New Orleans Fishing Report: Speckled Trout and Redfish Thrive in Winter Marsh

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Gulf-side New Orleans fishing report. We’re sitting on a cool, stable winter pattern now, and that’s got the marsh fish settled in and feeding. NOAA’s New Canal Station tide prediction for Lake Pontchartrain shows a weak morning low followed by a modest afternoon rise, so the best water movement lines up late morning into mid‑afternoon. Marine Weather from the New Orleans/Baton Rouge office has light northerly winds, seas 1–2 feet inside, and a dry high-pressure dome—great for small boats and kayaks, but the clear water means you’ll want to downsize leaders. Sun’s creeping up a little before 7 and dropping right around 5:30 over the lake, so your real “golden hours” are first light until about 9 and then that last 90 minutes before dark. FishingReminder’s Louisiana solunar outlook pegs strong major feeding windows around daybreak and again just after sunset, and local catches the last few days have backed that up. Inshore action around town has been classic December. Louisiana Sportsman’s recent Barataria and Chalmette pieces report solid boxes of speckled trout and slot reds coming from inside marsh ponds, trenasses, and deeper bayous when you find 3–6 feet of greenish water. Out of Shell Beach and Hopedale, boats have been putting 25–40 trout on ice with a half‑dozen reds and a couple of bonus sheepshead or drum when they slide to the rocks or rigs. Lake Pontchartrain bridges have coughed up fewer but bigger specks—2–3‑pound class—with occasional 5‑fish limits for folks patient‑jigging the pilings. Best producers right now are **soft plastics and live shrimp**. Guides out of Delacroix and Lafitte have been leaning on 3–4 inch paddle tails like Bass Assassin Saltwater Assassin in opening night or chartreuse on 1/8–1/4 oz jigheads under a popping cork over shell and points. When the bite gets picky in that clear high‑pressure water, a straight jig with no cork, slowly bounced near bottom, is outfishing everything. Live shrimp or cocaho minnows under a cork are still king for mixed trout/redfish boxes; cut shrimp on the bottom is tallying drum and sheepshead around rock banks and rigs. If you’re chasing reds specifically, think shallow mid‑morning on a warming trend. Louisiana Sportsman’s Chalmette report notes reds stacked in man‑made ditches and along roseau cane where the sun warms the mud. A gold spoon, a Gulp shrimp on a 1/4 oz jig, or a weedless jerkbait like Strike King’s durable TPE baits will pull fish from less than two feet of water. Bulls have been roaming the outer passes off the MRGO and around Breton Sound rigs on cut mullet and crab for those running farther. Couple of local hot spots to circle for today: - **Paris Road / ICW and the MRGO rocks**: good mixed trout and reds on moving tide; work plastics along the drop‑offs and soak live shrimp near the rock corners. - **The Rigolets and Lake Pontchartrain bridges**: focus on the up‑current sides of pilings with soft plastics slow This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.