LAFB Elite | Inshore Fishing Courses Designed For Louisiana › Forums › General Inshore Fishing Discussion › Long term effects of the bitter cold? › Reply To: Long term effects of the bitter cold?
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Excellent questions. The links below to LAFB have great graphics to illustrate my points, so be sure to check them out.
It’s gonna put the fish in a funk. Crabs and whatever shrimp are left in the marsh will burrow in the mud and basically hibernate. In Chesapeake Bay where it’s much colder this is what happens and crabbing is pretty much done. So they’re far more seasonal in that regard.
Trout will go into survival mode. They won’t be biting much if at all when the water temperature gets into the mid to low 40s, which is most likely what will happen. Remember, areas that are protected from that harsh NW wind will be warmer. The Great Wall of Chalmette is an excellent example. Speckled trout will definitely be taking a time out. If the water temps stay in that range of mid to low 40s you can pretty much count on them just not being catchable.
I’ve observed them on sonar being glued to the bottom and only confirmed they were there by snagging them with a jig.
So, it’s Plan Redfish, kinda like what I did in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96r20IhUomA
You can see water temp on the south side of the Rock Dam was 47 degrees.
Redfish are just hardier and will continue to eat. You will see them get leeches and parasites on them, maybe even see some fin rot.
A fish kill is likely: https://www.lafishblog.com/what-caused-this-massive-fish-kill/
The majority of mullet and menhaden are gone for their own spawn to begin with, so that’s not really a factor.
The best places to fish will be the “bottom” of the stairs: https://www.lafishblog.com/redfish-jubilee/
“the last significant snowfall in the New Orleans area was 2008”
Where did you get that? The Northshore has definitely had snow in far more recent years. The last off the top of my head was 2018.
“Will baitfish get killed off?”
Any fish that can’t get somewhere safe will die.
“Are shrimp and crabs able to survive?”
They burrow in the mud.