From Breton Sound Marina (the east marsh launch spot) the run to prime oil rig summer trout hotspots is about 30 miles. Much of the run is in sheltered waters of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet canal, with about 15 miles of Gulf of Mexico open water running required southeast of the canal mouth to productive rigs. Breton Sound Marina guide Capt. Glen Sanchez says the best summer rig trout fishing is in 15 to 20 feet of water. Lures or baits work, and choice spots have a hard-shell bottom, placed on the Gulf floor as a rig platform base that rises several feet above surrounding bottom.
Most trout are in deeper cuts or open bays.
“There are hundreds of rigs that are great for trout, reds and other fish,” Sanchez says. “I run to a rig and look at it with my fathometer. If there’s a shell bottom, the depth will rise a few feet around the rig, and trout will be there, big-time. Trout live around rigs all summer, then move inshore in cool weather, closer to the canal mouth and the east marsh.”
I would advise a bay boat for the run to the rigs. My 19-footer was okay, but a 22-footer would have been better, and neither Kim’s nor Don’s aluminum skiff was the right boat for that trip. Sanchez runs charters from a 22-foot deep-V boat.
In winter, big schools of chunky seatrout move close to shore, and redfish stack up in deep holes located in the back ends of oil field canals. There is fabulous redfishing in such canals every winter, with many fish caught in 6 to 12 feet of water.
One year, between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Kim, Don and a friend anchored their boat across a ditch that drained a big 30-acre slough during a falling tide. With the tide dropping, reds had to leave the slough through the ditch or be caught high and dry. In four hours fishing the trio of anglers caught over a hundred reds weighing 5 to 15 pounds on jigs and spoons.
While our fishing was never that fast during our trip, it was as good as we had hoped for, especially for Nebraskan John Snyder, who caught a heavily spotted 18-pounder that took big-fish honors in our group. Snyder, who is more accustomed to walleyes, reports that he is ruined now, and the same might be said for any angler who gets the chance to sample the Louisiana marsh.
Tackle Up
A medium-action spinning or baitcasting outfit spooled with 10- to 12-pound-test line will do it all. A short doubled line at the terminal end made with a Bimini twist or spider hitch, tied to a 4-foot shock tippet of 30-pound test helps prevent cutoffs. Big Louisiana redfish in the tight confines of marsh creeks can call for braided line, which holds up to rough treatment around oysters and snags.
Primary forage for redfish in the marsh are small half-dollar-size blue crabs and mullet, so pick your artificials accordingly. One of the most popular and productive redfish lures in this region is a gold or crab-colored Norton “Brass Rattler” spoon. It’s weedless and made of durable plastic, so it rides higher than many metal spoons, a decided advantage in extremely shallow water. Spinnerbaits and soft-plastic jerkbaits also score here. Seatrout, flounder and even black drum hit these lures, but often they’ll just peck at them. It’s therefore good to have a grub jig rigged to another rod so it can be cast to places where you get strikes but no hook-ups. This often results in a seatrout, flounder or drum.
Fly fishermen should use a 7- to 9-weight rod, floating line and a 6- to 8-foot leader tapering to 10- to 15-pound test, depending on the underwater terrain. A heavier bite tippet may be in order in some places. Poppers and crab-imitating flies and Bendback streamers are deadly. Be sure to sharpen all hooks carefully with a mill file, especially spoons that have large, heavy hooks.
