Martello Castle in Lake Borgne: When & How To Catch Fall Specks

Martello Castle in Lake Borgne is a renowned inshore fishing spot but, if you went there, you would find no castle, just a pile of bricks.

This rubble is known as "the castle", and while you won't find a princess in need of rescue here, you will find that it can be quite the hot spot for speckled trout!

But when should you fish it? What are the best conditions to look at? What did Martello Castle used to look like and why was it built there? How do you get there and what is one important reason you shouldn’t bother fishing it?

These questions and more are what you’ll discover in this guide. We’ll get started with the best conditions to fish it.

What are the best conditions to fish Martello Castle in Lake Borgne?

You can fish “the castle” pretty much year round, whenever the wind allows you to. If you’re patient, you can go there and catch something, whether that’s flounder, redfish, sheepshead, croaker, black drum, redfish, various catfish, white trout or speckled trout.

But the best conditions to fish there for speckled trout happen during the fall, when the white shrimp migration takes place.

I already detailed that phenomena in the link above, so be sure to look there if you are not familiar with fall’s white shrimp pattern.

Given the nature of that pattern, you really want to fish Martello Castle in Lake Borgne when the tide is falling, and falling hard.

This is because that is when the most white shrimp are flowing, and the most speckled trout will be eating. It’s the easiest inshore fishing pattern in Louisiana all year long.

It’s so easy to predict that I have planned fishing trips around this, to include entire YouTube videos like this one.

After that, you will want to avoid a hard wind from the north, as it can make “the castle” too rough to fish.

Can you catch speckled trout there on a rising tide?

Yes you can, but the best days happen on a falling tide. Work with what you are given.

How can you access Martello Castle in Lake Borgne?

You can reach “the castle” from several boat launches, with the closest being:

• Eddie Pinto’s at Bayou Bienvenue
• Bait, Inc. At Bayou Bienvenue
• Friendly Fisherman at Bayou Bienvenue

It’s important to note that access from the above launches can be restricted by the Bayou Bienvenue Flood Gate. Check out that guide to make sure you don’t get stuck by a gate closure and know an alternate route, if available.

After that, you can launch from the below marinas, as they are not behind a flood gate (which locals commonly call a “lock”). Launching from these will be somewhat of a run:

• Campo’s Marina at Shell Beach
• South Shore Marina at Chef Pass
• Rigolets Marina at Slidell
• The Pointe Marina of Slidell
• Island Marina at Lake Catherine

If you launch from any of the above, with the exception of Campo’s, you will have to go under a bridge or two. Make sure your boat is short enough.

After that, make a good wind call using Windfinder and avoid rough water if you’re making a longer run.

The Best Way To Fish Martello Castle in Lake Borgne

Everybody and their mom knows about this fishing spot. It’s no secret. It’s been written about for years in magazines like Louisiana Sportsman, WAFB-9, Tiger Droppings and plastered all over social media.

You’d be wasting your time to show up unprepared to this speckled trout hot spot, so here’s what I recommend doing to capitalize on the action:

Get There Before Everyone Else

Begin fishing Martello Castle in Lake Borgne as early as September before the first cold fronts come through. Even when the water temperature is in the 80s you still stand a chance of hitting the mother lode of speckled trout.

It may not “turn on” until after the water cools into the 70s, but then you would still be the first to be out there.

If you see birds diving on shrimp then it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’re going to catch a limit of speckled trout.

Either way, don’t wait for some chump on Facebook to tell you when to go fish Martello Castle in Lake Borgne. That’s what fishermen do. Be an angler and go without anyone holding your hand.

Using social media for fishing intel isn't that great, anyway. Just learn how to fish the conditions and build a reliable angler's network!

Have This Tackle Ready

The water at Martello Castle is about 12ft deep, becoming shallower as you go into Lake Borgne and much deeper going into the MRGO. Twelve feet is not incredibly deep, but the current can be moving through there at a good clip. This makes getting presentations difficult!

So I recommend fishing a Heavy Drop Shot off the side and back of your boat. I also recommend watching this free video course on how to fish deep, fast-moving water for speckled trout.

After that, speckled trout could be feeding at the surface as they chase white shrimp there. If you see this happening — it will be painfully obvious — then you’re better off throwing a popping cork.

Finally, if you’re decent at jigging speckled trout, then consider foregoing the Heavy Drop Shot and just jigging upstream of the boat.

The Big Problem With Martello Castle in Lake Borgne

It’s a community honey hole. Just look at the picture below.

Everyone and their mom knows about this spot, so the good fishing eventually gets pressured and you’ll be forced to find fish somewhere else anyway.

For the exact same reasons I recommend not fishing the Great Wall of Chalmette, I recommend avoiding Martello Castle in Lake Borgne.

The solution here is to recognize this fishing spot for what it is: it’s not about the castle, it’s about the pass!

Let me be clear: anyone successfully fishing this spot is not fishing the heap of bricks that used to be a so-called “castle”. They are fishing the tidal highway streaming out of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet into Lake Borgne.

The people who take time to recognize this pattern — instead of hounding free fishing spots — are able apply it to other parts of the marsh where the exact same thing is happening.

This is what I teach inside Inshore Fishing 101 and its accompanying course, Fall Fish Location. Both are available only inside my membership, LAFB Elite.

Inside I reveal the patterns to look for in order to locate your own fishing spots away from the crowd of boats at community holes. Using this method, you are able to build your own list of fishing spots that aren’t pressured like Martello Castle in Lake Borgne.

Some Lagniappe About Martello Castle in Lake Borgne...Err..."Towers"

“Lagniappe” is a word used in Louisiana that means a “a little extra”. In my travels abroad I was surprised to see that there are Martello Castles in other parts of the world.

And that’s because they’re not castles, but towers.

That we’d get the nomenclature wrong isn’t particularly shocking in a state where people mistakenly call bass “trout", dolphins “porpoises” and so on.

Martello towers were a common structure built for defense of a particular geographical point. Their tactical advantage is that they require few hands to man the number of guns in the tower.

In the case of Martello Castle in Lake Borgne, it was built in 1830 to defend what was the mouth of Bayou Dupre, well before the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet was built. Back then, Bayou Dupre was a “back door” into New Orleans, so it had to be guarded. And, back then, it wasn't called "Martello Castle", it was called "Tower Dupre".

Now, I’m sure that — back then — Bayou Dupre moved some water and was a good spot to fish. I can only imagine what the soldiers stationed there back then could tell us. Whatever it was like, sadly, those stories have been lost to history.

What Martello Castle In Lake Borgne Used To Look Like

For those of you who had not fished this community hole before the last decade, this is what “the castle” used to look like:

And here's another picture of it from 1974. If you know who took these pictures, then please comment below.

Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina knocked down Martello Castle in Lake Borgne in 2005, leaving it the pile of bricks and rubble we see today. It's just another reminder that the only constant in Louisiana is change, and that we need to take time to remember so we don't lose what we have right now.

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