Last week I asked whether the trout had moved into the river or The Jump. A reader answered from the water. Monday morning his boat caught a four-man limit of speckled trout, "stacked up in one spot off south pass," once they "Finally found clean water." The day before, Sunday, the same boat had three trout. One angler fished live shrimp from Cypress Cove and the other three threw plastic, and his line on that was "Plastic did just as good." Mostly under a cork, some swimming a Matrix Shad. His read is that the trout won't be in The Jump until mid to late November; "Thanksgiving seems to generally be the time the boats start to line up."

Speckled trout. The rest of what the reader sent. At the end of September he caught 25 to 30 specks in two days off Pass a Loutre, South Pass and the Joseph Bayou area, "Mix of deep on ledges and shallow near cane on a cork," and the first week of October was "Same thing." None of the trout posts I found in the Facebook fishing groups named a Venice spot, so his Monday is the one dated Venice trout report I have. The trout slot is 13 to 20 inches, 15 a person a day. Two of the 15 can be over 20 inches, and the captain and crew of a boat under charter keep none.

Redfish. Ed McIntyre fished a cut in South Pass Friday and, in his words, "tore into the Rat Reds": 21 of them, "all about 15 to 16 inches long." Thursday the 22nd was "the same story" at Baptiste Collette. Every one of them was under the 18-inch minimum. They all came on "dead stink crickets," which he got "Right there at Cypress Cove launch." New one on me, so I asked Dad, and he said they're dead shrimp. Monday night Blue Line Charter Service posted "More bulls," the big reds over 27 inches. Somebody in one of the groups brought his boy down Sunday and put him on redfish. The redfish slot is 18 to 27 inches, four a person a day. Anything over 27 inches goes back, and the captain and crew of a charter boat keep none.

Cobia, and a Texas crew at the jetty tips. Merck Mercadel of Mineola, Texas, "traveled down from Texas" for an October 12 to 16 trip and fished three days out of Venice Marina aboard his 20-foot Xpress. On the 15th they left the marina around 6:30 a.m. and had the Southwest Pass jetty tips about an hour later. A redfish ate "Within about 30 seconds of getting a bait in the water," and reds, sheepshead, black drum, Spanish mackerel and gafftop catfish kept coming until around 12:30 p.m., when it went to hardhead catfish. His read is that the bite quit with "the current easing off"; Pilottown's predicted low that day was 1:01 p.m., so the tide table had the water falling and flattening out toward slack low right then. At a rig that day they boated two cobia, 37 1/2 and 38 1/4 inches fork length. Those two were "our two boat limit." A third, about 21 inches, went back. The cobia minimum is 36 inches fork length, one a person, two a boat a day in state water. Federal water is two a boat a trip.

Offshore. The jumbos are back on the charter outfits' Facebook pages, and the posts don't say what day. Relentless Sportfishing posted that it went 10 for 15 on jumbo yellowfin and released five, "a couple that were north of 180lbs." Another Relentless trip, with Capt. Travis Mayeux, had a 204-pounder on a topwater, the biggest fish of the trip. Mexican Gulf Fishing Company wrote that "The weather was nasty, but the fish didn't seem to mind." Every boat it had out one day "caught multiple jumbos," and "Capt Zach banged out two big fish." Mexican Gulf Fishing Company put no weights on any of it. Ed McIntyre wrote Friday that "The long Range Cats came in about 4 and had some 100 and 200 pound tuna," a dock sighting of somebody else's fish. The groups are still dry: nobody in the ones I read posted a tuna this week. The yellowfin minimum is 27 inches curved fork length, three a person a day, in state water.

Red snapper, and the rest of the closed list. Red snapper is closed in every sector. The federal for-hire season closed at 12:01 a.m. Monday, and Louisiana's private and state-charter seasons were already closed. Amberjack has been closed in state and federal water since October 14. Gag grouper is closed, state and federal. Gray triggerfish is open, one a person a day, and the minimum is 15 inches fork length. Flounder is closed statewide through November 30.

This issue's sponsor spot is empty. Last Thursday's issue went to 2,108 inboxes, and 1,183 people opened it. If there's a Venice business you'd vouch for, the outfit that put you on a jumbo this fall, the place that cleans and vacuum-seals your fish for the drive home, forward this to the owner. I read the replies myself, and I answer them.

Last week no public post said the bait stand at Venice Marina or Cypress Cove had live shrimp on any given day. This week a couple of live shrimp reports came in. The trout reader's boat had live shrimp from Cypress Cove on Monday, though he didn't say which day he bought them. And at 6:44 Monday morning, somebody posted to a group, "Live shrimp in Venice are scarce sometimes…like today." Neither marina's Facebook page has said a word about bait this week.

