78 Louisiana Sportsman^ | April 2015
The Battle of MIDWAY
> continued from page 74Bergeron said the fish’s food source
was probably the reason for the persnickety tastes.
“Obviously what they’re feeding on right now is small, prob-
ably small shrimp, and these beetles best match the hatch,” he
said. “It’s why you can’t assume the fish aren’t at a spot until
you’ve tried a variety of baits and colors.”
The action slowed at the pilings, but by then we already had a
nice box of fish.
Bergeron pointed the bow toward the big Saturday Island rig,
where he said he had caught some big trout just the day before.
“The water is deeper here — about 5 to 6 feet deep — and the
bottom is littered with debris,” he said as he dropped the troll-ing motor and began working an inside pocket of the rig. “If you
try fishing the bottom you’ll hang up just about every cast.
“I fish here about 2 ½ to 3 feet under a cork, and if you can get
live shrimp that’s what you want to use.”
Since we didn’t have live shrimp, we threw our plastics. The
chartreuse beetle attracted some hits, but the better bait at
this stop was a Deadly Dudley in the yellow snow and opening
night/chartreuse colors.
“These have been the most-effective baits out here in this
deeper water,” Bergeron said, as he reeled in a nice speck in the
2-pound class.
Another boat was working
around the opposite end of
the rig, and I could hear them
shouting with excitement so
I knew they were into some
action, as well.
I couldn’t resist the urge to
toss a bait sans the cork, but
after having to break my line
off twice I gave up that idea
and stayed with the cork rig.
Our next move was to ven-
ture farther into Hackberry
Bay, where we worked our
baits alongside a structure
that could best be described
as the Trash Pile.
It’s a long structure covered
with oil-field debris, and
there’s quite a bit of debris in
the water alongside the rig,
as well. Bergeron hung back
from it a ways, positioning us
near enough so we could cast
alongside it.
The trout were there, too.
We got hammered by some
very aggressive fish in the
2-pound class, and they hit our
baits like it was summertime.
We caught fish until we filled
our two man limit, and then we
stayed awhile and played catch
and release with the big fish. ■Rusty Tardo grew up in St.
Bernard fishing the waters
of Delacroix, Hopedale
and Shell Beach. He and
his wife, Diane, have been
married over 40 years and
live in Kenner.1029 Hwy 61 N., Vicksburg, MS 39183
601-636-3461
http://www.wideopenmotorsportsvicksburg.comhttp://www.crawfishtownusa.com
Our Name SayS It all!!
Crawfish, Crawfish, Crawfish,
It’S freSh CrawfISh tIme!
COOked juSt lIke yOu lIke It.(337) 667-6148
Henderson-Cecilia, exit 115
1/2 mile North of I-10
on LA Hwy. 347freSh market
OpeN 7 dayS a week
louisiana seafood • specialty Meats • produce
SOme Of yOur favOrIte dISheS frOm the reStauraNt.Our SeafOOd aNd meat
IS SO freSh It waS eIther SwImmINg,
walkINg Or CrawlINg juSt yeSterday!