Kirk Stansel has seen enough of Calcasieu Lake since he’s been guiding as a teenager to know the hot spot for speckled trout fishing in April.
The 65-year-old Stansel heads to West Cove along the western side of Calcasieu Lake and south of Hackberry Rod and Gun. Stansel and his brothers, Guy Stansel and Bobby Stansel, are veteran charter boat captains who started guiding as teenagers, leased the operation in 1996, then bought Hackberry Rod and Gun from the late Terry Shaughnessy in 2004.
They know the potential this time of year for West Cove. It’s a gold mine for the tasty, silvery scaled fish.
“It’s not that big but it’s a great fishery,” Stansel said. “It’s got lots of estuaries that dump into it. To have these fish you have to have a good food source.
“If it’s April, West Cove. If I’m going to target one area, it’ll be West Cove.”
Fish slicks
During April, speckled trout historically will be over the many, many oyster reefs covering the bottom of West Cove. However, Stansel said, don’t ignore the shoreline.
The key is to fish slicks and/or schools of baitfish, specifically mullet.
“Go look for bait, look for slicks,” Stansel said. “If I come to an area and see slicks and quite a bit of bait, there’s going to be fish there. The thing about West Cove this time of year is you can target trout, redfish and flounder in there.”
Where to go? Water in the cove averages 3- to 5-feet deep, he said, and some of the best catchin’ is during high tide.
“You know, West Cove is small,” he said, noting a boat can traverse it in probably less than 10 minutes. “I’m going to go where the water’s prettiest. It doesn’t have to be super clear. If you’ve got 12 inches of clarity, that’d be good.”
Vary the retrieve
Stansel advised anglers to vary their retrieve and the way they work the soft plastic, topwater or jerkbait they’re throwing. And when he does retrieve a jerkbait, he said, he really rips it and “works on them hard. I really pop them, pause. You get good reaction bites from them.”
What about the boat traffic? Other anglers will be out there, for sure, but Stansel said there are plenty of shell beds and shoreline for them to fish.
His baits of choice on the deck and ready to throw are a either MirrOlure Lil John or Down South Shad soft plastic on a ¼-ounce leadhead, a Rapala Skitter Walk topwater bait (large model) and a MirrOlure Soft Dine or a Paul Brown Corky Fat Boy jerkbait. Based on his years of experience, one or more of those artificials will put speckled trout in the boat.
“I’m going to have different things tied on that time of year because there are big fish around,” Stansel said.
He likes the Lil Johns and Down Souths in watermelon/red, most of the time, but if the birds are pickin’, as they often do this time of year, try a shad color or glow/chartreuse. As for his preferred Skitter Walk colors, it’s one all the time – orange. Soft Dine colors that have produced consistently for him are pearl/chartreuse if the water clarity’s good and orange if the water’s murky.
The chance for a big one
Average size of speckled trout this month typically is 15 to 18 inches but, Stansel said, “You’re going to get some 20-plus inchers. There’s always a chance for them. The bigger ones will be around the shoreline or reefs, wherever the baitfish are.”
The likelihood of hookin’ up with ol’ yellowmouth prompts him to fish all braid “on everything.” He uses 30-pound Power Pro braid and ties a 2- to 3-foot 30-pound monofilament leader to it.
“I’m strictly a braid guy,” he said. “Braid is strong. You can throw it farther. Distance is really important, as far as you can, especially when you’re fishing open water.”
