Outdoors: Poe, Daughdrill win HT Redfish Cup event
Last Modified: Thursday, May 17, 2012 12:02 PM
By Joe Joslin / American Press
Local redfish pros Nick Poe and Lee Daughdrill won it all last weekend as the HT Redfish Cup tournament series visited Lake Charles and Big Lake.
Their winning weight was 44.62 pounds with a huge take-home check of $25,000. Finishing a very close second were also local pros, Erik Rue and Larry Puckett with 43.82 pounds. And rounding out the top three was the team of Robert Scherer and Blaine Friermood with 43.4.
Thirty-two teams competed with weigh-ins each day at L’auberge Casino and Resort in front of large crowds.
The pro anglers had to endure some very scary weather conditions. The winners, Poe and Daughdrill, ran more than 200 miles each day to get to their chosen fishing area.
Congratulations, guys. Great job!
Big Lake
Lake Calcasieu guide Capt. Bruce Baugh reported the late season front last weekend dropped the water temperature nearly 10 degrees, which set into motion some red-hot bird action over much of the estuary.
Baugh usually guides wade fishermen, but on Monday they decided to get in the boat and work several flocks of birds. He said the first group of birds were working over a tremendous school of mostly oversized redfish that were chasing small ribbonfish to the surface and the gulls were actually grabbing 6- to 8-inch ribbonfish in mid-air.
Baugh reported they had triple hookups several times until the group grew tired of fighting the brute reds.
The party then headed to the south end of Big Lake and finished with limits of trout by midday.
The group was throwing Mirrolure’s Little Johns on quarter-inch jig heads and color did not seem to matter. The larger trout have been prowling the deeper shell off the shoreline.
Another great report comes from Capt. Kevin Broussard who said fishing conditions are getting a lot better with quality trout coming from Moss Lake to Turners Bay and also some good reports from Black Lake.
Broussard mentioned he has worked some bird action with fish hitting soft plastics and live shrimp under a cork.
More good reports of trout coming from West Cove and Commissary Point with anglers using live shrimp.
Broussard said action has been good all over with Black Lake and West Cove being the best, plus some big schools of reds are feeding in the middle of the lake.
As of last week, the Weirs were closed due to salinity levels with no reopen date as of yet. For more information, call 1-855-532-9955.
At Calcasieu Point, Elaine Huck said fishing has really improved the past week even with all the rain last weekend with lots of- 5 and 6-pound trout being caught with lots of big reds as well.
Moss Lake was one area mentioned that was producing lots of redfish action. Flounder action also picked up this week.
Turners Bay has been the most talked
about place this week, Huck said, but bird action can be found
throughout the lake with
good numbers of fish under the birds, just not a lot of big fish.
The south end of the lake seems to be better for the larger
trout.
Tournament results
The Week 5 winner of the Wednesday Afternoon Dogfights on the Calcasieu River was Greg Byrley with a five-fish stringer weighing 5.82 pounds.
Byrley fished north around Ward 8 using buzz baits and Senkos in stained water winning $320.
In second was the team of Jason Hawes and Mark Hawes with 5.66 pounds. They reported fishing the West Fork using June bug plastic worms with a take home of $110.
A close third went to Robert Weemes and David Rabalais with a five-fish limit weighing 5.54 while fishing West Fork using Kandi Stixs.
Fourth went to Kevin Robbins and Josh Byrd with a five-fish stringer weighing 5.16 pounds.
The big bass award went to Ken Chapman with Paul Jordon with a solid 3.04-pounder that hit a topwater lure.
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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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