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Louisiana’s White Shrimp Migration: The important thing to catching speckled trout within the marsh
Every part was excellent. The solar was barely peeking over the horizon. A slight breeze was blowing out of the north. The water temperature learn 73 levels on the Garmin. As we lower throughout Lake Borgne and drew close to to the shoreline, our heads started to swivel forwards and backwards scanning the horizon. Then it occurred. On the identical time, we each noticed a big flock of seagulls dive-bombing a patch of water exploding with floor motion.
It’s fall in Southeast Louisiana and speckled trout anglers know if they’ll discover the shrimp, they’ll discover the trout. The white shrimp migration has begun and for individuals who know how you can fish it, that is probably the most thrilling time to focus on speckled trout.
Danny Hunter of New Orleans Finest Charters has been fishing the marsh close to the Rigolets his complete life and mentioned it’s his favourite time to chase specks. “For me, that is it! Nothing else comes shut,” he mentioned.
The right storm
Through the white shrimp migration, Hunter fishes the whole marsh stretching from Unknown Cross to Procter Level. It’s there that he finds the “interstate” utilized by the shrimp to exit the marsh grass the place they disguise in the course of the summer time months. The shrimp are within the juvenile stage and customarily measure 3-4 inches earlier than they transfer to deeper, saltier water to spawn as adults. “These shrimp are hunkered down within the marsh and the shallow duck ponds in the course of the late summer time months,” Hunter mentioned. “Then all heck breaks unfastened on them in late September and October once they exit.” Throughout this time a number of components come collectively to create the proper storm. “What you’ve got is a bunch of issues occurring on the identical time,” Hunter mentioned. “First you’ve got the speckled trout returning into the marsh from the deeper areas like Lake Borgne and the Mississippi Sound.” Because the trout migrate again into the marsh, the shrimp start to make their manner out of the marsh and into the deeper water. This leads to a collision course for the trout and shrimp. One other essential issue on this equation is the chilly fronts that begin to blow by within the fall. “When that south wind switches over and blows out of the north, it pushes all the water out of the marsh and into the canals. This accelerates the shrimp migration because it forces all of the shrimp out of the marsh.
What to search for
When fishing the shrimp migration, Hunter focuses on deep channels just like the Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Borgne. These are comparatively deep channels starting from 10-30 ft deep. “I prefer to cruise the canals on the lookout for cuts that drain out of the marsh. So principally I’m on the lookout for intersections the place a smaller canal connects to the primary channel. That’s the place the water goes to be flowing and the shrimp with it,” he mentioned. Within the fall, all of those cuts have the potential to provide trout, nonetheless, Hunter added generally there’s no have to waste time on fishing any of them due to the seagulls. “If you will discover the seagulls diving, greater than typically, that’s the place the trout are feeding on the shrimp,” he mentioned.
Fall set-up
Hunter’s setup is a PENN Battle III 2500 spinning reel loaded with 20-pound Daiwa J-Braid X8.
Throughout September and October when trout are feeding closely on shrimp, Hunter prefers utilizing plastic beneath a cork. “I take advantage of a beaded Undertaker Cork and tie on a 1/4 jig head. On the top, I thread on one thing referred to as a Finger Lure which is a 3.5-inch plastic shad made by Blue Collar Baits,” he mentioned. Hunter opts for a plastic shad over a shrimp lure as a result of he believes it’s essential that the lure stands out in opposition to hundreds of swimming shrimp. “When these trout are feeding on shrimp the very last thing you need to do is match the bait,” he mentioned. “A brightly coloured shad is the proper lure to distract these trout in the midst of a feeding frenzy,” he mentioned. For many anglers in Southeast Louisiana, stay shrimp is king in terms of stay bait. Nonetheless, Hunter recommends saving your cash. “When every part comes collectively like this it’s not mandatory to make use of stay shrimp. You will have the birds diving.
You will have the shrimp skipping throughout the water. The water temperatures are within the 70s. You could possibly most likely catch these fish with a naked hook if it’s shiny sufficient,” he mentioned. Hunter mentioned there may be one other draw back to utilizing stay shrimp as bait within the fall. “When these feeding frenzies happen, there are often some ladyfish combined in. In case you use stay shrimp, you’ll waste quite a lot of time catching these ladyfish,” Hunter mentioned.
Hunter mentioned he’s been catching limits of trout on practically each journey this fall and expects the chew to final till the shrimp have all left the marsh in November. Till then there may be loads of time left to get in on the joy of catching speckled trout feeding on brown shrimp.
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