With the recent record warm temps for the end of January its like the fish have been confused as trout and red fishing has been inconstant. Water temps for the end of January have spiked into the high 60’s. I personally have never seen water temps reach that high during the peak of the winter. The catches our DockSide captains have been seeing during January has been 10-30 trout on average and 2-10 reds. The one thing that has been much more consistent has been the bass or as some say the “green trout. Bass fishing has been king of late and most of us have been targeting them. We have simply been throwing the MATRIX Spin on warmer days up along the banks. On the colder of days we have been simply dribbling the “Midnight Mullet” MATRIX Shad on a 1/4oz GOLDEN Eye Jig Head down the slopes of the banks. All the canals off Lake Ponchartrain are great right now. The marsh canals are holding big schools of marsh bass as we call them as they are usually short but stumpy they and gang up in big schools like trout do. Marsh canals such as Salt Bayou, the Hwy 11 canal, Carr Drive and Irish Bayou have been great. On the more windy of days we like to go to the more wooded areas such as Bayou Bonfuca, Bayou Liberty and Bayou Lacombe. It has been really nice to have such a good back up plan when the trout and red fishing is off. What to look for this February is kinda of tricky this year because the water temps are so warm. We should see spawning patterns trigger off early this year with the warmer water temps. So look for the bass to begin to gang up in spawning areas such as dead end canals earlier than normal this winter. Also look for the bridges to possibly have an earlier run. We usually see it like clock work as the big girls on the bridges show up every year in full force during the middle of March. Hopefully this year it comes early as the warm water temps should trigger an early pre spawn for these two species of fish. It sure would be awesome to get an early run of those annual 4-6lb Lake Pontchartrain trout this February. Hopefully our wish comes true this February. Come see us anytime at DockSide or call us at 985-707-2105. Pick up some Matrix Shad at any of our local retailers or at www.DockSideLA.com
