Well the Pontchartrain Basin is notoriously known for deep water, heavy jig heads 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 are fishing a turbulent area and want to make sure to make some noise when popping a cork we used the cupped styled Matrix Float from www.MatrixShad.com but if we find ourselves fishing a slick calm area we tend to switch over to the oval style Matrix Float. Either way a float is a tool that must be used during the entire month of October. The popping sound cork’s 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 Float’s have a titanium wire built in making them un-bendable 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 jig head. It is an irresistible combination to both trout and reds. The one thing we would advise is to change leader lengths when targeting the two species. When we are in a duck pond fishing reds and using corks we keep the leader shore to stay off the bottom 12-18″, but as we travel on the trolling motor from duck pond to duck pond on the trolling motor we will 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 8 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 have been catching lately are currently at 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 as it is in our top 4 favorite months to fish. If you are given a blue bird sky day I suggest sight fishing reds with the Matrix Craw deep in the marsh as 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 Beivenue, Irish Bayou, Bayou Lacombe, Unknown Pass and Counterfeit Pass. Use these tips and watch the DockSide TV episode below to see the Matrix Float in action.