Sunlight Helps Boost All Catches

By JOE MACALUSO

Sunlight helps boost all catches

Consecutive days of sunlight, light winds, mild afternoons and falling river levels gave a boost to this week’s freshwater and saltwater catches.

The question now is how much will mostly cloudy days and increasing chances of rain affect trips during the next seven days?

Remember, we went nearly three weeks with little sunshine and falling water temps fell.

Weather

A chance of rain returns to the forecast for the next five days with the best chances coming Sunday through Tuesday. A cold front is scheduled to move through Friday night into Saturday morning. Winds will move from the north to the east by Saturday but continue in the 10-to-15 knot range with seas running 2-to-6 feet during the period. Expect temperatures in the low-40s Saturday and low-50s through Tuesday with afternoon highs in the mid-60s.

Both major rivers are falling: The 4.9-foot reading at Atchafalaya River at Morgan City today will give way to a 3.1-foot reading this time next week. The Mississippi River at Baton Rouge will drop from 28 feet today to 19.9 feet by Wednesday.

A falling barometer, mild winds and calmer seas today and Friday make these two days the best to be on a freshwater or saltwater trip.

Freshwater

Spinnerbaits and jerkbaits worked on bass in the Lake Verret- Belle River area through Wednesday.

The rising barometric pressure had bass and sac-a-lait tight on deep structure in the early mornings. Bright sunshine kept the species on structure, but action from 3 p.m. until dark improved on warmer water and decreased sunlight.

The best action is coming in clear water whether it’s found in the lakes, canals or bayous. Sunlight has also increased water temperatures: The north and western sides of lakes and canals found water temps up 8 degrees (to 54-to-56 degrees) since last week.

Clear-water canals off Turtle Bayou produced sac-a-lait and bass on small tube jigs and small plastic worms. The bright days also helped the sac-a-lait action on Lake Larto and the bass catches at Toledo Bend.

Saltwater

Trout and redfish didn’t react to the bright sunshine until Tuesday when catches picked up at the Sulphur Mine (west of Golden Meadow) and in the Port Sulphur, Buras, Delacroix and the Biloxi marsh areas.

Slow catches (5-to-10 per angler) Monday were up to near limits of trout and redfish Wednesday.

The best action is on small soft-plastic lures like the Bull Minnow (avocado/red glitter and purple/chartreuse tail) on a quarter- ounce jighead worked on or near the bottom.

Finding and fishing clear water around rock jetties and over oyster beds proved to be the most productive patterns and areas.

The high, but falling Mississippi River continued to hurt the action near and south of Venice.

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