing the Matrix topwater out of the water, and
they boated their limit in no time.
When you are lucky enough to find a feeding
frenzy of any species in south Louisiana under the
birds, there is no more enjoyable and
exciting way to catch them but topwater; and the Matrix Mullet is a perfect
choice for game fish of all shapes and
sizes. If you’re an amateur to throwing
topwater, don’t worry, just follow the instructions in the videos from DockSide
TV. No matter what brand or style you
prefer, a topwater is a must-have on
board at all times. For all DockSide TV
videos chasing birds, subscribe to our
YouTube channel.
by Jeremy Suggs
Rigolets Bait & Seafood
(985) 641-8088
If chasing redfish and tripletail is your
thing, July worked out just right for you. The
big reds and drum continued to feed around
the L&N train bridge, and it wasn’t uncommon to find a school of reds in
Little Lake, the Rigolets, and Lake
Catherine. Tripletail were being
plucked from Lake Borgne as
well. Half Moon Island began to
produce some nice trout, and this
should continue through the
early part of August. As the
month came to a close, the last
full moon faded and the trout
spawn rolled into its final month
of August. There were a few reports of trout being caught by
the L&N bridge and Little Lake
over the last few days of July.
This action should increase as the
specks move through Rigolets Pass while
chasing white shrimp into Lake Pontchartrain.
Given that July was one of the hottest on
record, anticipate August to be the same.
Live shrimp will again be the bait of choice.
You should know the impact heat can have
on your bait, in particular live shrimp. Oxygen is key to keeping live bait… well, lively,
and the higher the water temperature, the
less oxygen it holds. Cool the water by placing your bait in the shade or adding ice.
Keep in mind that tap water contains enough
chlorine to kill your shrimp, so place the ice
in a watertight baggie before tossing it in.
Also, take out any dead shrimp to keep them
from releasing ammonia into your live well.
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