Finding Choke Points to Accentuate a Meager Tide
Keith Lusher 10.23.24
Here in Southeast Louisiana, we tend to fish days with a strong tidal range. A strong tide tends to move baitfish around, which leads to active, feeding fish. But what about days when the tidal forecast is scheduled to be under 0.5 feet?
I made a trip with Danny Hunter of New Orleans Best Charters to Lake Borgne where we found ourselves in that very situation.
Our day started before dawn. I met Hunter at Rigolet’s Marina in Slidell, and after a 20-minute boat ride to the Eastern Shoreline of Lake Borgne, we were casting just as the sun peeked over the horizon.
It seemed like the perfect day. The forecast was for a high of 75 degrees with no chance of rain. Forecasted winds were 8-10 MPH. But as we fished, it became painfully obvious that the lack of tide was going to be a problem for us on this day. We tried all of Hunter’s spots and just couldn’t find any sign of life in the water. “It’s all dead! I don’t see any baitfish action. No surface action. It’s just lifeless out here,” Hunter said. In addition to the meager tidal range, the winds were calm, which wasn’t helping with water movement. “Sometimes, when there’s no water movement, you can find canals where the wind will be moving the water,” Hunter said.
With no wind or tide, Hunter put together a plan. “On days like this, I like to remember spots that have tremendous current during a normal tidal range,” he said. “These are the spots that may just be the ‘only show in town’ on days like this.”
We ran out of Lake Borgne and into Bayou Bienvenue. After a 10-minute boat ride north, Hunter pointed to the giant wall known as the Wall of Chalmette. The wall was built after Hurricane Katrina and spans 2 miles along the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) and the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).
The 25-foot tall concrete wall contains two locks that allow ships to pass through. “There is always water moving through these man-made openings in the wall, so on days with a light tide, I know there will still be water flowing through these openings,” Hunter said. Sure enough, as we pulled up to the opening, the water was falling through the lock.
As we scanned the area, we spotted baitfish being chased across the water surface, and then a shrimp skipped near the boat. Hunter cast out and started bouncing a 3.5-inch Finger Lure (Plastic shad) rigged on a drop-shot rig. Before I could make my first cast, he reared back and set the hook. “There he is! They’re here,” he said.
Hunter reeled in a 15-inch speckled trout and the route was on! We sat in that one spot near the opening in the wall and caught 30 speckled trout before noon and it was all due to Hunter’s move to an area where he knew there would be water moving. “Sometimes you can take a bad situation and use it to eliminate water,” he said. “If the water is dead because there is no wind or tide, it may be as easy as finding one spot with moving water that leads to success.”
