Wind, cold, clouds, rain, rising rivers, muddy water.
Take your pick. One or all of these factors is messing with you catching fish these days.
One sure thing is Friday’s strong northerly winds pushed lots of water from our state’s coastal marshes. With a national holiday up Monday, it means you’ll find a lot of places where you explored a month ago will be void of water.
Even worse, where there is some water, it might not be deep enough to float even a small boat much less the bay and bass boats most fishermen use to target speckled trout, redfish, drum and largemouth bass.
Coastal anglers were helped in the past several days by a bright sun in a clear sky. While that usually means a rising barometer — yet another problematic and catch-inhibiting factor — hours of sunshine have somewhat offset the cold water temperatures.
So, what’s a fisherman to do?
Finding deep water near shallow flats is the top priority.
After that look for clearer water. You’re not likely to find clear water even in the big lakes, but you need to find the clearest water possible. That’s because sunlight penetrates clearer water more than muddy water and the chance to catch fish from an area that’s as little as 3-4 degrees warmer increases dramatically.
That’s true in coastal areas as well as freshwater bayous, lakes, rivers and the vast Atchafalaya Basin.
Need proof? Todd Masson and Chris Macaluso (yes, he’s my fish-catching son) worked as many as four spots in the Chef Menteur area Tuesday without even so much as a strike from any of the aforementioned species.
They were fishing 46-48 degree water. More sunlight and a move brought them into 51-52 degree water, and they sat in a clearer water spot catching bass for nearly two hours. Even better, there were a few 3-pounders mixed with the 1-2 pounders that kept pounding their offerings, the best being June bug-colored worms.
Similar reports are coming from the Sportsman’s Paradise launch near Cocodrie, Four Point, Theriot and Lake DeCade.
So another piece to this depth-of-winter fishing puzzle might be to give duck hunters the early morning, wait for the sun to get up and the water to warm.
Adding to this conundrum is barometric pressure. We’ve hit 30.39 inches on the barometric scale and that alone can shut down the bite for most all species.
It’s at that time when you have to go deep and work artificial lures as slowly as possible.
After paying attention to the barometer during the last three weeks, a pattern has emerged, one that went unnoticed in years past.
The barometer started high at sunrise, but began falling near 11 a.m. and kept falling until sunset. This could be another reason for launching well after sunrise.
There’s another factor: lure selection is a hotly debated subject at this time of year.
Old-timers swear by using smaller soft-plastic baits. The 2½-inch H&H Mud Minnow comes to mind, and it’s been a go-to lure for years in the coastal marshes.
Other (and younger) fishermen say working soft plastics with a larger profile — heavier, 6-7 inch long, and opaque lures work best on bass, redfish and even trout in areas where water clarity, water depth and water temperatures demand fishing deep and slow.
There are some proven factors to help your wintertime catch. Piers, rip-rap, concrete pilings, pipelines and trees help direct the sun’s heat into the water, which might explain why bass, sac-a-lait and redfish catches remain fairly constant when working these locations.
Now, all you have to do is solve this riddle. And even all thise might not help.
A reminder
Wildlife and Fisheries announced it will stock 1-2 pound rainbow trout Thursday across south Louisiana. The sites include Burbank Park, Baton Rouge; Bogue Chitto State Park, Franklinton; Zemurray Park, Hammond; Bayou Country Sports Park, Houma; I-10 Park, Jennings; Girard Park, Lafayette; Joe Brown Park, New Orleans; Purple Heart Memorial Park, Ragley; Sidney Hutchinson Park, Walker; and, Southside Regional Park, Youngsville.
There will be daily creel limits, and you’ll need a current state basic fishing license to take fish if you’re 16 or older.
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January 17, 2021 at 08:00AM
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Low, slow not only tip for wintertime catches - The Advocate
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