Keith Lusher The stout speckled trout bite at the Trestles in Slidell has slowed considerably in the past few days. Anglers are having a tough time finding trout and what trout they are finding are all under 12”. Ronald Vincent of Slidell has been fishing the train bridge all spring and says the days of limits may be gone. Ronald fished from 6:00 am to noon and ended up catching one keeper speck and one redfish. “I’m wondering if the females have left. I didn't see a fish caught by any other boat and there weren’t many boats out there yesterday which tells me that things have really slowed down. Also the few trollers I talked to had nothing but undersized fish,” Ronald says. Anglers are reporting big numbers of undersized trout and Ronald says this is consistent with what he’s hearing from the trollers that fish the bridge. “I always talk to the trollers as they pass by. They were catching a lot of small trout but very few keepers. I guess this full moon brought in a batch of little ones,” he adds.
Liberty Lunker
Liberty Lunker
Chris Galloway We’ve all experienced days on the water where the fish just weren't cooperating. Slidell angler Chris Galloway experienced this on his latest trip to Bayou Liberty. Chris got an early start to his day and was looking to get on a topwater bite but says the fish just weren’t cooperating. “Honestly, all day was tough. I started off far north on Bayou Liberty and worked my way south. I was throwing a buzz bait and a hollow body frog. I can usually pull something off the cypress trees, but it just wasn't happening,” Chris says. That’s when the kayak fisherman decided to change things up. “I decided to hit some of the dead-end bayous that had some grass. I think it was the third one that something finally hit my frog on the edge of a grass patch,” he says. Galloway thought his luck may have changed but says the bad day continued. “I got it to the boat and came off on the boat flip. After that, I thought it was just one of those days,” Chris says. The dejected angler decided to fish his way back to the launch and that's when Galloway’s luck changed. “I threw the frog on top of a grass mat and saw a wake behind it. That happened twice but it never would commit. I picked up my flipping set up and dropped a craw in. As soon as it settled on the bottom I felt a lot of pressure and the rod started to load up,” he says. Chris set the hook but the fish swam under a grass mat and became lodged underneath the mat. “I had no idea on the size of the fish because of the it being under the grass. Then it finally busted through and I grabbed it!” Galloway says. The rejuvenated fisherman ended up with a 4 lb. 4 oz. largemouth bass and adds, “I never really got the topwater bite I was looking forget I’ll take that instead. It made a bad day, good, real quick!”
