By Tobin Strickland
The big Desperado center console handle the chop on the lake very nicely and as I pulled the throttle back on the Yamaha she came off plane and settled onto the surface of the lake. I could almost not believe it, but as I sat there in the quiet void left after turning off the outboard it almost seemed surreal. The only sounds I could hear were a few nearby seagulls and a quick slurp of a nearby trout popping a small glass minnow (Bay anchovy) off the surface. It was one of those mornings that my friend Capt. Brett Stansel would turn to me and say “Wait…wait…ya’ll hear that?” We’d all pause listening intently until we couldn’t hardly stand it and then one of us would break the silence “Hear what?” Brett would turn, and with a smile and almost half-serious in a mischievous way, say “Absolutely nothing!” It’s a good sound. There was a lite fog on the water of Lake Calcasieu, Louisiana and it was good to be back to this estuary that is filled with such an abundance of life; I’ve fished the lake (also known as “Big Lake”) several times in the past with Hackberry Rod & Gun Club and every time it just keeps getting better and better.
Lake Calcasieu is located just south of the City of Lake Charles, Louisiana and resides mostly in Cameron Parish in the Southwest Corner of the state. Lake Calcasieu is, quite frankly, an almost twin sister to Sabine Lake on the Texas Louisiana border. Similar to Sabine, Lake Calcasieu is fed by a rich river and an enormous marsh system that surrounds the lake and feeds its teeming population of speckled trout, redfish, and flounder with an abundance of shrimp and menhaden. The crustaceans and baitfish populations are kept in high numbers from the amount of nutrients ebbing back and forth from the marsh and the Calcasieu River. Apparently something is happening just right because Lake Calcasieu is flat out loaded with broad shouldered, bronze backed redfish, trout with shoulders, and plus sized flounder.
I slipped out of the boat for a quick wade along the quiet shoreline. The bottom was a mix of live oyster and mud; perfect bottom conditions for catching a monster trout late in the spring transition. The glass minnow influx into the lake was almost over, but for a period each spring during April and May speckled trout gorge themselves on the small oily baitfish. The glass minnows enter the lake from Calcasieu Pass and the Cameron Jetties located some 20 miles south of the northern portion of the lake.
The key to finding late spring trout is to know where to look, what to look for, and when. May isn’t too late to catch a trophy trout in Big Lake. Later in the summer some of the bigger trout will have gone deeper and a few may exit to the surf looking for more comfortable water temperatures, but right now the water conditions are perfect for a big trout. As this small, shiny baitfish enters the bay systems it’s definitely recommended to find a plug offering that mimics the abundant erratic baitfish. In the right locations, hungry trout and reds can cause the nervous baitfish to make the water almost vibrate and shimmer only to be broken with the occasional interruption of that trout slurp that I mentioned earlier.
Stansel, who guides out of the Hackberry Rod & Gun Club let me know that they are catching nice trout on Mirrolure Catch 2000’s (which is one of the lures that closely mimics the glass minnow) and Topdogs with black and gold being good colors in the tannic stained waters of the bay. Keeping a rod rigged with a pink Paul Brown Fat-Boy, or Paul Brown Peanut in glow isn’t a bad option either. The bigger fish will always eye the bigger, easier meal of a mullet or big menhaden, which the Fat-Boy resembles nicely and big trout love. In plastics the Texas Tackle Factory (TTF) Killer Flats Minnow in ‘Mumpy Glow’ is another glass minnow look alike that does well at Big Lake. When the bite slows, Brett will turn to the ever-popular Hackberry Hustler (TTF) in the ‘Who Dat’ color rigged on a 1/8th oz. lead head.
Bottom structure of oyster and mud will be the key along with the abundance of the targeted baitfish. Lake Calcasieu is a special place and one that you won’t regret putting on your bucket list.
Check out Tobin Strickland‘s website TroutSupport.com for intensive, educational fishing DVD’s that will increase your odds of having fun and being productive while on the water.
[easy-social-share]