This time of year, largemouth bass, redfish, and more crowd many of the same spots. Todd Masson
Mississippi is just one of ten states touched by North America’s largest river, yet it somehow earned its name. Louisiana coastal anglers are okay with this since many have a love-hate relationship with “The Big Muddy.” During high-river years, when the Mississippi truly lives up to its nickname, it pushes enormous amounts of highly turbid freshwater into the marshes, bays, and bayous of southern Louisiana, causing inshore waters to have a clarity akin to an advanced lesson in quantum physics.
Estuarine species flee the area, seeking spots where they can actually see their fins in front of them. For anglers, this results in longer runs burning more fuel and complete abandonment of familiar honey holes. Ask a southern Louisiana angler about the Mississippi during a high-river spring, and you’ll likely hear a stream of expletives longer than Steve Martin’s in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”
But like everything in nature, there is a counterbalance. Although high water makes fishing difficult in the short term, it saturates the ecosystem with more nutrients than found in a vitamin factory, leading to extraordinary fishing productivity once the river recedes. When exactly that occurs depends entirely on how much rain falls in the Midwest; however, southern Louisiana anglers usually start monitoring the readings from New Orleans’ Carrollton gauge at the start of summer, and typically by August, the river dips below 5 feet there. This signals that the river has become too low and slow to contest with the Gulf, allowing clean, green water to flow into all the major passes, including the Mississippi itself south of Venice.
The speckled trout will eventually access the bait the river nourished for months, but redfish, flounder, and largemouth bass get the first opportunity at menhaden, glass minnows, killifish, and crabs in August and September. This is some of the finest fishing available anywhere on the continent.
Charter captains guiding inexperienced tourists often use live or dead shrimp under corks for easier harvesting, while seasoned anglers seeking more sport channel their inner Kevin VanDam and attack the passes as if competing for the Bassmaster Classic.
Roseau cane-lined passes downstream from Venice, Louisiana, become green and clean in late summer and autumn. Todd Masson
The roseau canes that line these waterways are homes for staggering numbers of bass, redfish, flounder, and more, and when waters drop, these fish become exposed. Venice regulars plan their trips this time of year around falling tides, targeting major and minor passes with steeper banks that enable game fish to wait for bait being drawn out from the canes.
In this situation, a broad range of lures can be effective, but arguably the most fun and productive technique is flipping soft-plastic worms, craws, and creature baits to the edges of the canes. Bites seldom come on strong, but the battles after hooksets can be intense. It’s close-quarters fishing, with anglers often getting splashed by aggressive redfish and bass erupting just a rod’s length away.
The best gear comprises heavy braided line, tungsten bullet weights weighing at least 3/8-ounce, and 3/0 or 4/0 standard J hooks. Extra-wide-gap hooks tend to pop out from fish’s lips, snagging the tough roseau canes in the process. It’s common for anglers to helplessly watch as an aggressive bass, red, or flounder earns its freedom with a hook point lodged in a cane.
Flounder populations have greatly rebounded in southern Louisiana, and there’s no better spot to catch them than south of Venice at this time of year.
Newcomers are often surprised to find that these three species live side by side. When setting the hook, it’s impossible to know which type of fish will emerge through the surface, adding excitement to the experience. No one can predict exactly when the river will drop below 5 feet this year, but interested anglers can check the levels and forecast depth. Whenever it happens, the fishing will be outstanding, and anglers will owe the success to those tough spring days when the water was murky and the fish were distant.