Captain Eric Dumas Catching Big Speckled Trout in the Rigolets

The opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway didn’t seem to have as much of an effect on the fishing in the eastern part of Lake Pontchartrain as was anticipated. Trout continued to bite out in Lake Borgne until not too long ago.

But even when fresh water pushed trout off those rigs, they still bit over at Half Moon Island and 9-Mile Bay.

All of that has changed for the better in the last week or two, and Chas Champagne with Dockside Bait and Tackle in Slidell started putting up reports and pics of some big trout that were starting to hit the scales at his marina.

The first indication that the fishing was picking up was an 8.14-pound trout Dan Schmidt caught on the weekend of June 25. Schmidt followed up that fish with a 7.84-pound STAR-leading trout two weeks later.

“The big trout are back in numbers in some of the area’s most commonly fished spots,” Champagne reported back on the June 11. “We had the most trout come through Dockside this weekend since the spill… big ones too including Dan’s Star leader trout.”

And one of the most commonly fished spots that holds big trout this time of year is the CSX Rigolets Pass bridge (the old L&N) that’s sandwiched between the Pearl River’s East Pass and Catfish Point where the Rigolets dumps into Lake Borgne.

Capt. Eric Dumas has also been making lots of trips to the CSX bridge, and he had an opening for me last Friday (July 15) and again on Tuesday (July 19).

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