72 Louisiana Sportsman^ | April 2015
The Battle of MIDWAYMidway between Grand
Island and Lafitte
ABOVE: Solid trout are waiting at the midway
point between Grand Isle and Lafitte.
BELOW: What remains of Manilla Village is just a
series of pilings jutting above the surface.is some very well-known and heavily fished structure, with
names familiar to area fishermen. Manilla Village, Saturday
Island and Hackberry Bay need no introduction to Grand Isle
or Lafitte area anglers.
But most consider these summer destinations and are
unaware the action starts this month.
“This time of year the trout are following the bait as it moves
south down the Barataria Waterway into the open water,”
Bergeron said. “That is the main channel that drains the whole
Lafitte-area marsh, so as it drains the water and bait out of the
marsh, the trout will follow right out into the bigger water of
Barataria Bay, and we’ll ambush them right there.”
Our first stop was what’s left of Manilla Village.
For 100 years it was a thriving community of Filipinos who
lived in houses on stilts — Filipino style — and made their liv-
ing by catching and drying shrimp, mostly for export back to
their homeland.
Hurricane Betsy decimated the community in 1965, leaving only
rubble and pilings as silent reminders of what once was there.
Today, the village is only a series of pilings jutting above the
surface.
“The water surrounding Manilla Village is about 5 feet deep,
but where the pilings are it’s only 2 or 3 feet deep, where the
land was,” Bergeron explained. “That rise in the bottom causes
the water to swirl around it, sweeping bait along with the cur-
rent. There are oyster shells on the bottom and a lot of under-
water debris, so all that subsurface structure attracts fish.
“However I advise everyone to idle slowly around it, because
there are a lot of pilings lurking just below the surface, eager to
ruin your day.”