Inshore fishing heating up with warmer temperatures

There are fish being caught in the Tri-parish area by local inshore fishermen.

It just depends on what day you go and where you’re going.

“It’s from day to day,” said Bobby Breaux with Bob’s Bayou Black Marina in Gibson. “Today, you might hear that they’re catching, but then the next day they might not do as well. It just depends on the weather. The conditions have got to be right.”

According to Breaux, the ideal spring day to fish is a partly cloudy, but warm day with little wind.

“When the water temperature is up in the 60s and 70s, that’s when it’s at its best,” he said.

With the brisk winter in the area, there were very few days like that to date and consequently very few fish being caught.

“They really didn’t catch much this winter with all of those fronts coming through,” Breaux said. “It was pretty bad.”

One of the fish most affected by the chilly weather for in-shore fish has been bass.

The bass season usually begins in early March in this area, but hasn’t been able to rev up until recently. Breaux said bass spawn, or reproduce in nests or bedded areas during early March in normal years.

But they haven’t begun doing that until recently, meaning the new population of fish is not there just yet.

“They got pushed back into late March,” he said. “They were up on the beds, but they got pushed back because of the cold weather. But they’re getting back there now. It’s about to get going.”

In addition to bass, he said the warm weather will also begin to yield sac-au-lait, goggle-eye, redfish and catfish.

Breaux said among the hopspots being explored currently are the Turtle Bayou area, the 70-Mile Canal and Orange Grove.

In Lafourche Parish, the 40-arpent canal and hurricane protection levee canal stretching from Golden Meadow all the way to Larose has also yielded big catches on the right weather days.

The hot baits being used vary and range from spinner baits, plastic worms and drop-water plugs with bass to chicken liver with catfish.

“Almost everyone seems to have their own little favorites,” Breaux said.

While the warmer weather has been yielding more inland fishing, the offshore season has yet to kick off because of the recent higher winds.

“The weather is really killing us,” said offshore fisherman Bobby Terrebonne with Gotcha Fishing Charter. “The wind, everything, it’s just been a tough winter. I’d love to give a good report, but we’re just not doing anything right now.”

Offshore fishing is different from inshore fishing in that the fish are currently swimming offshore, where they are still breeding and spawning inland.

“But it’s just too windy to get out there,” Terrebonne said. “The fish are there. You just have to get beat to death to get to them. The seas won’t let you get out.”

Terrebonne said amateur fishermen should also take note of their local weather forecasts when planning to head offshore.

“There have been so many small craft advisories,” Terrebonne said. “But what people don’t know is that Coast Guard regulations say that a small craft is anything from 100-foot on down, so people need to really be careful about that.”

Once the conditions allow, Terrebonne said tuna, wahoo, amberjack and mangrove snappers will be plentiful in offshore waters.

He also said the red snapper season will begin in early June, which should yield a good opportunity to catch.

“We haven’t gotten the official date yet for the season, but we anticipate it will be June 1,” Terrebonne said.

And while the local fishermen had to suffer through a winter that was cold, most everyone inshore and offshore predicts a mammoth summer season getting ready to begin.

“Once the weather stabilizes and the water temperature rises, the fish are going to be on this summer,” Breaux said. “I think this summer is going to be a bonanza with fish, because they didn’t get taken yet this spring.”