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Vermilion Bay Fishing Report

Updated Mon, Nov 9, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Louisiana marsh country: Vermilion Bay holds redfish and speckled trout west of the Atchafalaya.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 9:01 PM
Air / High
59 / 74 F
Wind
NE 9 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8765251, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Monday
9
November 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Vermilion Bay lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 9 mph, steady pressure near 1022 hPa and a high of 74. Tides: high 9:01 PM, low 11:21 AM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 69 F for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:36 PM-1:36 AM and 11:12 AM-1:12 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Redfish (red drum)Good

Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled troutGood

Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

Tomorrow: Similar at 75 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Tue, Nov 10, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Louisiana requires a fishing licence from age 18, from $17.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a Louisiana licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing redfish (red drum) here? Check the size and bag limits with LDWF before you keep anything. The season dates for Louisiana, read off the agency, are on the Louisiana seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8765251 (Cypremort Point, LA). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Mon
LOW11:21 AM-0.1 ft
HIGH9:01 PM1.6 ft
Tue
LOW11:54 AM-0.2 ft
HIGH9:54 PM1.7 ft

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp59 F
High / Low74 / 59 F
WindNE 9-12 mph
Pressure1022.3 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 4%
Sunrise / Sunset06:27 / 17:15
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~69 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Vermilion Bay this week

The best day on Vermilion Bay this week looks like Thursday Nov 12, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Thursday, Nov 12 β€” excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Nov 9 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
11:36 PM-1:36 AM and 11:12 AM-1:12 PM
Minor period
6:30 AM-7:30 AM
Sun
06:27 to 17:15
Moon
New Moon, 0% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 12 mph
Rain chance
4%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Vermilion Bay: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Redfish (red drum) illustration

Redfish (red drum)

Best: late-summer and fall bull run; inshore all year

Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), called redfish across the South, is a bronze inshore drum with a black spot near the tail, fished on grass flats, oyster bars, marsh creeks and beaches from the Chesapeake around Florida to Texas. Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled trout illustration

Speckled trout

Shallow bays spring and summer; deeper water in winter

Speckled trout is the anglers' name for the spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), a spotted member of the drum family that lives in shallow bays and estuaries from the Chesapeake to Texas. Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

When to come: the Vermilion Bay calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Redfish (red drum)
Speckled trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 69 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovNov, ~69 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Vermilion Bay today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Sun, Nov 8

5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 71 F, wind to 14 mph.

Sat, Nov 7

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 76 F, wind to 13 mph.

Fri, Nov 6

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 80 F, wind to 9 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Louisiana requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Louisiana license including saltwater. Redfish, speckled trout and drum are size- and limit-regulated: check current LDWF rules.

Access

Launches at Cypremort Point, Intracoastal City and Delcambre; marinas and guides throughout the area.

About this water

A shallow marsh-ringed bay in Vermilion and Iberia parishes, south-central Louisiana.

Fishing Vermilion Bay: the full guide

A bay behind the marsh

Vermilion Bay lies in south-central Louisiana between Vermilion and Iberia parishes, connected to the Gulf through Southwest Pass and fed by the Vermilion River and the Atchafalaya distributaries. It is a shallow, often turbid bay ringed by marsh, holding redfish, speckled trout, black drum, flounder and sheepshead in classic Louisiana inshore habitat.

Redfish in the marsh

Redfish work the marsh edges, the drains, the oyster reefs and the shorelines, taken on gold spoons, soft plastics, topwater and live or cut bait. Falling tide pulling bait out of the marsh drains is the classic window. Water clarity varies enormously with wind and river influence: find clean water and you find fish.

Speckled trout and the seasons

Speckled trout hold the deeper bay water, the reefs and the passes, best in the warmer months on soft plastics under corks and on live shrimp. Winter pushes trout into the deeper bayous and canals. The Atchafalaya influence means spring river water can push the bay fresh and muddy, moving the fishing west or south.

Iberia and Vermilion parish logistics

Launches serve the bay at Cypremort Point, Intracoastal City and Delcambre, with marinas and guides working the area. New Iberia and Abbeville provide services. This is big shallow water with few landmarks: a GPS and a watchful eye on the wind are both essential for small boats.

Common questions

When do I fish the marsh drains?

On falling tide, when water pulls bait out of the marsh: the classic redfish window here.

Why is the water muddy?

Wind and Atchafalaya river influence: clarity varies enormously, and finding clean water is often the whole game.

Where do I launch?

Cypremort Point, Intracoastal City and Delcambre all serve the bay, with guides working out of each.

Is fishing good at Vermilion Bay right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Atchafalaya Basin45 miCalcasieu Lake82 miSabine Lake112 miSabine Pass113 miLake Pontchartrain120 miGrand Isle124 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8765251 β€” Cypremort Point, LA
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 6 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 29.6000, -92.0000 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.