re: Rigolets fishing advice

It has a lot to do with the Pearl, but that's only one of many unpredictable variables that affect the area. When the Pearl is high and we get a prevailing east wind, it blows a lot of nasty water into the pass.

I have a lot of experience fishing the area, but I haven't fished it much the last couple of years, so take my advice for what it's worth. The Rigolets isn't much of a resident area for fish....it's a transitional area. So what you have are a bunch of spots that turn on depending on what habits the fish are re: movements into and out of Lake P and Lake Borgne. It's a very frustrating place to fish, but it can be very productive at certain points of the year. For example, the L&N bridge turns on towards the end of spring and the end of summer, but typically gets slower during the middle of summer. That's no secret and anyone who fishes the area learns that quickly, but the important question to think about with regard to the area as a whole is why? Towards the end of spring, the fish are moving out into Lake Borgne. Towards the end of summer into early fall, they're coming back into Lake P, so you can get them again. This holds true with most of the spots in the area, and it's pretty easy to avoid the crowds when the area is on, because the fish are there.

There are also specific little niches about each individual spot that can only be learned through time spent on the water or paying a guide to take you and show you. I highly recommend the latter. You can learn in one day with a guide what would otherwise take hundreds of hours to learn on your own, and there is no place where that holds truer than Lake P and the Rigolets. If you're interested in taking that route, I can recommend someone.