Weekend anglers this Saturday and Sunday will most certainly catch a speckled trout or two for sure, but right now it’s redfish time at Golden Meadow.

“Frank, they’re all up in the canals and dead ends and over oyster reefs and along the shoreline grasses,” Capt. John Aucoin divulged to me after we put the third redfish into his boat this morning.  “All you got to do is find some clean water and locate the current line.  That’s where they’re likely to be stacked up.  And here’s the best part. . .no live or natural bait at all!  Just plastics!  Actually, plastics, spinners, and spoons!”

Practicing what he preached, John didn’t get me and my cameraman up in the middle of the night.  His pre-trip instructions were more genial.

“Meet me at the launch behind the old ‘Crab Shack’,” he directed me yesterday evening.  “We’re not going very far.  I know it’s going to be cold, but it won’t be cold for more than about 5 minutes and then we’ll be there.  And so will the reds. . .pretty bronze colored reds!”

The fish he located for us within 10 minutes of drifting to a stop and spearing the Cajun anchor into the shallow-water mud bank looked like they had been chunked out of a mold.  Every one we wrestled to the boat ranged in length from, say, 18 inches all the way up to 26 inches.  No, wait!  I take that back!  They weren’t all that size.  We did manage to catch two juveniles under the 16-inch state mandate for keeper-size reds.  Of course, they immediately—and gently—were returned to the canal to allow them to finish growing up. 

“Now I think I need to reiterate something, though,” Capt. Aucoin pleaded.  “Folks who fish down here are used to chunking out live Cocahoes under a chugging cork and waiting while it floated there for a big ol’ red to smash into it.  At that point they winch ‘em in and begin counting toward a limit.

“Well, that’s not how it goes down here right now. . .and probably into the middle to late part of April.  Now they’re taking plastics—Space Guppy mostly—on a quarter ounce jighead fished tightline.  And don’t bother popping it or jerking it or twitching it.  Just a moderately quick straight retrieve will get their attention.  They’re also hitting the same Space Guppy (or H&H chartreuse plastic minnow) with a gold spinner tacked onto the front of it.  It’s the flash that does it.  I mean, largemouth bass love spinnerbaits.  So why wouldn’t a redfish, since its real name is ‘channel bass’.

And it’s that flash again that’s making them eagerly tear into gold spoons.  Simply make long casts with it and do a straight retrieve.  On an average of 6 casts, you can expect a strike—and I mean they stop that spoon, Bubba!—at least 2 of those times.  Frank, that’s good fish action!”

He didn’t have to say it but it was really evident that a trolling motor was an essential piece of gear for redfishing at Golden Meadow (and other Southeast Louisiana hotspots) right now.  It’s obvious that the fish are moving up and down the grasslines looking for tidbits to munch on.  If you, as a saltwater angler, can’t move along with them in pursuit you severely stifle your chances of getting into lots of action.  So having said that, if you don’t have a trolling motor on your boat plan to fish with a buddy who does have one.  In other words, it’s a no-brainer: use his boat.  Nuff said!

Now if neither you nor your buddy has a trolling motor, then don’t be reluctant to call Capt. Aucoin and book his boat.  He’ll take you right to the spot where he caught them yesterday; and he’ll probably have you catchin’ them at the same place today.  By the way, John is one of the Terrebonne Parish fishing guides who charters throughout the year.  So if you get a hankering to catch a mess for yo’sef like the ones we caught this past Thursday for my TV show, it’s okay to hook up with “ Hawkeye.”  His phone numbers are 895-632-6988 or 985-637-1103.

Next week I’ll be off doing a little fish scouting to find some new hotspots.  Not to worry—I’ll tell you all about them when I get back week after next.  Until then, lots of tight lines and good times to ‘ya!

Frank Davis