Gulf Coast Closeup
by Pete Cooper, Jr.
Louisiana’s Winter Bull
Red Invasion
D
uring winter, bull reds have
begun showing up across the
Louisiana coast in some
unusual places.
It wasn’t all that long ago when
Louisiana anglers with an itch to catch a
bull red had some rather limited seasonal
and site-specific options. Four Bayous
Pass – east of Grand Isle – was a popular
summertime spot for soaking mullet
heads on bottom, and over the years gave
up a lot of the brawny beasts. The east
jetty at the Mississippi River’s Southwest
Pass was, and may still be, the premier
autumn fishery on the entire Gulf coast
for reds of all sizes, and they will readily
strike everything from cast jigs and
trolled Magnum Rapalas to flies. And late
in that season – and throughout winter –
a very nice fishery was available in the
surf of the Chandeleur Islands, if you
were able to access it, which was always
a bit difficult and impossible at
times due to the weather!
Nowadays, though, bulls can
safely be taken from craft as small
as Florida flats-skiffs – and even
my 15-foot aluminum skiff!
What’s going on here, you
ask? The answer is really pretty
simple. Due to the absence of
marsh which was present
throughout much of the area a
short time ago, the fish have an
almost direct shot into waters
where they were seldom, if ever,
encountered before. Combine that
with the abundance of prey
species there – and the presence
o