Venice & the Louisiana Marsh fishing conditions and tides
Louisiana · Gulf coast · 1.3 ft mean tide range · 18 ppt
Bull redfish in the Mississippi Delta marsh and the richest estuary in the Gulf
Current conditions
Excellent
Fishing score 87/100
How this score is calculated
69°F against a 58–88°F band for redfish.
Outgoing (ebb) at 0.2 ft, moving 0.1 ft/hr. Moderate movement; fish the tightest current seams you can find.
8 mph out of the E. Workable wind with useful chop.
1.8 ft at 10 seconds. Good working surf for beaches and inlets.
Good working clarity with some colour for cover.
29.75 inHg and falling.
56% illumination — neap tides with a smaller exchange.
Fall pattern is fully established for this zone.
What should I do today?
The highest-percentage pattern for this tide and this wind.
Backup pattern
Speckled Trout — popping cork with soft plastic, tight-line in winter in 3–20 ft. Stack on oyster reefs and around the rigs when salinity is high; move deep into the marsh after the river drops.
Right now
Current conditions
Tide
Outgoing (ebb)
0.2 ft, -0.1 ft/hr
Next high
9:14 AM
1.2 ft
Next low
3:01 AM
0.2 ft
Mean range
1.3 ft
Typical high-to-low swing
Water temp
69°F
-0.5°F / 3 days
Water clarity
Lightly stained
Salinity about 18 ppt
Swell
1.8 ft
10 second period
Wind
8 mph
Out of the E
Pressure
29.75"
Falling pressure — a change is moving in
Air temp
70°F
89% cloud cover
Moon
56%
First Quarter · solunar 12/100
Daylight
6:07 AM
Sunset 5:17 PM
Timing
Today's tides and fishing windows
- Low tide (0.2 ft) — tide change window2:01 AM – 4:01 AM
- Solunar major 25:39 AM – 7:39 AM
- Morning prime window5:42 AM – 8:27 AM
- Sunrise6:07 AM
- High tide (1.2 ft) — tide change window8:14 AM – 10:14 AM
- Low tide (0.1 ft) — tide change window2:26 PM – 4:26 PM
- Evening window3:17 PM – 5:52 PM
- Sunset5:17 PM
- Solunar major 15:39 PM – 7:39 PM
- High tide (1.1 ft) — tide change window8:39 PM – 10:39 PM
Targets
Target species in this zone
| Species | Activity | Depth | Best tide | Technique | Bait | Active temp | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redfish | ★★★★★ | 1–20 ft | Falling tide pulling bait out of a pond | Gold spoon and soft plastic in ponds, cut bait at the passes | Cracked crab, cut mullet | 58–88°F | Year-round, best October through February |
| Speckled Trout | ★★★★★ | 3–20 ft | Moving water over a reef | Popping cork with soft plastic, tight-line in winter | Live shrimp, croaker | 60–84°F | April through November |
| Black Drum | ★★★★☆ | 6–30 ft | Any moving water | Bottom rig with crab | Blue crab | 55–80°F | December through March |
| Flounder | ★★★☆☆ | 2–12 ft | Falling tide at a drain | Slow-dragged jig with a minnow | Mud minnow, shrimp | 62–80°F | September through November |
- Redfish: Bull reds hold at the passes and the rocks; slot reds work the pond shorelines and bayou drains.
- Speckled Trout: Stack on oyster reefs and around the rigs when salinity is high; move deep into the marsh after the river drops.
- Black Drum: Big drum sit at the deeper passes and in dead-end canals through winter.
- Flounder: Ambush the drains where a pond dumps into a bayou on the falling tide.
Structure
Habitat and structure that holds fish
- Marsh pond
- Bayou cut
- Oyster reef
- Rock jetty
- River pass
- Pass a Loutre
- Redfish Bay ponds
- Delacroix oyster reefs
- Chandeleur Islands grass
- Rock dikes along the passes
Surf and beach notes
Chandeleur Islands surf fishes with under 2 ft of swell; the marsh itself is protected but unfishable in 20+ knot wind.
Bait in the zone
Live shrimp and cracked blue crab; market shrimp works fine on bull reds.
Patterns
Season-by-season patterns
Spring
66–78°FHigh river stage pushes salinity out; fish the eastern marsh and outer reefs where salty water remains.
Summer
82–88°FTrout on the outer reefs and rigs, reds early on the pond shorelines before the heat.
Fall
68–82°FShrimp flush out of the marsh and bull reds gang up at the passes — the single best time here.
