Pointe-aux-Chenes Sulphur Mine loaded with hefty specks, fishing guide says.
When Capt. Gordon Matherne (985-491-3452) called and reported catching big specks in the very skinny water around the Sulfur Mine, he didn’t have to ask me along on his next trip twice. We launched before daylight at Basson’s in Galiano ($5 launch fee on the honor system), and were the first boat in the parking lot. Matherne said we’d spend the morning tossing topwater baits in the shallow ponds around the Sulfur Mine, and that’s exactly what we did.
We trolled near broken marsh islands in water so shallow he used the outboard motor as a Power-Pole. Trim it up, and we floated; trim down and we stuck fast.
At no time that morning did the depth gauge read over a 1 ½ feet.
He also said we’d catch some big specks, and we certainly did that, too.
The day before, he caught quite a few over 3 pounds in the same ponds. On our trip, we repeated that — and caught several more over 4 pounds and one 5 ½ pounds. These fish were each weighed, photographed, and returned alive to spawn and fight again.
We wanted a few fish for supper, but we all agreed to release all trout over 3 pounds. So our challenge became to catch fish under 3 pounds that we could keep. Imagine that: Whooping it up when we caught trout in the 1 ½- to 2-pound class.
Best baits of the day were Bomber Badon-A-Donks, MirrOlure Top Dogs and She Dogs in purple, bone and speckled trout colors.
