Durae Gisclair
February 14, 2019
Colonels set for opening weekend series
February 14, 2019
Old Man Winter isn’t all the way gone, but he’s packing up his things and preparing for his annual 6-&-month departure.
And those warmer temperatures are opening up opportunities for anglers looking to make fruitful springtime catches — especially in our area’s fresh waters.
Temperatures were up last week before a weekend cold front cooled us back down—a abort blast of cold that didn’t last but a few days before we warmed back up Again.
With, more consistent warm weather, the fishing pattern is officially changing with the wintertime pattern of heavy speckled trout/redfish activity Blowing a little, but the springtime freshwater season for bass, sac-a-lait, catfish, perch and crappie beginning to open up — a pattern that’s expected to continue for the next several weeks.
“That’s the beautiful thing about Louisiana — you ask me, ‘Is the fishing good?'” Houma native Russ Berthelot said. “What kind of fishing? There are so many kinds of Dishing here that it’s impossible to find a type of fishing that isn’t good from year-to-year. Right now, the winter is getting finished, but the warm water stuff is starting to get hot It’s cyclical. But here in Louisiana, let’s be real — it’s always fishing season. Something is always going to be biting.”
In Southern Lafourche Parish, anglers said fishing has been good in recent weeks. When fronts pass, the marshes are ripe with reds and specks — like we’ve seen for the past several months.
“They’re still there right now,” Houma native Robs The riot said an Friday after taking advantage of the cold spat far an early-morning catch. “When it’s colder is when it’s better, of course, but that impacts the trout more than anything else right now. The redfish have been there — regardless of the weather. And that’s what a lot of us are catching right now pretty heavily.”
In Grand Isle, offshore fishing is still not in season, though if we get an early spring and summer, that could pick up by late-March to early-April.
Those who have fished the island say that the rock jetties on the island are where the activity is and also the bridge-fishing is producing abundant catches.
“People on the island are taking in reds,” The riot said. That won’t slow down.”
In Southern Terrebonne Parish along the coast, the pattern has been the same as in Lafourche with cooler weather bringing a “normal” winter pattern, but warmer weather working to somewhat slow things down.
But that’s all saltwater fishing.
Far freshwater, right now, things are about to pick up in a big, big way.
In Bayou Lafourche, anglers are catching catfish, crappie and small base — some on small boats and others just fishing off the aide of the road.
Cut Off native Ricky Guidry said he caught 5 cats and 3 bass in about an hour — with nothing more than a pole, a few worms and a little bit of live bait
“It didn’t take much work-” Guidry said, boasting while showing off his catch. “The bayous are always one of the beat places to go when it becomes spring. You can catch just about anything in our bayou since it’s been cleaned out in the past 30-40 years.”
In Lafourche’s canals, the same action can be had with catfish, perch, crappie and bass all available to be had on warm, sunny days in the 40-arpent canal throughout the parish.
Warmer weather will have a straight-line effect an these conditions in the coming months, according to Guidry.
“On a warm day, you can catch a perch on every cast,” he said.
In Bayou Black, high waters are keeping conditions from their peak, but those who fish the bayou say that Mother Nature is the only thing stopping us from going full-steam ahead in the coming weeks.
Theriot said when water levels drop some and we get a consistent push of warmer weather, things will pick up — much like last spring when locals said it was the best freshwater fishing season we’ve had in decades
“It’s really dose,” Theriot said. “We’re seeing the front-end of it right now, but if s really, really close to being excellent for everyone. We’re in between seasons right now. Once it officially changes over, I think people will be very happy.”