Winter
54–62°FClean, low water in the interior marsh makes sight fishing for reds on mud bottom excellent on sunny afternoons.
Outlook
7-day fishing forecast
| Day | Score | Water | Wind | Swell | First high tide | Best species | Morning window |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Today | 80Very Good | 69°F | 8 mph E | 1.8 ft | 9:14 AM (1.2 ft) | Redfish | 5:42 AM – 8:27 AM |
| Tue | 85Excellent | 71°F | 21 mph S | 3.6 ft | 10:04 AM (1.2 ft) | Redfish | 5:43 AM – 8:28 AM |
| Wed | 97Excellent | 69°F | 12 mph W | 1.8 ft | 10:55 AM (1.3 ft) | Redfish | 5:43 AM – 8:28 AM |
| Thu | 84Excellent | 72°F | 21 mph S | 3.6 ft | 11:45 AM (1.4 ft) | Redfish | 5:44 AM – 8:29 AM |
| Fri | 93Excellent | 72°F | 4 mph NE | 0.3 ft | 12:10 AM (1.4 ft) | Redfish | 5:45 AM – 8:30 AM |
| Sat | 91Excellent | 71°F | 5 mph NE | 0.6 ft | 1:01 AM (1.4 ft) | Redfish | 5:45 AM – 8:30 AM |
| Sun | 90Excellent | 73°F | 15 mph SW | 2.3 ft | 1:51 AM (1.5 ft) | Redfish | 5:46 AM – 8:31 AM |
Trends
Last 7 days
Water temperature
70°F → 69°F
Wind
13 mph → 8 mph
Swell
1.3 ft → 1.8 ft
Daily score
97 → 80
Water temperature has been stable within 1°F all week, so the established fall pattern should hold.
The water
About Venice & the Louisiana Marsh
The Louisiana marsh at the mouth of the Mississippi is a maze of ponds, bayous and dead-end canals fed by the largest river in North America. The tide range is only a foot or so, but that foot moving through a narrow bayou mouth creates the current that sets up every ambush point. Salinity changes dramatically with river stage, and the fishing follows it.
Local knowledge
Expert notes
- Watch the Mississippi River stage gauge, not just the tide. Above about 11 ft at Carrollton, the interior marsh goes fresh and dirty and the fish shift east toward the Biloxi marsh.
- In the ponds, the highest-percentage spot is the drain — the narrow cut where a pond empties into a bayou on the falling tide. Every redfish in that pond passes through it.
- Mud bottom warms three to four degrees faster than sand on a sunny winter afternoon. That is where the schooled reds will be by 2 PM.
Logistics
Access, ramps and launches
marina
Venice Marina
Fuel, ice, bait and the offshore and marsh fleet.
boat ramp
Delacroix launch
Closest access to the interior marsh ponds from New Orleans.
kayak launch
Hopedale kayak launch
Paddle access to shallow ponds that boats cannot reach.
shore
Shell Beach shoreline
Bank access to the MRGO rocks for bull reds and drum.
Rules
Regulations
- Louisiana basic and saltwater fishing licenses required.
- Redfish slot 16–27 inches, five per day with one over 27 inches allowed.
- Speckled trout size and bag limits were revised recently — check the current rule.
Always verify current regulations with the relevant state wildlife agency before fishing. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
Transparency
Data sources
Where this data comes from
Conditions are modelled from each water's documented climate, structure and seasonal patterns. Modules marked “Live data integration pending” are not yet pulling from their API, so those values are clearly labelled as sample data rather than presented as real-time readings.
Weather API
PendingNOAA / National Weather Service — Air temperature, wind, cloud cover, rainfall and barometric pressure with a 7-day forecast.
Water Level & Flow API
PendingUSGS Water Services — Reservoir stage, discharge and 7-day level trend from the nearest gauge.
Water Temperature
PendingUSGS / NOAA buoys — Surface water temperature and its multi-day trend.
Tide & Current API
PendingNOAA CO-OPS — Tide predictions, current direction and speed for coastal zones.
Moon & Solunar
LiveComputed on-site — Moon phase, illumination and solunar major/minor periods are calculated from date and coordinates.
Water Clarity
PendingSatellite imagery + angler reports — Visibility estimates by lake arm, refined by submitted fishing reports.
Fishing Regulations
PendingState wildlife agencies — License, size and creel rules, linked to the official agency page for verification.
Map Data
PendingBathymetry + access point database — Depth zones, structure locations and boat ramps for the lake infographic.
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