Redfish have invaded Lake Salvador, making it easy for anglers to catch their five-fish limit.
Ritchie Friloux recently caught several redfish while fishing for bass near Gross Point.
“I was using a white spinner bait and buzzing it just below the water level and had a big blowup. I thought I was going to put a big bass in the boat, but instead I landed a 20-inch redfish,” Friloux said. “This happened several times during the morning. “
After Friloux switched to a top water bait, the redfish kept hitting it hard.
“I would have had a good limit of redfish if I hadn’t been fishing for bass,” Friloux said.
After hearing about Friloux’s experience, I set up a fishing trip with my brother, C.P. McDonald. We launched out of Pier 90 mid-morning and headed to the old oak tree on Lake Salvador.
The water was the clearest I have ever seen it. We could see the shells and stumps five feet down. Locating a shell reef on the south side of the old oak tree, C.P. hooked and boated an 18-inch redfish using a quarter-ounce jig head baited with market shrimp on the bottom.
“It’s going to be a good day,” C.P. said.
Next we traveled to the rigs in the middle of the lake. We had to use a stalking technique to get up close to fish the rigs. I would kill the outboard motor and use the trolling motor to travel the final 50 yards.
We were both rigged with quarter-ounce jig heads with market shrimp on the bottom. Making a long cast to the corner of the rigs and letting the bait sink to the bottom, we would retrieve the bait and bounce it on the bottom like a plastic worm.
Like clockwork, on the second or third bounce a redfish would pick up the bait.
It wasn’t long before we had 10 legal redfish in the boat.Many anglers have had success catching redfish at Gross Point, the rock shoreline on the east side at the mouth of Bayou Des Allemands, the grass beds in the Temple, Little Catahoula, Point Chicot, the mouth of Bayou Perot, the rigs in the middle of the lake, the Christmas tree line, Lucky Seven, the rocks at the mouth of Bayou Bardeaux and the old oak tree at the mouth of Bayou Couba.
The best baits have been market shrimp on a jig head, black/chrome quarter-ounce rattle trap, black/gold quarter-ounce rattle trap, quarter-ounce gold spoon, green/white Zara Spook and a white spinner bait.
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