Although most anglers will focus their time on Calcasieu Lake toward speckled trout, there are many species that find live bait irresistible.
“You can catch many redfish, flounder and drum in addition to speckled trout — especially on points with shell along the Ship Channel,” Capt. Paul Davidson Jr. said. “Catching a lot of flounder is especially possible because they have a tendency to bite very well on live bait.
“Redfish also find live baitfish attractive, and last July my 7-year-old nephew, Gabe Moore of Monroe, caught a bull red in the Ship Channel on the Carolina rig.”
Davidson said one of the most-important practices an angler must remember when using a Carolina rig has to do with the hookset.
“When you feel that bite, you don’t want to set the hook immediately,” he said. “Trout, especially, must have time to get that bait into their mouths. The first time they strike that bait, they’re trying to wound it so they can slow it down to capture and eat it.
“Now larger trout and redfish will just run with the baitfish. But for the smaller trout, you want them to have a little bit of line — four to five revolutions of spool of your reel — to make sure they have the bait firmly.
“And then it takes a sweeping action of your rod to set the hook, as opposed to a firm, jerking hookset. That’s one of the reasons I use a light-action rod when using the Carolina rig: It allows me a lot of tip action, yet it also has backbone.”