http://www.LouisianaSportsman.com April 2015 | Louisiana Sportsman 233
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Usually, and Ricky Brondum of Raceland
emphasizes that word, April is a transition
month for speckled trout in and around the
Dularge area.
The fish in inside waters usually take their time
leaving, eating shrimp along the way, to go to
near-offshore waters, as Brondum and other
saltwater fishermen who fish the area regularly
know as March turns to April.
Brondum, a veteran saltwater angler and
charter boat captain who owns Dularge-based
Speck Chaser Charters (985) 537-5022, said last
year there was no transition period to speak of
and, based on some unseasonably late Arctic
cold fronts in south central Louisiana, the same
could happen again in 2015.
“It’s kind of hard to know exactly right now.
Last year nothing was like normal. Basically, we
had no spring, went winter to summer,” Bron-
dum said the first week of March. “It seemed like
they popped up offshore from inland. It seemed
like they went straight offshore. It was really
weird. I tell you what, the way the weather’s
looking, it’s going to happen again this year. It
kind of concerns me.”
If Mother Nature cooperates and weather pat-
terns return to a semblance of normal, speckled
trout should be biting in their usual April haunts
such as Sister Lake, Lake Decade, Lost Lake and
Lake Mechant, Brondum said. Usually (there’s
that word again) the shrimp start moving out,
too, this time of year, he said, so just follow the
birds and you’ll find the speckled trout.
Some perennial hotspots if things are back to
normal are the mouth of Lost Lake, mouth ofLake Mechant and mouth of Sister Lake. Bron-
dum said the birds will be on top and the fish
underneath them.
“When the fish are hitting like that under the
birds, they’ll hit almost anything in the water,”
he said.
He likes to use a “penny” Vudu Shrimp fished
18 inches under a popping cork. Also try a
purple/gold “LSU” Bayou Chub Minnow on a
¼-ounce leadhead, or try two at a time, tan-
dem-rigged, or a “green hornet” Matrix Shad.
Despite being unable to catch the speckled
trout in transition last year in mid-March and
April, Brondum had no shortage of action. He
tattooed the redfish, mostly 22 to 25 inches
long, at the Enstar oilfield platform in near-
offshore waters. He especially remembers a trip
with his daughter Amber on March 15, his first
outing after recovering from a stroke on Super
Bowl Sunday. Tsunami swim baits retrieved
s-l-o-w-l-y were just what the reds wanted. He
also caught during that period at Raccoon Point
and The Pickets. He believes that action will be
repeated this year.
Redfish also can be caught in inside waters, in
and around the duck ponds, many around the
Bayou Seveur area.
For those who really want to set the hook and
have fun, plenty of 6- to 8-pound sheepshead
can be caught at the close-in rigs like Enstar.
They can be caught on bait shrimp on a
leadhead around the pilings. With their small
mouth, use a short shank hook and one without
a wide gap.Desperately seeking spring
Dularge anglers hope the weather allows for normal April fishing
Don ShoopmanCole McKnight of Baton Rouge
caught this black drum on a week-
end fishing trip north of Cocodrie
with his cousin and uncle.