August, well summer in general is a typical south east wind pattern with afternoon showers. This August so far is going against the grain of that theory with showers and storms starting early in the morning hours along with moderate west winds day after day. Already with a dirty and fresh Pontchartrain from the spillway’s record opening, finding clear salty water is as easy to find as a mermaid while on the water. Here recently I was tired of waiting the west wind out and was chomping at the bit to get the pole bent. My wife and I brought the kids bright and early to day care this past Tuesday and headed out across a rough Lake Pontchartrain, a choppy Lake Catherine and ended up in a slick calm Lake Borgne. Why was Borgne slick? Well it was because we hugged the western shoreline which is leeward to a west wind and target reds. The mission was to sight fish the reds with the Matrix Craw but we had to pivot to the new Matrix Spin prototype (coming soon to matrixshad.com) as we found filthy water as usual. When I put my trolling motor down and saw just how terrible the water looked I just shook my head in disgust but I should have been nodding my head while smiling. The reds were plentiful and cruising the banks in full force. White shrimp skipped across the water all morning running from the trolling motor the entire day. Mullet rafts stayed ten yards off the bank and rafted the entire Lake Borgne shoreline as far as the eye could see. After sight fishing the few reds we could see I could tell how many we were passing up and knew blind casting spinners would be the ticket and it was. After rigging my wife Kristi’s rod up with a Matrix Spin reds started coming over the gunnel with a few doubles in the mix. The estuary is full of bait and the white shrimp have shown up in force. Specks will be right behind them as soon as water temps cool and they get off their spawning rituals in the salty waters. Be on the look out for our next report to discuss trout fishing probably under popping corks. Make sure to watch this Dockside TV and subscribe to our new MATRIX™ Bait Box to get your hands on the Matrix Spin prototype early.
Author: Chas Champagne
http://matrixshad.comCapt. Chas Champagne is an avid angler, located in Slidell, LA. Capt. Chas owns and operates Dockside Bait & Tackle and also manufactures his own tackle producing the Matrix Shad fishing lure and the Golden Eye jig heads.