AN INEXPENSIVE BITE TO ENJOY

“We were throwing chartreuse beetle spins without the harness and blade

and just catching the heck out of goggle eye and small bass when my

brother, Cy, hooked something big,” said Vinny Benoit.“I thought it was

a big red, but he thought it was a big turtle because it was hardly moving.”

When it finally surfaced, Vinny went into panic mode and kicked his

tackle box over the side of his flat bottom boat in a rush to dig out

the net.“Mr. Dickie,” said Vinnie, “It was the biggest flounder either

of us had ever seen!”

The two Lake Charles anglers finished the day with a handful of bream,

four bass, two Louisiana legal reds and a 6 pound 14 ounce flounder.Cy

said it looked like one of his brother’s floor mats floated up when it

first broke the surface. “Everybody at the boat ramp wanted to take a

picture,” added Vinny.

That catch took place Monday evening and the oddest thing about the

catch was not that they caught the big flounder in the Shell Cut located

well up the Intracostal, but the fact that they caught a flounder at

all.While the main conversation amongst Sabine Lake anglers continues to

be the shortage of keeper size specks, the flounder fishermen suffered

through a tough 2018 as well.

Donavan Simon who virtually lives at the Cameron Ferry throughout the

highly anticipated annual fall run said it was the worst run he had seen

in the last fifteen years. “I would occasionally have a day or two when

I could catch a few small flounder, but for the most part it was a waste

of gas said Simon.”

The fact that the pair of south Lake Charles anglers were fishing small

plastic grubs came as no surprise either.That approach has dominated the

scene lately for local anglers that just want to get a bite rather than

focusing on bass.Everything that swims in the river will eat a small

tail or jig and catching is far more enjoyable than casting.

Make no mistake about it, the more persistent bass fishermen were the

first to discover that everything from undersized reds to bream were

beating the bass to their smaller offerings.River bass have always liked

a four inch tube, but it is hard to keep it away from an improving bream

population right now.

Absolutely the only silver lining for local fishermen following Harvey

was the improved fresh water fishing.It has been years since you could

realistically expect to catch enough eating size bream in a morning of

fishing, but that is no longer the case.If the river and bayous will

ever clear up again, that bite will be off the charts.

I enjoy catching pan fish on the river with a light spinning rod loaded

with six or eight pound monofilament, but the bigger kick is fooling the

fish with a five or six weight fly rod.Every time I take a youngster to

a private pond in the area, I bring only the fly rod and a box of small

poppers and four inch Crème fly worms.

If we did nothing more than learn to cast it would be an enjoyable

outing, but watching a small popping bug disappear off the surface is

icing on the cake.Both the popping bug and the small worm are all you

need when fishing the river and area bayous.

I know several anglers that have taken that approach for years, but get

it done a little differently.They opt for the same small jigs, but fish

them on eight to ten foot rods or cane poles with less than six feet of

line attached to the tip.

They do not miss a square inch while slowly working a shoreline.They

simply pick it up enough to clear the surface and lower the tip again as

they dissect everything from cypress knees to holes in the vegetation.

Because no back cast is required, they can also fish tight canals that

eliminates conventional casting.It may be a crappie or even a grinnel

that inhales the tiny offering, but it is hand to hand combat on a short

line when the fish is duped.

For those of you that may be wondering, Vinny and Cy did manage to

retrieve Vinny’s small tackle box!