Prien area report Sat 7/16/16

[ahlangle]

Launched at Prien lake park 730am and caught pogies right by launch (most 2"), they were everywhere.
Fished flat near channel from 8-9 and caught some smaller trout and eat reds and big croakers on shrimp/pogies Carolina rigged in 6-10' of water on the edge. Kept one flounder on plastic, one 22" red on shrimp, one trout on pogie. Bite shut down at 9 as it got much warmer.
Lady fish were chasing big shrimp out of the water during that time too, we just couldn't seem to get consistent bites and didn't want to leave fish to find fish, even though most were small. Went up contraband and caught more bait but nothing was biting the rest of the morning. Bayou was full of pogies 1.5"
Water was pretty clear (visibility to 1' or more).
Any idea what else we could've done in the situation? Tons of activity for that hour but I wasn't doing something right. If I'm catching croakers, I've found that this can mean I'm in too strong of current.
Flounder had pogies in stomach, trout had shrimp, and redfish had crab.

[MEM1971]

I found similar results 3 days in a row a week ago. I did manage to limit on reds each day but also put in the time and had to catch 5-6 rat reds before one would keep. I caught more fish with live shrimp but most keepers came off pogies and gulp swimming mullet. Just from reading ur post sounds like u know what ur doing and wat to look for so I'd say it just wasn't ur day up there. What was the tide doing. Tide is everything when fishing saltwater! The first day I fished up there across from contraband bayou I had incoming tide and caught the most fish. The next two days was slack tide and bite was much slower so patience was key. With all the freshwater this year it slowed these areas down some but expect it to take off any day. A buddy of mine caught alot of 12"-13" trout in Lake Charles soi they are in there. If the rains hold off and we have a good white shrimp season they will get in that deeper water in lake Charles and birds will start working. I love fishing lake Charles when birds are working. Or on calm days don't need the birds! DOA shrimp and spoons is usually all I throw. May try gulp now that I'm using them. Anyway thanks for the report and nice to hear moire bait and even shrimp are showing up as expected. Oh, the only thing I would say is to be on the water for sunrise. The bite up there always seems to slow way down by 8-9 am. Especially when birds start working. Good luck

[ahlangle]

Thanks for the insight MEM. Not a lot of folks on here willing to share and weigh in on what they see and actually trade reports and info. I appreciate your help.
Tide seemed to be going out until 9 and just died.
The shrimp jumping out of the water (being chased by lady fish) were bigger than what I had in the livewell. Saw reds eating baitfish in contraband bayou on flats, which must have tasted better than a spinnerbait. Just tryin to put in what time I have and share what I see in the hopes of getting some feedback like yours.
Cheers.

[MEM1971]

Not sure what kind of rig ur fishing out of but I keep finding myself further south lately. Mostly due to high southerly winds but this week looks a lot better and hoping I can find them further north like I did a few weeks to a month ago when we had calm wind day after day. I only used 6 gallons of gas in 3 trips launching out of cal point and just tore the specks up. By far best fishing I had in lake this year was turners bay area. Not that I caught more fish than say west cove it was the size fish. 18"-20" trout on every cast and on plastic. Limits before 9 am. Lately been catching even bigger fish down south but alot slower bite. Fishing with mullet catching 20"-24" trout but not limiting out til after noon. Lazy fishing anchored out under my top out of sun and wind lol . Anyway I have a day off then go on nights so I plan on being back on the trolling motor starting in am. Going to try some different areas with the SE ESE winds this week. But it won't be long and I'll be back in prien and lake Charles if rains don't start back up. Just easy fishing up there and different feel with all the casinos and stuff. Water is beautiful up there!

[MEM1971]

Oh, have u ever night fished in prien lake? If u can find a dockj with lights on and no one fishing on it u can catch a lot of fish in short time. Used to fish all the lights from the plant docks but now won't hardly let u get close enough. Its been a hit or miss thing for me night fishing this area but have had some really good trips doingf so. We used to go hit the lights 2-3 in morning and if didn't catch fish the early daylight hours too

[reelguy1]

Thanks for the report; it looks like you hit a cajun grand slam! Congratulations.

[jccnash22]

Good report and good eating!!!