Marsh & Bayou’s
Rigolets
Fishing Forecast
Lake
Pontchartrain
by Chas Champagne
DockSide TV / Matrix Shad
985-707-9049
[email protected]
October Is the Month To Have a
Popping Cork Tied On
The Pontchartrain Basin is notoriously known for
deep water, heavy jigheads, and fishing the bottom.
Well, throw all that out the window in October. White
shrimp are moving into the interior marshes and outside shorelines, and there is not a better way to mimic
the sound of a shrimp than a popping cork. Here at
DockSide TV, we always keep a cork tied on during
the fall months. If we’re fishing a turbulent area and
want to make sure to make some noise when popping a cork, we use the cup-style Matrix Float from
MatrixShad.com; but if we find ourselves fishing a
slick calm area, we tend to switch over to the ovalshaped Matrix Float. Either way, a float is a tool that
must be used during the entire month of October.
The popping sound corks make on the surface is the
key to getting the fish's attention this time of year.
The fish hear it as it sounds like a tasty white shrimp
skipping across the surface, and they look up to see a
tasty Matrix Shad fall below. The Matrix Floats have a
titanium wire built in, making them un-bendable and
preserving more life for the cork. The lure of choice
under the cork is typically the shrimp creole Matrix
Shad on a 1/4 oz Golden Eye. It is an irresistible
combination to both trout and reds. The one thing
we advise is to change leader lengths when targeting
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October 2016 www.marshandbayou.com
the two species. When we are in a duck pond fishing
reds and using corks, we keep the leader off the bottom 12-18”; but as we travel from duck pond to duck
pond on the trolling motor, we lengthen the leader.
When we are in a small bayou or ditch joining to adjacent duck ponds, we look for current. If the current is
peeling through the bayou, we know it is deep and
has potential for trout. The current over the years
cuts away at the bottom making deeper bayous the deeper the bayou, the better. When you are fishing way back in the interior marsh that averages 18
inches of water and you stumble upon a creek that
has eight feet of water, you can bet the farm specks
will be in there in October. Simply make a 24-30"
leader with a Matrix
Shad under a Matrix Float and hold
on.
The trout we’ve
been catching lately
are currently around
a 40 percent keeper
ratio. That ratio will
get much better as
temperatures cool.
Once we start catching those 14-18" trout, we typically switch over to top water, throwing the Matrix
Mullet as it too is an excellent imitator of a shrimp
skipping across the water. Make sure to take some
sick days in October since it’s in our top four favorite
months to fish. If you’re given a bluebird sky day, I
suggest sight fishing reds with the Matrix Craw deep
in the marsh because October is lights out for reds;
but don't forget to pop those corks for school trout
on the way to the duck ponds, especially if you see
current eddies in the deeper bayous.
Areas to try during October are the following: The
West Pearl, Alligator Point, Bayou Bienvenue, Irish
Bayou, Bayou Lacombe, Unknown Pass, and Counterfeit Pass. Use these tips, and go deep into the
marsh.
by Jeremy Suggs
Rigolets Bait & Seafood
(985) 641-8088
The lower Pearl River continued to be
productive in September. The water was uncommonly clean and loaded with reds and
bass. Trout were being caught along the
shore lines and rigs in Lake Borgne and they
began to show up at the L&N Train Bridge
near the end of the month. The summer
heat continued and water temperatures were
still in the high 80’s as the month came to a
close.
As we move into October, the cooler
weather and water temperatures should
bring the trout back inshore. When it “turns
on”, the bridges in Lake Pontchartrain will be
surrounded by fish and anglers
alike. Be careful sneaking into
the marsh early during this
time of year as many duck
hunters will be hunkered down
anxiously waiting for the sun to
come up.
I recently had my first opportunity at sight fishing reds
with Captain Clinton DeArmas
of Get'n Hooked Inshore Adventures as my guide (504-577-4163). Captain Clinton is outstanding at conveying the
many nuances of finding and catching fish in
the shallows of the Louisiana marsh. The
view from the top of the tower is unlike any
other that I have experienced. The ability to
locate a fish, present the bait, and watch as
the fish takes it, has to be one of the most
exciting types of fishing I have done. Under
tough conditions and with a few rookie mistakes, we ended up putting eight beautiful
reds in the boat, ranging from 22-26 inches.
If yo