Fishing Report: Live bait, topwater lures catching fish on Big Lake
Last Modified: Tuesday, July 03, 2012 8:22 PM
By Joe Joslin / American Press
Live bait and topwater are two ways to catch some nice fish, said local pro angler David Rabalais.
Live shrimp, mullet and pogy are all working beautifully and the cuts off the Ship Canal get better and better as water temperatures climb.
The Jetties also are giving up some nice fish when conditions are right. There needs to be a strong incoming tide that brings in some clean water from the Gulf, which has been happening at times recently.
In addition, when these conditions occur, there is often patches of grass that come in that hold a lot of fish with some nice tripletail also showing up in the mix. Most anglers are fishing live bait at the Jetties under a cork, but there are times when the fish suspend when live bait without a cork is the way to go.
Rabalais said the topwater action continues to be good-to-excellent with Super Spooks and Skitterwalk(by Rapala) two great choices.
The smaller selection of the Skitterwalk is catching the most fish lately. Soft plastics such as Berkley Saltwater Gulp! in Shrimp and Mullet, Sand eels, Egret Lure’s Bayou Chub and Hackberry Hustlers are all catching reds and trout with mornings seeming to be the best with soft plastics. When the fish stop hitting these each morning, it might be time for a live shrimp or mullet.
Calcasieu Point’s Elaine Huck said the big news at her ramp is the reds have finally returned. There were numerous limits of redfish last weekend with many 25-, 26- and 27-inch reds caught. She also mentioned good numbers 3- to 4-pound specks weighed in with even a few 5-pounders. There were also several large flounder in the 4-pound range.
However, tides slowed down the early part of the week so fishing has slowed as well, especially during the morning with afternoons better.
Hot spots this week include the Ship Channel all the way up to Contraband Bayou. The banks of LNG and Black Lake have also been mentioned many times as producing fish. Morning tides should improve some the next several days.
CCA Star Update
With so many anglers fishing this week on July 4, which will involve a lot of changes, we will wait until next week to do a major update of the Coastal Conservation Association Statewide Tournament and Angler’s Rodeo.
Snapper Season
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service announced the closure date for the Gulf of Mexico recreational red snapper season was extended to 12:01 a.m. local time, July 17, which is good news for offshore anglers.
Tournament Results
DOGFIGHTS: Week 11 winners of the Calcasieu River Wednesday Afternoon Dogfights were Al Willis and Richard Wagner with a five-fish limit weighing 6.41 pounds, which included the big bass of the tournament, a 2.44-pound kicker. They reported fishing the main river using topwater selections as well a Brush Hog and took home a good check of $351.
Robert Weemes and Greg Byrley finished second with 6.21 pounds and mentioned they fished the West Fork using several kinds of lures (they are not talking) to catch their limit and win $91.
In third was the team of Josh and Paul Byrd who said they targeted the West Fork area using finesse worms to catch a lot of fish to put together their limit and weight of 5.82.
A reminder that today’s Week 12 dogfight event will feature hot dogs and refreshments at the weigh-in. Nothing better than a grilled hot dog on the lake.
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Please send us your fishing reports. Call 463-3848 or email me at joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com or visit www.joejoslinoutdoors.com
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