BIG LAKE
The weather has impacted anglers recently, especially last weekend with the cold front, winds and rain. Elaine Huck of Calcasieu Point said the numbers of anglers were way down from the past few weekends. The weather Saturday was better and so was fishing as winds were not as bad. Last Friday's winds were tough. Huck said she noticed a pattern of catches as some would have just a few big fish or either a lot of small fish.
As far as recent hot spots, she said The Four Corners and LNG have been the most talked about spots and noted that might be because no one wanted to go very far with threatening weather. Moss Lake had several boats working it this week. Even with recent rains, the water is still very salty so the rain hasn't hurt the salinity which is a good thing. In Hackberry, Captain Buddy Oakes reports that their guides are catching lots of reds and trout with cooler water temperatures moving more of their efforts to artificial lures including a lot of Saltwater Gulp!, Hackberry Hustlers and sand eels.
Live bait is still in the mix but with water temps cooling (currently 80 degrees) the trend is back to soft plastics. One thing that has helped is that birds are becoming more common each day. Oakes also reports that their night fishing boat, The Night Stalker, is continuing to bring in 60 to 100 fish per night and some nights limits are caught in a couple of hours, according to The Night Stalker's skipper, Captain Jason Broussard. Most of the night's catch is trout but there are nights when you catch trout, reds and flounder.
Lake Charles fishing pro David Rabalais, who we haven't talked to in a while, stated that he has been catching fish from Salt Water Barrier south to Prien Lake but said the recent rains have slowed that area down a bit. He has been keeping his boat on the edge of the channel and throwing a jig head with Berkley Gulp! up on the ledge in 2 to 6 feet and working it back down the ledge into the channel. A lot of his fish hit in water from 4 to 8 feet. Top Berkley Gulp! baits include 3 and 4 inch Gulp! Shrimp, 3 and 4 inch Gulp! Swimming Mullet as well as Gulp! Sand eels. Top colors continue to be New Penny, Nuclear Chicken, Molting Shrimp, Chartreuse glow.
He also mentioned that he has been catching both trout and reds at the Weirs, on the east bank and Long Point. There is decent bird activity in these areas too and it will do nothing but improve the next few weeks. Rabalais included that the cool front coming this weekend could produce enough north wind to push water and shrimp out of marshes and into lake. When this happens, it is on! Bird activity will explode. Moss Lake and Black Lake have both been productive the past week.
