The Louisiana red snapper opener lands at 12:01 AM Friday May 1, the Flower Moon hits full at 12:23 PM the same day, and a cold front pushes through Friday night. By Saturday afternoon the offshore zones are running 7 to 10 feet, occasionally to 13, with North winds at 25 to 30 knots. Sunday morning isn't much better. Monday is the realistic first clean offshore day after the front. The fleet that wants to drop on opener weekend has one window before everything closes: Thursday into Friday morning. After that the boats stay docked.

Redfish. The Mississippi at Venice is sitting at 1.18 feet at the gauge and falling, which puts a lot of clear water in the passes for late April. That's why plastic is outfishing live bait this week. Harold Wilcox posted a string of bull reds and a giant sheepshead this week caught entirely on Matrix Shad and Death Grip jigheads. When the river drops out you can see the fish, and when you can see the fish, you don't need bait.

Speckled trout. The trout bite is on in the jump per Jon Carter's video late last week. Marsh ponds off Red Pass and Baptiste Collette are turning out 18 to 19 inch fish without throwing many back. The full moon Friday will pull water through the passes hard during the spring tides this weekend, which means morning bites set up early and afternoon dies as the front-prep wind builds.

Tripletail. Spring migration is on. Venice Guide Service put a boat on tripletail and flounder Friday. Sight-cast around the buoys and floating debris in the passes. Best species you've never targeted on a slow day.

Yellowfin. The Louisiana Gulf Coast Billfish Classic ran the dock party Tuesday and the captain's meeting Wednesday. Lines in this morning at safe-light. The cold front Friday night will compress the tournament's Thursday and Friday windows heavily. Saturday is the third and final fishing day, and on the current forecast it's going to be a tough one to score. Boats that get out today and Friday morning will see what's left before the seas build offshore.

Snapper. Federal water opens at 12:01 AM Friday May 1 alongside state. The opener-weekend reality is one fishable window, Thursday into Friday morning, before the front shuts the offshore game down. The fleet that wants to drop on the first day will be at it before sunrise. See Book It below for Capt. Kevin Beach's opener strategy.

Wahoo. Tail end of the trophy stretch. The handful of boats that get a Thursday shot will troll for the last big fish before May runs the wahoo window into the next chapter.

The cold front is the story this week. NOAA's offshore forecast for the 20-to-60-mile zone has Saturday afternoon building to 7 to 10 feet, occasionally to 13, with Sunday morning still at 5 to 7 feet. Monday is the realistic first clean day offshore for tuna boats, which is going to push a lot of opener-weekend snapper trips to the inshore lee or to the back end of next week.

If you're a Texas angler asking whether to come to Venice or Grand Isle for opener weekend (and at least one is, publicly, this week), Cypress Cove Marina answered the question on Facebook with the cleanest Venice-during-a-front explainer you'll see. The Venice advantage during a front is the option to fish east, south, or west out of the passes. "You can turn an otherwise unfishable day into a fishable day." That's the play whenever the wind shifts hard, including the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning of this opener weekend if any inshore boat wants to be out. Pick the lee pass, work the structure on whichever side the wind isn't pounding.

Meanwhile in Baton Rouge, the three menhaden reform bills cleared the Senate Natural Resources Committee yesterday. HB 757 (buffer-zone civil penalties), HB 872 (AIS tracking on every menhaden boat), and HB 886 (harvest data transparency) all reported favorably out of committee April 29 and are scheduled for the Senate floor Monday May 4. The House votes were 99-0, 98-0, and 99-2. CCA Louisiana ran a public action alert Tuesday calling members to flood committee inboxes ahead of the hearing. The bills moved. The 22-foot depth bill HB 855 is dead, but these three are five days from final passage.

Mexican Gulf Fishing Company. Capt. Kevin Beach gave Louisiana Sportsman the most usable opener-prep quote of the week. His take: start shallower early in the season, push deeper as the season progresses, and don't avoid 400-foot bottom in the late season. Bigger fish suspend higher off the structure and chum up to the surface. MGFC is the most-cited Venice yellowfin and snapper operation on public sources, and they run a Freeman catamaran fleet that handles the post-front 3-to-5-foot Sunday afternoon recovery seas better than most boats out there. They book direct, not through FishingBooker. If a Monday May 4 first-clean-day trip is what your week hinges on, MGFC is the boat to call. Book direct: mgfishing.rezdy.com.

The plastic-only inshore kit. With the Mississippi at Venice at 1.18 feet and falling, the passes have cleaner water than usual for late April. Cleaner water means the fish see your bait. Sight-fishing beats live bait at finding fish under those conditions. The kit working in the marsh this week: Matrix Shad in shrimp creole or magneto on a 3/8-ounce Death Grip jighead, popping cork optional depending on depth. Harold Wilcox's post this week had a row of bull reds and that giant sheepshead, all on plastic, all on Matrix and Egret colors. If you're running the marsh ponds Saturday morning before the front-driven afternoon wind, this is the rig. Bass Pro and Tackle Warehouse both stock Matrix Shad and Death Grip jigheads.

Thursday April 30 is the clean day of the period. SE 5 to 10 knots, seas 2 to 3 feet inshore and offshore. Last calm window. Friday May 1 holds through the morning, SE 10 to 15 knots, seas 2 to 3 feet, then the front moves in by afternoon.

Saturday is the worst offshore day in a month. North 25 to 30 knots inshore, seas 3 to 5 feet occasionally 6 at the coast. Offshore zone GMZ572 builds to 7 to 10 feet, occasionally 13, by Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning offshore is still at 5 to 7 feet, occasionally 9, dropping to 3 to 5 feet by afternoon. Monday May 4 is the first realistic clean offshore day this week.

Inshore Saturday and Sunday are fishable on lee shorelines. Pick the leeward side of Red Pass, Tiger Pass, or Baptiste Collette and let the wind work for you. Spring tides peak Friday through Sunday on the full moon, with the Friday May 1 high at Pilottown hitting 9:31 AM.

Water temp at NDBC 42084 climbed from 72.5°F a week ago to 77.7°F Wednesday afternoon. Four and a half degrees over seven days, climbing about a degree every other day. The flat read is over.

Mississippi River at Venice gauge: 1.18 feet at 4 PM Wednesday, falling. The Mississippi has been running below normal across the basin for three years, and the lower-flow pattern is what's keeping the passes cleaner than the late-April mud the river usually pushes out. Inshore productivity favored.

Three menhaden bills hit the Senate floor Monday May 4. HB 757 (buffer-zone civil penalties), HB 872 (AIS tracking on every menhaden boat), and HB 886 (harvest data transparency) cleared Senate Natural Resources April 29 after the House passed them 99-0, 98-0, and 99-2 in mid-April. Five days from final passage. Source: legis.la.gov.

Cajun Canyons Billfish Classic registration deadline today. The May 26 to 31 tournament out of Cypress Cove needs the $1,600 deposit by Thursday April 30 if you're still on the fence. Total entry $5,000. comefishla.com/cajun-canyons-billfish-classic-rules.

LGCBC weigh-in window opens this afternoon. Louisiana Gulf Coast Billfish Classic Day 1 weighs from Cypress Cove and Grand Isle. Live scoring at lgcbc.catchstat.com/Tournament/LiveScoring.

Next week, what the opener weekend actually produced and whether Monday's recovery window held up. Plus a Senate floor vote read on the menhaden bills, and the LGCBC final standings.

If you ran the Thursday window or the Monday recovery, hit reply with intel from the water. Attribution on request or off the record. If you know someone planning a Venice trip in May or June, forward this along.

Until next Thursday.

Joey