After reading about how my group caught 71 keeper specks in Grand Isle waters, I have been inundated with calls from people wanting to try to their luck.
I took Otis Taylor, Matt Krehel, Mike Krehel, Weldon Danos and Gerard Danos on a recent trip and we had a lot of success once again, catching 42 keeper specks.
We launched at the Sand Dollar Marina, which is located on the eastern end of Grand Isle. From the marina, it’s just a short boat ride to Barataria Pass, Coup Abel and Four Bayou Pass.
We departed the marina around 7 a.m. and headed to our first stop in front of Fort Livingston at the rocks. Everyone on board was fishing with live bait rigs, Carolina rigs and live shrimp. Matt made the first cast close to the rocks and hooked a nice 14-inch speckled trout.
“Oh baby, we are going to catch ‘em today!” Otis said.
After a couple of snags in the rocks, we decided to find protective water to try our luck. We had the best conditions to fish speckled trout a fisherman could ask for – the water temperature was in the low 70s, there was a 1.5-foot-tide range, clear light green water and plenty of live bait.
On our ride to Four Bayou Pass, we stopped to fish under the birds in Coup Abel without any luck. Otis quickly barked out, “The big trout are in Four Bayou Pass. Quit wasting time on these small trout.”
So we headed to the first islands in Four Bayou Pass. We dropped the anchor on the southern side of an island and the boat drifted back allowing Matt, Mike, Otis, Weldon and Gerard to cast down wind towards the island. Within a few minutes, Mike set the hook on a big 20-inch speckled trout.
After that, we knew the trout were around us.
Weldon was right behind him, netting an 18-inch speckled trout. He caught his on a cocahoe minnow.
“Big trout will always hit a cocahoe,” Weldon said.
It wasn’t’ long before Matt hooked into a bull redfish. The big redfish made Matt circle the boat a couple of times before he netted it.
It measured 30 inches long.
“This is the biggest fish I have ever caught. You gonna let me keep it Papa?” Matt asked Otis. “I guess so!” Otis replied.
Gerard also hooked a big redfish.
“Man, this thing is a fighter.” Gerard said. He was using a cork when he set the hook. Somehow the redfish managed to get off his line. Gerard saw his cork pop up above the water line and jerked his rod to make the cork pop in the water. This time the redfish came up and hit his cork.
The fight was on again, but it didn’t last long. The redfish popped his line and Gerard lost his fish.
“I have never seen a redfish do that!” Gerard said.
We continued to stay at the island, with everyone taking turns catching 14-to-20-inch speckled trout. However, Matt wasn’t done catching redfish and landed another one.
After pulling the fish into the boat, Matt noticed a leader hanging out of the fish’s mouth.
“That’s my leader I lost a while ago,” Gerard said.
Matt had landed the same fish Gerard had hooked a few minutes earlier. We stayed in the area but the action slowed. Pulling up the anchor we moved to the camps on the eastern side of Four Bayou Pass. We managed to catch several big trout on a live bait rig still using live shrimp and cocahoe.
Otis caught the last fish of the day and it turned out to be a flounder.
“Man, what a great day. We didn’t catch our limit but we caught quality fish,” he said.
I started cleaning the fish at the camp, saving the redfish for last. When I began filleting the redfish with the leader in his mouth, I noticed a bulge in the fish’s stomach. After cutting the esophagus I saw the tip of the chartreuse popping cork.
I went into the camp and told Weldon to come and take a look at the fish. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The redfish had swallowed the hook, line and cork.
“I’ll take a trip like this any day,” Otis said. “I had my grandsons, friends, beautiful weather, big speckled trout, and I had a great time!”
Be the first to comment