Early Summer Bite: Specks and Reds on the Morning Tide in Southeast Louisiana

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your New Orleans Gulf fishing report. We’ve got a classic early‑summer pattern setting up along the southeast Louisiana coast. Over in Breton Sound and outside Hopedale, a light south to southwest breeze is rolling 8–12 knots, with air temps climbing from the low 80s into the low 90s this afternoon. Skies are partly cloudy, with a good shot at a pop‑up thunderstorm after lunch, so keep an eye on the horizon and the radar. Humidity’s thick, so bring extra water. On the river side and the marsh, we’re working a **falling tide at daybreak**, easing toward low late morning, then a modest **incoming** through the afternoon. Tides are running about a foot of movement on most passes and bayous off Black Bay and Lake Borgne. That moving water at the mouths of drains is key. Sunrise hit right around 6 a.m. on the east side, with sunset just after 8 p.m., which gives you a long day but the best bite has been the first three hours of light and the last hour before dark. Midday has been slower unless you’re out deeper on rigs or well pads. Inshore, speckled trout have been steady rather than crazy. Boats working live shrimp under popping corks in Bay Eloi, Lake Campo, and around the MRGO rocks have been boxing **limits or close** when they sit on clean, green water and moving tide. Most trout are running 13–18 inches, with a few bigger schoolies mixed in. Folks throwing artificial have done well on 3–4 inch paddle‑tails in glow/chartreuse, opening night, and purple with chartreuse tails on 1/8‑ to 1/4‑ounce jigheads. Topwater walkers in bone or chrome early have been drawing some blow‑ups around slicks and diving birds. Redfish are chewing in the ponds and along the grass lines from Shell Beach to Delacroix and out toward Pointe à la Hache. Sight‑fishing has been fair when the wind lays down enough to see, but most reds are coming from working points with current. They’re eating market shrimp on a Carolina rig, live or dead mullet on the bottom, and gold spoons or chatter‑style swim jigs in dirty water. Expect a mix of keeper slot fish with the occasional bull. Sheepshead and drum are still hanging on pilings and rock piles, taking bits of shrimp and crab. A few tripletail have started showing on high‑riding crab traps in the Gulf; look for that dark shape under the float and pitch a live shrimp or small jig. Offshore, when the weather allows, boats running out of Venice and Empire have been picking off school‑size yellowfin and blackfin around the floaters, plus plenty of chicken dolphin around weedlines. Chunking and live bait have worked best, but a spread of small skirted ballyhoo is still producing. Snapper trips over the rigs and hard bottom are putting solid red snapper and mangroves in the box on cut pogies and squid. For **hot spots**, I’d put my money on: - The outer edges of **Breton Sound islands and rigs** in 8–15 feet for specks: clean water, shrimp under corks or soft plastics under birds. - The drains and bayou mouths feeding into **Lake Borgne and the MRGO rocks** for mixed trout and reds on that falling morning tide. If you’re heading out today, think early start, find bait and moving water, and let the tide and birds tell you where to stop the boat. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn