Trout biting over oyster reefs on MirrOlure Lil Johns at the initial fall, Poe said
Despite the well-documented sub-par speckled trout fishing at Big Lake this spring, action has started picking up in the last few weeks, according to a guide.
“It’s really been pretty good, about as good as it gets,” said Capt. Nick Poe, with Big Lake Guide Service. “It’s been impressive. Pretty much everywhere you go, you catch some.
“We didn’t fish yesterday with the weather, but it was real good today. We had four boats today, and all four boats had limits before noon.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Poe said the oyster reefs off the east bank from Commissary Point to Basket Reef have been productive, as has Long Point on the west side of the lake.
“We’re fishing reefs, but we’re really paying attention to slicks on the reef. You may pull up to your little dot on your GPS and not get a bite, but look around,” Poe said. “If you see a slick, you can ease off, get up current to it, drift into it and get a bite, then drop anchor and catch some fish.
“The slicks have been very good to us lately. That’s definitely worth paying attention to.”
Poe almost always fishes with plastics, and has been having success with his tried and true 3 ¾-inch MirrOLure Lil Johns in opening night and golden bream on ¼-ounce jigheads.
Poe fishes with 15-pound braid and a 6-foot, 20-pound fluorocarbon leader, and attaches the lines with a triple-surgeon knot or an Albright Special.
“I like the double-uni knot, too, but now everybody runs micro guides on their rods and the double- uni gets to be a bigger knot,” he said. “When you’re dealing with a 6-foot leader, the knot doesn’t want to pass through the eyes so I try to tie the smallest knot that I can.”
Poe said capitalizing on the early morning topwater bite has been crucial, and he’s had success with a 4-inch chartreuse MirrOmullet XL.
“The bite first thing right off the bat in the morning is important, so you need to be where you want to be,” he said. “This morning I had 30 trout on topwater, and the sun hit the horizon and we picked at them after that.”
The bite varies from reef to reef, but Poe said the fish were suspended higher in the water column lately.
“That seems to be a trend that’s going on now. You better be ready when your bait hits the water,” he said. “The initial fall after your bait lands has been good lately. You don’t get a lot of bites after that.”
Anglers on Wednesday enjoyed a gentle west wind, and Poe said as conditions have improved, so has the fishing.
“Now we’re finally starting to catch some of those days,” he said. “Everywhere you stop, you’re going to catch something. You might not smoke them, but you’ll catch something everywhere you go.”
