- Trout Need Salt in the Summer-Most anglers just know where to catch trout in the fall and spring and other areas in the summer but do they know why? The most important factor to dictate a trouts location in the summer is SALT. Trout spend the entire summer months with two things on their mind, eating and spawning. In the summer months it is the main time of year a trout spawns and the key for trout eggs to spawning correctly is that they need higher salinities to float their eggs in order for them to hatch properly. Here in my area we used to catch some monster trout in the summer months but we also used to have a direct injection of salt that blasted from Breton Sound straight into Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchartrain. That injection of pure saltwater was from the MRGO, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, but ever since hurricane Katrina that is a thing of the past as multiple dams are now up for flooding purposes blocking the salt injection and changing our estuary for ever. The key summer spot that took the hardest hit from these dams was the Seabrook Bridge area. Seabrook pound for pound may have yielded more five pound trout than any one spot ever has on the entire Gulf Coast. It was a special place and times have changes so lets talk about how to approach summer trout now rather than. dwell on the past.
- Areas to Target in the Summer-As mentioned above Seabrook is still worth a peak from time to time but forget about those 5, 6, and 7 pounders and consistency is definitely out the window, but it will still hold trout in the 30′ hole out in front the bridge at times especially as we get into the hotter months. Depending on how salty the water is in the Pontchartrain basin will dictate on how far east you need to travel to consistently target trout. On some of our most recent years due to multiple spillway openings we have had to travel as far as Isle Au Pitre, Grand Pass, and Three Mile Pass. Always keep your eyes peeled for diving seagulls when fishing these areas. These spots are the most Eastern spots of the Louisiana Marshes and hold the saltiest of waters. This year on the other hand has been mild due to rain fall and salinities have been much better than the last several years. The trout stayed on the bridges here in Pontchartrain much longer than the last several years and even the East and West Pearl are producing trout for the first time in a while. Another great area to target trout is the Rigs in Lake Borgne. The reefs in Pontchartrain seem to hold trout as the summer goes on and the Causeway too has came back to life after an eight year drought.
- Water Depths to Target-As the summer begins the trout fishing is much easier and you can find the fish in a multitude of areas. Mainly focusing on 5-12′ of water. As the summer progresses things change though. Deep water is what we attack for trout and much deeper than most trout anglers are used to. The hotter the water the deeper we will target. Trout will also seek out swift currents as current flow cools the water down. In the hottest of months we focus on 15-35′ of water and that includes the LnN Bridge, the Hwy 90 Bridge, Martello’s Castle, Unknown Pass, Bayou Thomas, and of course Seabrook. All of these have the same thing in common, water depth and current. These places are very tricky to fish for the typical Louisiana trout angler. Throw away your popping corks and 1/4oz sinkers. Go buy 1oz and 1.5oz sinkers and get ready to Carolina rig these areas. The best time to target all these spots is at the end of a falling tide and the beginning of a rise. Catching the tide change really helps. If you are fishing it at peak tide a lot of times the current can be too swift. The common Louisiana saying “There just wasn’t any tide today” will never be said at these spots as it always has some current flow here. All these spots connect two major bodies of water and speckled trout will use them to cool down and wait for bait to pass through the zone.
- Lures and Techniques to Use-Of course here at MatrixShad.com we only throw plastic. Our favorite technique early in the am in the summer is to throw topwater if your in a shallower marshy area that is holding trout such as the most easter part of the Louisiana Marshes as discussed before. If we are still on one of the bridges, reefs or Lake Borgne Rigs in the earlier part of the summer we simply will bounce our favorite Matrix on a 3/8oz golden eye. As the water temps rise and we go deep we will beef it up to a 1/2 oz jig head with our favorite matrix or if the trout are big enough I suggest going up to a 3/4 oz head with a 4/0 hook and switch to the Mega Matrix which will really help the bait get down. Another great technique in deep swift moving water is to Carolina rig a TKO shrimp using a 1oz sinker and about 30 inches of leader line. and of course live shrimp is a great bait in the summer along with poggies and croakers. I hope all these tips help and make sure to watch all of our summer DockSide TV videos on just where and how we fish.
