August Fishing Report The heat was not as bad this August thanks to cloud cover most of the month. Speckled Trout were still caught around the full moon in the local area. White trout made up the bulk of the catch. There were a few redfish trips toward the end of the month that were actually successful.
Redfish numbers are way down from where they normally are in the Lake Pontchartrain area, but we’re starting to see them show up. Live and dead shrimp was the ticket for the reds, though a few were harvested with chatter baits, and Berkely Gulp shrimp. Lake Catherine shorelines were the hot spots for the redfish.
As we get further into September the speckled trout will be making their annual migration into the marshes, passes, and lakes to feast on white shrimp and pogies. The northern shorelines of Lake Pontchartrain should be holding some specks at this point. One could pop a cork with a plastic bait or shrimp 18” underneath along shorelines, grassbeds and small bayous to put a decent catch together, perhaps even a limit if the tide is falling.
Starting at first light, make the most of the “golden hour”, the first hour of daylight to put the most in the boat. From there the bite will slow. Expect the bite to slow, stop, or size of the fish to decrease by 9:30 AM. From there I’d suggest an angler to spend the rest of their morning exploring. It’s crucial for an angler targeting speckled trout to be at the best possible spot when the sunrises. If 20 minutes goes by and you’ve had no bites, and no visible action nearby, move quickly to the next spot.
Right now, with water temps still above 80 degrees, the bite will certainly come to an end early. When water temps dip in to the 70’s and below in the next several weeks, the window of time to catch numbers of trout will increase. Everything looks great for fishing this fall. What could hurt us is a hurricane coming through and pushing most of the shrimp far west in Lake Pontchartrain. This would allow most of the trout to pass us and then hold up on the west side until Spring. This happened several years ago and made for a tough fall and winter of fishing, however, the Spring fishing that year was incredible as we caught the fish as they moved back out. Fingers crossed for more cold fronts to keep the storms away.
