Pick the wrong day, and you’ll skunk this month, but if you roll the dice, and the conditions cooperate, you’ll have a trip for the ages.
Fishing Calcasieu Lake during February is a crapshoot. If you’ve never heard of that colloquial phrase, don’t worry. Just know that you don’t need to bring your camouflage, and please leave your scent attractants at home. Calcasieu Lake being characterized as a crapshoot simply means that fishing it during February is a risky and uncertain endeavor. The word crapshoot actually comes from a gambling game played with dice in back alleys all across America.
You never know what numbers you’re going to get when you throw the dice, and you never know what you’re going to get when you fish Calcasieu in February.
It’s not that February is a bad month to fish Southwest Louisiana’s perennial hotspot; it’s just that you could go home empty-handed as easily as you could with 15 fish in the box.
In fact, according to Capt. Jeff Poe with Big Lake Guide Service, February can actually offer some pretty decent fishing for those who are able to figure it out.
“It’s not quite the spring season yet,” he said, “but you can catch some pretty good trout this month. February is also a good month for big trout. However, the one variable that can mess it up is cold fronts, and you never know when those will blow through.”
Another Calcasieu Lake guide who considers February to be a good month if everything goes right with the weather is Capt. Norman Rester with A-Speck Charters. Rester called February an “iffy” month on the lake, and he added that Calcasieu could be a little temperamental before the best action really kicks off.
“February is iffy because we’re right in the dead of winter,” said Rester. “The bait is all gone … all we’ve got is some mullet, minnows and some crabs. There’s not enough shrimp to amount to anything, if there are any at all, but what looks like a bad thing can actually work to your favor. No bait in the water means the trout are looking for something to eat.”
The 30-day period from the middle of January to the middle of February being probably the coldest four-week stretch of the winter makes some anglers think the fish just won’t bite because they are so lethargic. However, according to Rester, that’s the farthest thing from the truth.
“Most of the reds and trout we’ve been catching lately have had empty stomachs,” he said. “These fish were actively looking for some food. My experience is that the more the bait depreciates, the more aggressively the fish look to eat. They won’t bite aggressively — it’s still a spongy bite — but they’re definitely looking for bait during February.”
While there may be a lack of shrimp in the lake during February, Poe added that the fish would concentrate on the available forage. There’s no doubt big trout will attack big mullet, but Poe has watched them attacking something else.
“I’ve seen them out in the middle of the lake running pogies,” he said. “These are young-of-the-year pogies that are barely a half inch, and the big trout will be out there eating in these big schools of little bait. On calm days, you can see some big trout porpoising through the schools. We catch some that are just full of them this time of year.”
Other than the variable of the weather and lack of bait making February fishing hard to predict, anglers also should realize that their primary target fish might not be what they bring home to Momma.
If you’re after trout, but they aren’t biting, you can save the day with redfish. February also is the start of the spring flounder run. Keep all three in mind while you’re on the water, and odds are that you won’t go home with an empty ice chest.
Therefore, the key to winning this Calcasieu crapshoot is to understand how cold fronts affect the fish, how to fish in ways that attract hungry fish that are also lethargic, how to locate fish no matter the weather and how to change course if your favorite fish aren’t biting.
Frontal effects
The effects of a cold front on Calcasieu Lake are dramatic but short-lived. One of the most problematic effects has more to do with fishermen than it does fish — wind. Wind not only makes it difficult to fish the lake, a strong north wind can also push water out to the Gulf of Mexico.
“Trout, especially, will shut off after a big cold front, but it’s mainly because of the high pressure,” said Poe. “The water temperature doesn’t really matter that much, as long as it’s not outrageously cold. If it gets really cold, say in the 40s, a lot of trout will move to the deeper areas like the Industrial Canal.”
In Rester’s experienced, he has learned that the best time to be on the water is either the day before a front moves through or immediately in front of it on the same day the front moves through. Waiting to fish the day after a front means you’re more likely to lose. And the longer the front sticks around before blowing through, the more adverse effects it will have on the fish.
