Louisiana Fishing Rundown: Specks, Reds, and Flounder in the Winter Waterways of the Gulf

Hey y’all, Artificial Lure checkin’ in with your Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana fishing rundown. Along the coast this morning we’ve got cool, light north to northeast winds, clear skies, and seasonably cool temps. That north wind’s helpin’ clean the water in the marsh and along the beaches. According to NOAA’s Port Fourchon tide table, we’re lookin’ at modest 0.5–0.8 foot swings today, so not huge water, but enough to move bait if you time it around the highs and lows. Sunrise along the southeast coast was right around 6:45 AM, with sunset near 5:00 PM, so that gives you a tight low-light window to play with. FishingReminder’s solunar table for Louisiana has a strong **major** bite this morning from about 7:30 to 9:30 and another good **evening major** window between roughly 7:45 and 9:45. Midday will fish slower, but a falling tide through any of those windows will light things up. According to Louisiana Sportsman, December’s been classic winter-mix action: speckled trout stacked on deeper oyster reefs, channel turns, and around bridges, with redfish sliding into man‑made canals and marsh drains when the water drops and clears. Folks have been boxing solid specks in the 16–22 inch range with a few 24–25 inch fish, plus slot reds and some bulls pushing 30 inches and better in the outer bays and jetties. Flounder catches are spotty but steady in current-swept pockets. Best bet on **speckled trout**: - Early: small topwaters and twitchbaits over shell, then switch to **soft plastics under a popping cork** as the sun gets up. A shrimp‑imitator on a 1/8 oz jighead under something like a loud popping cork (Strike King’s saltwater ploppin’ style) is hard to beat. - Colors: glow/chartreuse, opening night, or anything with a little flash in that cleaner winter water. For **redfish**, work: - Marsh edges, drains, and cuts on a falling tide with **gold spoons**, 3–4" paddletails, or live shrimp under a cork. - Out at jetties and passes, bull reds are chewing **cut mullet** and **crab chunks** on the bottom; a heavy Carolina rig or fish‑finder rig will keep you in the strike zone. **Flounder**: drag a small paddletail or gulp-style bait slowly along the bottom in eddies and around points where current sweeps across sand and shell. Think painfully slow—if you think you’re fishing too slow, slow down more. Hard baits that shine right now are suspending jerkbaits and tight‑wobble crankbaits; bass pros like Mike Iaconelli point out that slow‑worked jerkbaits in cold water are deadly, and that same principle carries over to winter trout staged along rock and riprap. A couple of hot spots to circle on the map: - **Calcasieu Pass and jetties**: mixed box of specks and reds with soft plastics under corks and live shrimp; fish the down‑current sides and eddies. - **Empire Jetty and nearby marsh**: trout on incoming tide along the rocks, reds pounding drains behind the jetty on the fall. Work from the jetty out into the outer bays till you find the cle This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.