All the inside, backbay, bayous and canals are hotspots for catching several messes of bragging-sized speckled trout at Golden Meadow right now.

“I want y’all to know firsthand that with a popping cork, a 24-inch monofilament leader, a quarter-ounce lead head jig, and a smoke-glitter sparkle beetle you'll quickly catch your limit of trout long before the gnats find your boat! Capt. John Aucoin, owner-operator of Hawkeye Fishing Charters explained to me Thursday at dawn.

“Most of what you catch will be keeper size--12-1/2 inch to 16 inch fish--but you will have some throwbacks to contend with. Just treat them gently, return them to the water immediately, and look forward to catching them again in a few months when they reach legal size.”

Aucoin quietly explained that since the back-to-back onslaughts of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina all of the marsh and back-bay ecology and all of the habitat conditions have changed drastically for everybody.

“I tell you what it’s like, Frank,” he ranted as would a preaching pastor at a soul-saving Sunday morning church service. “No matter how long you been fishing or how much you think you’ve mastered, it’s like you’re gonna have to learn to fish all over again from scratch.

“Areas that were once deep holes and deep channels were silted in by storm surge and are now definably shallow. Island points and coves that constantly used to hold fish over oyster reefs are now fishless mud flats. And even most of the anglers who used to frequent a select number of so-called ‘hotspots’ no longer fish there.

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“And to make things even more unsettling, because of the quirky weather we’ve been having lately, not a single one of our fish species really knows what’s happening, whether it’s winter, summer, spring or fall. That translates to mean that they have not yet fallen into a pattern that governs their routines and activity. Consequently, we, as fishermen, don’t know which fishing patterns and techniques to use to catch ‘em—up top, down deep, cast and retrieve, soak and float, and so forth.

“In other words, you got to be willing to be versatile and to change tactics even several times a day. Not to do so will lead to empty creels.”

So in a nutshell, here are your mandated prerequisites:

1—Get out there early because they’re feeding early!

2—Plan your fishing trips around peak tidal periods (we had almost a 2-foot range Thursday!) because most of the feeding frenzy takes place then.

3—Measure everything questionable that comes into the boat. At this point and time, legal versus illegal fish totters on the fringe. Eyeballing and guessing won’t cut it! And if you guess, I can promise you that your friendly neighborhood game agents won’t cut you an inch of slack. So…it’s your call!

4—Finally, and probably the most important piece of information you’ll need to know, bring lots and lot of gnat dope! Unless you’re out fishing when there’s a 12 knot or better breeze blowing out of the north, the “flying feeders” are absolutely horrid right now back in the marshes. Oh—and they come out in droves once the sun comes up!

Old standbys like Cutter and Deep Woods Off and DEET provide some protection, and even Skin-So-Soft can still be found in some of the old timers’ tackle boxes to help ward them off. But the new stuff that’s been the rave of the bug market (and you ain’t gonna believe this!) is a product you can get only at Victoria’s Secret. It’s called Amber Romance, it comes both in cream and liquid spray, and gnats hate it! I don’t know why they hate it, even Victoria don’t know why. But they do! And while you just might smell like you’re out fishing with a bevy of runway models (I cleaned that up a bit!), use it anyway and you’ll find out the gnats don’t want to have anything to do with you. Just be sure to let your spouse know that you’re spritzing it on. It’ll exempt you from a lengthy interrogation at home later.

Just one more note to pass along: be aware that for the rest of this month and on into mid-January, duck season is back. It re-opens Saturday at a half-hour before daylight; so please don't unconsciously run up on a duck hunter! The last thing you want to do is get peppered with #4's just because you saw a redfish swim into a pond. Just make it a practice to stay well away from duck blinds!

Now if you want to book Capt. John Aucoin for a charter trip (or if you want to give a charter trip with Capt. John Aucoin as a Christmas gift), you can call him at 985-643-6988 or 985-637-1103. Just remember, his fishing calendar always fills quickly, so the sooner you call the better your chances.

Till next Thursday, good times and tight lines,

Frank Davis