October turned out to be a little disappointing for our area this month even though a few good catches were made. Warmer than normal october temps stuck around throughout with most fronts being mild and weak. The bridge fishing never kicked off yet for trout and flounder this fall. It was on fire for drum and sheepshead though, catches of 15 drum and 15 sheepshead were coming and still are hitting the cleaning tables everyday, while we watch our pet Jack Crevalle eat the carouses which not to mention is quite a sight too see.
With water temps still lingering in the mid to high 70’s look for the “World Series” Trout to show up a little late and to be in full swing throughout November. Signs of what usually happens just before the run starts are happening now. Birds, starting to dive on white shrimp in the normal areas such as Lake Catherine, Mud Lake and Bayou Thomas. School trout are pilling up on the rigs in Lake Borgne too, which should simply go right into the big sows showing up on the bridges sometime in the beginning of November. The trout under the birds are small but culling trough them will get your boxes full of keeper trout by the end of the day. Simply put a Matrix Shad on a 1/4oz Golden Eye jig head, 2′ under a cork and go crazy when you see a flock of birds diving on white shrimp.
If you are looking for a wall hanger for November the bridges every year is the focal point. 10-16′ of water from the Causeway to the Twin Span is where we are looking. Light falling tides are optimal and water clarity with 2′ of visibility is the key. Flounders almost always favor the west side of the trestle where trout can get on any of the bridges and can be caught by simply fishing the down current side with a 3/8oz Golden Eye attached to you favorite Matrix Shad. Midnight Mullet has been our go to bait so far this fall but look for the “Pink Champagne” to get hot as temps fall and especially in clean water situations.
Our last October DockSide TV episode was with Capt. Steve and I fishing the skinny marshes inside Alligator Point for trout and reds. We simply were bouncing the Matrix Shad off the bottom in small canals that connected adjacent duck ponds. We landed a dozen throw back “rat reds” which is a good sign for the future for our local marshes, and put 20 trout in the boat too. Look for some new DockSide TV episodes onwww.DockSideLA.com as the Lake heats up. We will be going into great detail of just how to catch those tricky Lake Pontchartrain trout. Until next time be safe and “Good Fishing.”
