Looking for reds in all the right places

Andrew Callais, B.J. Heine and John Heine caught five keeper redfish and 12 blue catfish over the weekend. The group had success at several different spots.

With the recent passage of a cold front, most fishermen or hunters were ready to swarm the waters or woods.

This past weekend, Andrew Callais, John Heine and grandson B.J. Heine headed out of Seaway Marina Sunday morning in Lafitte. 

They were not armed with bows, crossbows, or shotguns in search of deer or small game. Instead, they had rods-n-reels and an empty ice chest and were looking for speckle trout and redfish. 

The wind was blowing out of the north at 10 to 15 miles per hour and the temperature was a cool 65 degrees. This is light sweater and coat weather when riding in a boat.

The trio crossed the Barataria Seaway marker #1 into Bayou Rigolets and headed south for the bulkhead on the east side, which is two miles down. The strong north winds from the night before had changed the water color from a light clear green to a chocolate milk color. 

"Last weekend we caught a lot of redfish on artificial baits, like the pearl Big O, tuxedo cocahoe, and the chartreuse sparkle beetle under a cork." Andrew said. “But on this weekend, the conditions were different and a jig head with market shrimp worked the best.” 

Switching over to market shrimp, Andrew caught a 30-inch redfish on his first cast.  John and B.J. did the same and caught many undersized redfish. 

They decided to leave the small redfish in search for bigger ones. They pulled up the anchor and headed north to the deep hole at the mouth of Bayou Perot.  Rigged with a 1-ounce egg weight on a Carolina rig, Andrew dropped the market shrimp to the bottom in 20 feet of water. After tightening his line on the reel, he realized he was hung on the bottom.  At that point the line began stripping from his reel. 

In a strong current and 15 minutes later, he netted a 31-inch redfish.

Because of the fresh water coming out of Lake Salvador the trio caught several blue catfish and many more undersized redfish, so the group decided to run to the Harvey Cut.

The ride was quite bumpy due to the wave action caused by the north wind. When they reached the Harvey Cut they dropped anchor along the east cemented wall of the first cut. 

After catching one good redfish, many blue catfish, and undersized redfish, they decided it was time to move on.

Trying several different locations, the trio managed to catch five keeper redfish and 12 blue catfish during the morning. Not bad for a blue bird day. 

"Redfish are all over the Little Lake, Bayou Rigolets, and Bayou Perot area,” John said. “Bring market shrimp and artificial baits to catch reds right now. Also, watch the weather - it can get rough with strong north winds."