SALTWATER
BIG LAKE
The number one factor among Big Lake anglers is wind. Hackberry's Captain Guy Stansel reports that when the winds subside a bit they have been catching lots of trout and redfish. Stansel went wading twice last week and caught some big trout with the largest being 7.5 pounds on Corkys
(chartreuse and pearl) and topwater (chrome and black She-dogs). He mentioned that the high numbers of trout are coming from deeper water over oyster reefs and suggested Long Point and Commissary Point as being productive areas. While fishing the reefs, Stansel recommends soft plastics such as H&H Cocahoe Minnow in black/chartreuse and glow/chartreuse with 1/4 oz jighead.
"The reds are both on the shore line as well as in the middle of the lake" says the veteran guide and the reds out in the main lake are really huge with some 30 lbs. They will hit almost anything when they are schooled
up in the mid lake, the key is finding and getting on them. Stansel also adds that the reds on the bank and at The Weirs are hitting Berkley Saltwater Gulp! in various colors with New Penny being the best. He can be reached at 337-762-3391.
And then there was no water! The Sunday afternoon front that hit with strong, north winds blew most all of the water out of Big Lake....literally! In talking to one of Big Lake' regular guides, Captain Kevin Broussard, he reported that there was not enough water in their canal to even think about getting a boat out. The strong winds blew for nearly 48 hours and just sucked the water out. The good thing in all of this is that most of that water had a lot of fresh water with it and as winds have changed it is being replaced with water having a higher salinity which will enhance fishing conditions.
Broussard did say that they had 4-5 of their boats out over the weekend with all boats catching a decent amount of fish. On one trip one of the boats had 56 trout while on another boat of four anglers each caught limits which totaled 40 flounder. The daily limit of flounder is 10 per angler and there is no size limit. Broussard, who was the captain on the boat with the four flounder limits, stated that they also had some nice reds.
Top soft plastics continue to be Berkley Saltwater Gulp! Shrimp and Swimming Mullet in both the 3 and 4 inch versions. Top colors in Gulp! include New Penny (flounder love these), Nuclear Chicken (Glow), Lime Tiger (Glow) which is good in off-colored water and Natural Shrimp. Other local favorites include Hackberry Hustlers in LSU and chartreuse/black as well as Norton sand eels. Brousssard can be reached at 337-274-0788.
