Friday was a hot windy struggle for most.

We spent a long hot day on the water Friday.  It did not help that the wind blew twice as hard as predicted, but outside of altering the game plan, that was nothing new.  We had to leave a little early and the trout reportedly bit better in the evening, just as they had the day before.

The Causeway reef and the jetties were tough on us all morning. The water on the east side of the jetties was beautiful and the bait was there, but the fish were not doing their thing.  The water was very dirty on the reef all morning, but cleared up around noon and we finally caught a few fish.

There was a small company tournament in full swing and I had an opportunity to talk with a number of very good local fishermen at their weigh-in that fished every thing from the game reserve to the jetties.  Most of them were beaten down at the end of the day and struggled to find fish.  The two best reports included a trout bite on soft plastics in the ship channel south of the Causeway and some solid bird action just before dark east of Blue Buck.

Capt. Adam Jaynes worked a group for me and they struggled all morning as well, but did manage to find a few trout under the birds late.  An incoming tide that just ripped in all morning long really hurt the reef fishermen.   Any time we were able to slow our drift enough with drift socks, troll motor, and half ounce jig heads we got bit, but that is a tough gig with three fishermen.

The best news is that for the first time in a long time, the water is starting to clear in more extended areas along the La. shoreline and the south revetment wall.  We also ran back in through an isolated stretch of clear water in mid-lake that was so dark that it appeared to be shadows off a cloud from a distance.  There was at least a foot and a half of visibility and that is great for right now.