The water kept cooling. Monday the water at NOAA's Southwest Pass station averaged about 74 degrees, its coldest full day since May 18. No rain showed up all week at the New Orleans airport or on the radar estimate for Venice, and from Saturday through Monday the wind at the pass averaged 17 to 18 knots a day. The trailers came anyway. Friday Ed said "the fishin' migration is on," meaning fishermen: he met folks from both Carolinas, Texas and Fort Lauderdale, all of them with rigs trailered down to Venice and to Cypress Cove, where he keeps his boat.

Relentless Sportfishing, Venice Marina. The outfit behind the yellowfin north of 180 pounds and the 204-pounder. Its site names one captain, Capt. Joey Davis (no relation), and says they run to the rigs and fish live bait, lures and jigs for yellowfin. The 204 post on its Facebook page credits Capt. Travis Mayeux, so ask who's running your day when you book. The boat is a 36-foot Yellowfin, six anglers at most. A full day is 10 hours at $2,100 plus fuel. The deposit is $500 and non-refundable, and a cancellation inside 48 hours or a no-show is charged the full price. The number is (228) 238-0242, and the site says its lodging is "located right here at Venice Marina." Relentless books direct, so there's no booking link here; here's the whole Venice roster on our charters page.

(Some of the booking links on that page are ours. We earn a small commission if you book through them, at no extra cost to you. It keeps this report free.)

Swimming a Matrix Shad, the reader's other presentation. The simple way to swim one is on a jighead. Thread the Matrix Shad on, cast it, and reel it back steady, with a pause now and then to let it drop. Swimming it is for the deep ledges he fished in September, where a cork would hold the bait too high. The cork is for the shallow water along the cane. Matrix Shad runs from $4.99 at matrixshad.com in 12 colors, and the GoldenEye jig heads start at $4.99. No link on this one, nobody pays us for it.

Today's the calmer day inside, by the coastal forecast the National Weather Service put out early this morning. Inside is the first 20 miles, outside is 20 to 60 miles. Inside it's northeast 10 to 15 knots. Seas are 2 to 4 feet. Outside it's five knots more wind on seas of 4 to 5 feet that hold through Saturday. Tomorrow's the east blow, 15 to 20 knots in both zones. Seas inside build to 3 to 5 feet, with a slight chance of showers. Saturday and Sunday inside, it's 10 to 15 knots, no gusts. Seas come down to 2 to 4 feet. Outside Saturday it's 10 to 15 knots gusting to 20 knots. Outside Sunday seas drop to 3 to 4 feet. Showers likely Saturday afternoon, both zones, maybe a storm. Sunday it's a chance of showers inside, likely outside in the morning, maybe a storm either zone. Outside has a small craft caution through tonight, and the forecast discussion expects advisories on the open Gulf later today. The Hurricane Center expects nothing tropical in the next seven days.

Today and tomorrow are the two biggest tide ranges of October at Pilottown, about a foot and a half each. Saturday's still big and Sunday drops off. The high is in the middle of the night and the low in the early afternoon every day through Sunday, so every morning this weekend is a falling tide: today's low is 12:14 p.m., and it slides to 2:19 p.m. by Saturday. Sunday's low is still 2:19 p.m. on the clock, because the clocks fall back an hour at 2 a.m. Sunday. The moon swings farthest north of this cycle today, which is why the tides are this big right now, and the last quarter is Sunday afternoon. The river forecast the Weather Service issued Wednesday morning has Carrollton, the New Orleans gauge, swinging between about 3 and 4 feet with the tide today, and about 3.6 feet by Sunday; at that stage the Venice gauge swings with the tide the same way. The water temperature at the buoy just outside the pass was about 76 degrees Sunday and Monday, and 80 to 82 degrees at the mid-Gulf buoy. If the forecast holds, fish inside today and stay in the marsh tomorrow. Pack rain gear for the weekend; Sunday's the better of the two days.

Venice Marina's ramp is $10. The marina's Facebook page posted "$10 Ramp / $500 yearly passes available." At Cypress Cove the ramp went to $20 on October 20, up from $10. Cypress Cove's yearly pass is $500 as well.

One light, two foghorns out offshore. Coast Guard notices posted Monday say the light on West Delta Block 133 Platform F is out, and the foghorns on West Delta 103 Platform F and Main Pass 140 Platform A are out. All three notices run to November 9. If you run past those blocks in the dark, know it.

Thanks to the reader who answered last week's trout question with a limit and a photo. He's fishing through Sunday. This week's ask: if you fish the falling tide this weekend, inside or out, tell me what the water looked like, and whether either bait stand had live shrimp and on which day. Your name stays out unless you tell me to use it.

Joey

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