During the late-spring and summer months, South Louisiana anglers know if they want to catch keeper speckled trout, the have to make long runs to the big salty bays, where the fish congregate to spawn and feast on abundant bait stocks.

But in the winter, most of those same fish are entrenched in the interior marshes, where they move to hide out in deep holes, protected from the Arctic blasts that occasionally push through the region.

So anglers get to save gas by staying close to popular ports and targeting fish that are cold, hungry and eager to bite almost anything offered them.

But that doesn’t mean the outside waters are a wasteland in the winter. Some speckled trout, for whatever reason, never move inside, and remain content in the bays. Generally, these fish are bigger than those that make the annual migration.

When winds are bad, veteran Cocodrie Capt. Tommy Pellegrin takes clients to those inshore fish, but when Mother Nature turns off the fans, he just can’t resist targeting the bigger fish that cling to rocks, beaches and oilfield structures in the salty bays.

He invited me to tag along with him on a Monday trip this week, and man, I couldn’t have been happier that he did. The fishing was absolutely lights-out, with speckled trout up to 3 pounds crushing Echo 1.75 crankbaits and 5-inch Havoc Grass Pigs.

To see all the action, check out the video below.

Like the video? Please give it a thumbs-up, and subscribe to the Marsh Man Masson channel on YouTube. Also, leave a comment below or on the YouTube page. Have you ever passed up inshore speckled trout to go catch fish in outside waters during the winter? What were the results? Which baits delivered for you?