Champagne used finger mullet Matrix X-Shad to catch 26-inch fish
While in his “office” the day before last Thanksgiving, Chas Champagne reeled in one of the biggest sales pitches ever for Matrix Shad.
The Slidell artificial lure manufacturer hooked, boated and released his biggest speckled trout in a decade, a 26-inch-long beauty, while filming a Black Friday promotion for Matrix Shad’s X-Shad, an intricately hand-painted soft plastic introduced in April 2020. The speckled trout weighed a fraction under 7 pounds.
The significance of the speckled trout wasn’t lost on him. His personal best is an 8-pound, 10-ounce fish he caught along the Highway 11 Bridge in 2002.
“It’s pretty exciting,” he said. “I mean, I’ve caught a bazillion of them (speckled trout) in my life but I haven’t seen one of that caliber in a decade. We went out just to get some fish catching on an X-Shad and accidentally caught a 7-pounder, which was fantastic for the sales.”
Champagne always has been a tireless promoter of Matrix Shad, despite the fact the 10-year-old company he and a fishing buddy started has grown into one of the leading artificial lure brands in the country. That’s one reason he was out fishing with his dogs and videographer/”right hand man” and nephew, Landon Jeffery.
His recent catch had 120,000 views before Dec. 1, the most viewed clip he’s ever posted on Facebook.
An accurate cast is key
The 43-year-old outdoorsman talked about the catch while fishing with his daughter four days later to promote a Cyber Monday sale. Blakeleigh, 6, did all the fishing and all the catching. She was using a baitcast rod-and-reel combination, just like her dad, on Nov. 30.
“You’ve got to use a baitcaster for what I’m doing right now because casting accuracy has got to be perfect,” Champagne said.
To wit, that X-Shad must be cast as close to the bridge piling as possible to expect a bite.
“They come out from the bridge pilings to hit it,” he said. “You’ve got to make a good, accurate cast. If you miss it by a foot, reel in and cast again.”
On Nov. 26, Champagne triggered a bite under the bridge with a “finger mullet” colored X-Shad on a ⅜-ounce Matrix Shad GoldenEye Jig Head. He let it fall 10 seconds in the 12-foot depths.
Ol’ yellowmouth bit but “not that hard, nothing crazy,” he said.
“But all the bites in the lake in deep water are a very light tap,” he said. “That’s why people struggle out here. It’s very subtle.”
Champagne didn’t realize right away how heavy the fish was on the business end of 15-pound test Matrix Flouro line spooled on a Shimano Curado baitcasting reel seated on his medium 6-foot-4 Matrix Shad Rod.
“I felt confident it was a trout (although) it fought more like a redfish,” he said. “But I haven’t been catching any redfish so I felt really confident it was a nice trout, so I fought her and got her out of the bridge pilings. It was a good 2- to 3-minute fight. As soon as it broke surface by the boat, I saw it was a trout.”
The celebration
Champagne held the fishing rod in his left hand while grabbing the net with his other hand, dipped it over the side, scooped, and then lifted the speckled trout into his 19-foot Panga powered by a 90-h.p. Suzuki. His faithful four-legged companions, Nalla and Simba, also celebrated.
All the while, Jeffery was videoing the catch start to finish. Champagne, cool as a cucumber, can be heard saying, “Oh, God, look at this trout. Holy smoke! That is what I’m talking about. Look at that trout, y’all! That is a for real, legit, hammer. That is the biggest trout I’ve caught in quite some time.”
As the speckled trout got unhooked on its own in the boat, Champagne reached to grab and hold up an X-Shad. He touted it loud and clear for viewers before weighing the fish and adding a few more “holy smoke(s).”
Another video clip shows him releasing the speckled trout, as vehicles passed right and left along the bridge behind him. He noted anglers could catch fish like that in the future on an X-Shad.
Champagne called it a day following the release of the star of the show.
“I didn’t really see any reason to keep fishing,” he said. “I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish.”