“Depending on the severity of the front, trout will sometimes ball up and won’t hit anything,” said Rester. “If it’s not too bad, they’ll turn back on after about 24 hours. On the other hand, if we get a stationary front, they close their mouths and won’t eat for three or four days.
“The great thing about fishing after the effects of the front have passed is that the fish will really turn on because they haven’t eaten for a day or two.”
Attracting affected fish
Whether fish are looking for shrimp in Turner’s Bay, eating mullet in the main lake or suspended in the Industrial Canal, throwing a lure that targets them based on their moods will go a long way in coming up with a winning day on the water.
Since he believes trout are really looking to eat shrimp at a time when there aren’t many in the lake, Rester likes to throw either a DOA shrimp or a Berkley Gulp! shrimp under a Speculizer cork rig. His thinking is that if he can present something that sounds like shrimp popping in the water, it will help him catch more trout.
“They’re looking for shrimp, and this rig mimics a shrimp jumping,” said Rester. “There are a lot of days in February when I will catch them on this rig more than I will fishing the bottom. This is something you can get in their faces and just shake it there. They hear that splashing on the surface, and they can hardly stand it when they see that shrimp falling slowly back down.”
When he finds trout feeding on mullet out in the main lake, Poe turns to some of his favorite lures for Calcasieu — suspending twitch baits. Big mullet go hand in hand with big trout, and Poe knows there’s no better way to attract a big trout than with a twitch bait.
“Sometimes you can see them slicking up a little bit in February,” he said. “If they’re on those mullet, you can throw the Catch 2000 and Corkies and do well. The key to these kinds of baits is that you can get them down there to the right depth and work them slowly right in front of the fish. Most of the times, I do best with barely twitching without working them too hard.”
Both guides also rely heavily on the Norton Sand Eel fished on very light 1/16-, 1/8- or 1/4-ounce jigheads. Believing that they closely mimic eels or ribbonfish, Poe likes to fish Sand Eels from the oyster reefs.
Locating cold-water fish
More often than not, hungry trout can be found either over the many oyster reefs or hard sandy bottoms throughout the main part of Calcasieu Lake. Places like Commissary Point, Long Point and Turner’s Bay are perennially productive.
However, if the water temperature drops into the lower 50s or upper 40s, trout will thickly stack up in deeper areas like the Ship Channel and the Industrial Canal.
“They’ll get as deep as 25 feet in the LNG Canal,” said Poe, “but they could also be suspended from 5 to 10 feet over 25 feet dead in the middle of the canal. If you can find them on the bottom, that’s the best situation to fish. Those suspended fish will bite if you can get on them, but getting on them is harder than getting on the fish near the bottom.”
Changing course
There will be days when speckled trout just won’t bite well enough to carry the day. Those are the kinds of trips when anglers should turn to redfish and flounder. Redfish aren’t as adversely affected by a cold front, so if you find yourself on the water immediately after a front, it pays to target them first.
“I’ve had February trips when I thought we might struggle on the trout, so we went to some redfish holes and had our limits in 30 to 45 minutes,” said Rester. “They’re usually a sure bet in front of the weirs with Gulp! shrimp or market shrimp. Reds are my mainstay if the trout are turned off.”
Finding flounder during February is often as simple as finding a good cut that runs from the lake back into the marsh. Poe says they often bite best on an incoming tide by working H&H Cocahoes or Gulp! shrimp primarily with the current, but he suggested anglers might also want to try fishing against the current.
“About the middle of February, you can find them in the middle of the cuts in about 10 feet of water,” said Poe. “As it warms up, try fishing them much shallower up against the shore. You can find some good cuts along the east side of the lake and in West Cove. And like redfish, you can almost always find a flounder or two over by the weirs.”
Poe and Rester know that anglers can keep Calcasieu from becoming a crapshoot this month as long as they keep their advice in mind. But, then again, it wasn’t that many Februarys ago that Rester limited out in 30 minutes while fishing under birds that were diving on 10- to 15-count shrimp.
Talk about uncertain behaviors.
