“I’m just a simple man,” Capt. Kenny Kreeger said of his approach to fishing. “It doesn’t need to be complicated.”
And simple is how he keeps it. He uses monofilament instead of high-tech braided line. Fancy knots are not for him.
“I just use four half hitches to tie my line,” Kreeger said.
As for hooks, he admitted to using whatever 2/0 hooks are on sale, either kahle or straight-shanked versions. He did say he prefers long-shank hooks because it is easier to unhook fish.
And he avoids treble hooks because fish swallow them too often for his taste.
Kreeger’s typical hot-weather mix-up time rig is a Carolina rig that features an 18-inch-long, 25-pound-test leader. The leader is attached to 14-pound-test line with a swivel. The weight above the swivel is typically a ¾-ounce barrel sinker.
As for rods and reels, he admitted with a shrug that both spinning and baitcasting equipment will work, although his personal preference is always a baitcaster.
Kreeger is a little more particular about bait: He prefers live shrimp over dead market shrimp.
“The thing about live shrimp is that you get a lot less trash fish — like stingrays —with live shrimp,” he said. “Speckled trout really prefer live shrimp. An old dead white or orange shrimp doesn’t look natural.
“And I don’t like little bitty shrimp. I like them 4 inches and up.”
Live shrimp are typically available in the Lake Pontchartrain area until around Christmas. If he has trouble buying live shrimp, he throws a cast net for pogies and finger mullets in Irish Bayou or the canals near Highway 11 or Lakeshore Estates.
“The only thing wrong with them,” he said of the baitfish, “is that you don’t catch a variety of fish.
“Sheepshead and black drum won’t take them.”