Big Lake coughs up 10-pound trout

Houston wade fisherman sinks hook on 30 1/2-inch speck

Peter Landry’s trip to Big Lake yesterday was almost canceled because of the cold front scheduled to roll through.

But the day ended with the Houston angler landing a trout of a lifetime — a 30 1/2-inch speck that pushed a Boga Grip to the 10-pound mark.

“They actually wanted to cancel the trip because of the cold front,” Capt. Jared Adams said. “I asked them if they wanted to catch a bunch of trout or big trout. I told them with that front coming through the (barometric) pressure would be down, and that’s when the big trout feed.”

Landry’s huge fish came from the south end of West Cove in about 2 feet of water, and fell for a greenish Corky Fat Boy.

“I had just missed one on a Fat Boy, and it came to the top and jumped,” said Adams, who operates Adams Trophy Charters out of Hackberry. “It was probably 9 pounds. I just pulled the treble hooks because I didn’t realize I had a redfish reel on and I had the drag buried.”

But that fish, an 8-pounder Adams had just caught and released, and another solid hookup told the guide who specializes in targeting Calcasieu Lake’s big speckled trout that they were in the right area.

“I told him, ‘That’s three trout we caught over 6 pounds, so there’s big trout here,’” Adams said. “It wasn’t three casts later when that (10-pounder) hit.”

Landry didn’t initially realize what he had on the terminal end of his line, however.

“It came to the top, and (Landry) said, ‘I have a redfish,’” Adams said. “I said, ‘No you don’t. That’s a huge trout.’”

Landry was still skeptical — until the gator trout was about 4 feet away.

“That’s when he got excited,” Adams said.

But the job wasn’t over.

“It was a rodeo trying to net that thing, because it wouldn’t fit in the net,” Adams said. “It took five minutes to land that fish.”

Landry’s trout is just out of the Top 10 specks in the Louisiana Fish Records. Two 10 1/2-pounders currently are tied for 10th place, according to the records maintained by the Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association.

The No. 1 fish was a 12.38-pound whopper caught in 1950 at Lake Hermitage by Leon Mattes.

Click here to learn how to target Calcasieu Lake’s trophy trout.

About Andy Crawford 863 Articles
Andy Crawford has spent nearly his entire career writing about and photographing Louisiana’s hunting and fishing community. While he has written for national publications, even spending four years as a senior writer for B.A.S.S., Crawford never strayed far from the pages of Louisiana Sportsman. Learn more about his work at www.AndyCrawford.Photography.