Summer 2025 has been very good. The speckled trout action in Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne, and Biloxi Marsh has been consistent. Most trips offer customers their personal best trout, ranging from 20” to 24”. Redfish action was great in the beginning of the summer, but has slowed some. Black drum, sheephead, and a few red fish should be arriving at the Lake Pontchartrain bridges in the next several weeks when the white shrimp migrate in. With the shrimp, we should have “some” trout move in closer as well.
AUGUST will be great for catching speckled trout and white trout. This time of year we’re typically targeting deep passes or old oyster beds. When fishing in the deeper passes such as Rigolets Pass, Catherine Pass, Unknown Pass, Chef Pass, Bayou Thomas, and Bayou St. Catherine the most effective method seems to be the drop shot rig. Personally, I like a high and short “tag line” on the drop shot. What this means is the short piece of line (tag line) coming off the main line is maybe 1”-2” long and about 2.5’ above the 1oz sinker on the bottom of the rig. This basically keeps the hook higher off the bottom, thus reducing the amount of snags on the old shell beds and ledges in the passes. We always start with live shrimp. If the fish start coming into the boat every cast, I’ll typically choose 1 or 2 anglers to stop using the live shrimp and add a small plastic swim bait to their hook to save the hassle of rebaiting every cast. In addition to the trout being in the deep passes, the bull reds should be there as well.
SEPTEMBER will certainly offer us the usual black drum, sheep head, and redfish bite at the bridges in Lake Pontchartrain. The Hwy. 11 bridge, the famous “trestles” train bridge, and Twin Span bridge ( I-10) all will offer spectacular fishing. The drop shot rig is suited best for fishing the bottom and structure of the bridges. The last several years the redfish have been few and far between during the summer, but at some point in September they’ll show up in the Biloxi Marsh. The tried and true cork with dead shrimp underneath is the best method to target the reds at that time. Lake Borgne will have flocks of birds over the trout and on the calm days it should be easy catching.
OCTOBER – DECEMBER, will bring incredible fishing. These months book up fast. This is when New Orleans fishing is at it’s peak. Speckled trout, redfish, black drum, flounder, sheep head, white trout, bass, and blue cats will be landing on the cleaning tables through out these months.
