July 2016 Volumn 17 Issue 193 | Page 22

Marsh & Bayou’s Rigolets Fishing Forecast Lake Pontchartrain by Chas Champagne DockSide TV / Matrix Shad 985-707-9049 [email protected] With the spectacular weather we’ve been having to close out the end of June, the water quality and salinity levels have spiked and conditions are making a 180 degree turn for the better. From a dismal beginning of the summer, things are looking on the up and up now. With long-awaited dry and calm weather, the fishing has really started to shape up for the summer. As far as speckled trout fishing goes, we have large schools of small trout in the area, and plenty throwbacks have also been reported in the local area which is odd for the Pontchartrain Basin. If you’re looking to load the boat with nice-sized speckled trout, you better be prepared for a long boat ride. Try areas like the rigs in Lake Borgne and Half Moon Island. Try the islands along the back side of the Biloxi Marsh and all the way toward the MRGO rocks. If you want to stay close and keep pitching plastics throughout the summer, put redfish on the brain. Mostly use 5/16 oz Golden Eye Jigheads on your choice of a Vortex Shad for the next few months. Here at DockSide TV, we switch our focus toward sight fishing and target sunny days throughout the summer. We use these sunny days to help see redfish swimming in the shallow flats all across the area. Get as high as you can in your boat so your eyes can penetrate the water. If you have to, use a cooler to stand on and wear good polarized glasses. This will help 22 July 2016 www.marshandbayou.com you see the swimming and tailing reds. When we try the shorelines of Lake Borgne and Pontchartrain we always try to find the leeward banks. Check the wind direction forecast for each day, and put a game plan together for each certain wind direction. We all know weathermen can make mistakes; but as far as the direction of the wind, they are usually dead on with that. Wind speed is not that much of a factor in the redfishing game. Actually, a little breeze helps keep the brutal summer heat off you and some of the bugs that are ready to chomp on you in marsh. Now when the tides are above normal levels, we Logan Suggs with a big bull like to push deep drum caught at the L&N Trestle. into the marsh and leave the Lake shorelines, pressing inside the interior more. You can find big schools of reds floating around like bright red stop signs over the grassy duck ponds in the marshes all over the Lake's estuary, along with the marshes of Alligator and Proctor's Point. We also like to float around the East and West Pearl's pond systems on high water situations. You can catch catch these reds many different ways, but watching them eat the lure every time is a sight to see, and by far, one of the most sporty ways to catch a fish along our wonderful Gulf Coast. For all DockSide TV sight fishing episodes, subscribe to our channel or watch them at www.MatrixShad.com by Jeremy Suggs Rigolets Bait & Seafood (985) 641-8088 June has come and gone, and with it came the bull reds and drum at the L&N train trestle. The Pearl River system normalized and fell to typical summer levels. In turn, water in the Rigolets and surrounding areas was clean and alive with plenty of bait. While the trout were on the small side, anglers still managed to put a handful of legal ones in the ice chest. Lake Borgne produced plenty of trout and sheepshead around the gas rigs the first half of June, but the bite trailed off as the month moved along. July should be similar to June regarding water clarity, weather patterns, and tidal ranges. As June wound down, we started to see some of the heat for which the Gulf Coast is known. This means you need to be on the water early to fish the shorelines while the fish are feeding. Some of the areas that began to produce nice reds at the end of June should continue through July. In particular, you should work the points and inlets along Lake Catherine’s eastern shoreline as well as the southern entrance to Little Lake (a.k.a. Mud Lake). As the day heats up, look for the deeper holes to hold fish escaping the blazing summer sun. Unknown Pass and Rigolets Pass around and under the L&N bridge have plenty of deeper water to fish and maybe a little shade to cast as well. If you are set on catching big trout, you may have to make that run to higher salinity water in the Mississippi Sound. For more info check out our FULL PAGE AD>>> or See our website: rigoletsmarina.com