Weekend Locks for Jan 11-12

Typical post-frontal fishing in January.

That’s basically what we’re looking at this weekend as Saturday will be overcast skies with a high of 49 and pressure rising.

Sunday, we’ll see clearing skies with sun breaking out during the morning hours and pressure stabilizing.

The tidal range looks better than last week as you will be fishing a falling tide from morning to afternoon on both days. (0.8”)

Let’s get to the locks!

MRGO Rocks

This past week, we’ve seen the MRGO light up the scoreboard when it comes to BIG trout!

I’ve got one report from a guy who said they caught a 3-man limit by 10 a.m. and it’s the biggest trout he’s caught in his life.

“You know you’re doing good when you hesitate to throw a 14-inch speck in the box,” he said.

Here’s the plan:

Start early. I know it’s going to be cold but the word is out and that rock levee is going to be lined with boats.

It will help to get on an early bite and hold your ground.

Electronics helps — scan for bait balls.

Activity — you’re looking for shad.

You’re wasting your time if you can find the bait this weekend.

When casting, don’t get focused on the rocks. Cast all around the boat and hone in on the area where you’re getting bit.

If you can find live shrimp, more power to you, but artificial shrimp are clearly outperforming shrimp as far as size goes.

All the standard plastics will work, but there always seems to be a new fad when it comes to speckled trout fishing in Southeast LA.

And the flavor of the month is suspended jerk baits.

3.5” - 4.5” is the ticket.

Shimano makes a fantastic product called the Zumverno 95 SP with something called “Flashboost” technology.

It’s basically an inner slide weight that shifts from the front of the lure to the back while casting.

I find it adds about 20 extra yards to a cast which is a huge bonus when fishing for trout in open water.

The water is clear out there, so you’re going to want to tone it down a bit and use natural colors. Shad, smoke, pale blue, and chrome will put big fish in the boat.

Scan the water for lines of foam (tide lines) and cast across.

Also, it won’t hurt to pay attention to the line of boats fishing the rocks. Take a look at how far off the rocks they are fishing — that should help clue you in as to how deep you should be fishing.

Lower Pearl River

It’s taken a little longer than usual but the Pearl River marsh has finally turned on and is producing loads of bass right now.

My latest report came yesterday (Thurs) from a gentleman and his son who launched at the green bridge and headed south to Mulatta Bayou.

Concentrate on drains and canals that connect with Mulatta.

This week was all about shallow-running crankbaits. These cranks combined with a falling tide were a deadly combination.

Cast out and turn the handle once or twice, then let it sit for a few seconds. 9 times out of 10 that hit will come when the bait is still.

A chatterbait is also a good option this weekend.

The water will be moving good with a falling tide (0.8) all morning topping out at 5 p.m.

Reports show clean water in most sections but it may be necessary to do a little running to find good clean, moving water in some of those deep cuts that connect the bigger bayous and canals.

Expect an easy limit in only a few hours with an average of a ton of 12” marsh bass but over time you should be able to add a few solid 2-pound to 3 pound bass in the boat.