Until the big trout start showing up in Lake Pontchartrain, just about all Ty Hibbs — who will fish for anything that is biting — fishes for is sac-a-lait.
Rather than wait until Pontchartrain turns on to start throwing his favorite Matrix Shad soft plastic, he and Chas Champagne started kicking around the idea or introducing a smaller Matrix for sac-a-lait and perch.
“The trout and redfish kind of stay messed up in Louisiana during the spring because it’s 30 degrees one day and 70 the next,” Hibbs said. “We try to find something to occupy our time, and what I like to do is crawfishing and sac-a-lait fishing.”
Hibbs said the design of the Matrix Shad is so perfect he just knew it would be just as productive a piece of plastic in a smaller size.
“There are a whole bunch of sac-a-lait baits,” Hibbs said. “You got your straight-tail baits. You got your curly tail baits. And you’ve got some baits that have sort of a paddle tail, even through all they really do is kind of spin; they aren’t true paddle tails.
“The Matrix Mini is one of the first true paddle tails.”
Although Hibbs doesn’t dismiss straight-tail baits that excel at darting and diving — he equated it to bass fishing with a Zoom Fluke — he doesn’t see the need for a straight tail as much because paddle tails look just like a little shiner.
“You can maybe make a strait-tail bait dart and dive like a grass shrimp or a river shrimp,” Hibbs said, “but that’s mainly South Louisiana waters.”
But with the darker-colored water of South Louisiana and the muddy water that can inundate larger lakes like Toledo Bend and Lake D’Arbonne, paddle tails might just give that extra little bit of vibration that let crappie find your bait.
“Sac-a-lait are mainly sight feeders,” Hibbs said. “Just look at how big their eyes are. And everything they see they just about eat.
“This new Matrix Mini is going to let them know a bait is getting close; then they’ll fall for the natural look of a swimming paddle-tail bait.”
Hibbs and I caught all our sac-a-lait during this trip on a prototype Matrix Mini.
The public release of the Matrix Mini is expected this spring. Log onto www.matrixshad.com to check availability.
