Two Looks at Calcasieu

This lake was walloped by last year’s storm season, but it’s roaring back with a vengeance.

After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the fishermen at Calcasieu Lake still had good lives and enjoyed outstanding fishing. The storm brought in plenty of speckled trout and redfish. Many of the tourist areas along the Gulf Coast had shut down, but the fishing business boomed.

However, anglers knew that good times generally don’t last, and bad times might follow. Four weeks later, Hurricane Rita jumped right in the middle of Calcasieu Lake.

Although most people around the nation remember Katrina and its devastating effect on New Orleans, Calcasieu anglers will never forget Rita. For many people, that storm changed their lives forever.

But on the heels of Rita came some of the best trout fishing Calcasieu Lake has had in years. We talked to two Calcasieu guides — Capt. Jeff Poe of Big Lake Guide Service and Capt. Kirk Stansel of Hackberry Rod & Gun — to get their stories about what happened and what you can expect this summer and fall, if you’re planning a fishing trip to Calcasieu Lake.

Capt. Jeff Poe

“Hurricane Katrina occurred in August, and after Katrina, the fishing was really good,” Poe recalls. “We were absolutely hammering the speckled trout and redfish.

“Although Katrina brought great fishing to our region, all summer long before Katrina the trout fishing in Calcasieu had been tough. But in September we were having some of the finest fishing we’d ever experienced.

“Then Hurricane Rita started our way. We’d seen what happened in New Orleans, so most of the people around Calcasieu packed up and headed for the hills.

“Mary and I had just built some lodging for our guests — a brand-new duplex right on the lake and another house. Rita caused severe wind and rain damage to both, and the roofs were torn off the houses.

“Luckily, we didn’t lose any pilings on the dock, although we did lose some of the decking. We lost the roof over our boat shed and all of our boat lifts, but fortunately, all the pilings were in place. All of our boats were fine because we took them inshore with us.

“The storm hit on a Saturday, and I returned to the lake on Monday to assess the damage. I’d heard several rumors about people seeing large flocks of seagulls diving on baitfish out on the lake. At first, I thought the seagulls were feeding on dead baitfish. However, the gulls were diving on live baitfish with nice schools of speckled trout and redfish under them. The first day my son could get out, he and one of my guides caught 25 nice-sized trout in an aluminum johnboat with no trolling motor.

“When I reached the lake, the birds were working, and fish were breaking the surface everywhere. There’s no doubt that Rita brought trout into the lake. We had plenty of trout in the lake anyway. But I think the storm brought more fish in because the water got so high and washed so much bait out of the marsh and into Calcasieu.

“I had a 1-acre freshwater pond 1/2 mile from the lake, and Rita brought high water all the way up into that freshwater lake. After the storm and the water receded, we pumped out the lake and found 10 flounder, weighing up to 5 pounds each, 20 small speckled trout, no redfish, thousands of croakers and spot baitfish, blue crabs, shrimp and mangrove snapper.

“So I know the storm had brought all those fish inshore. The water level was about 5 feet above the normal level of the pond.

“The fishing was so good in Calcasieu that within a week of the storm, you already could catch limits of speckled trout.

“Even right now, the fishing’s unbelievable. I’ve been fishing and guiding on Calcasieu for 25 years, and I’ve caught more trout this April and May than I’ve caught in any other year that we’ve fished the lake.

“From what I’m seeing, the trout seemed to have gotten off an extra spawn because we’re catching lots of little trout that are 6 to 8 inches long. Most of the fish we’re catching in the schools will weigh 2 to 4 pounds each. But I’ve been amazed at how many schools of small trout we’ve seen this year.

“We also had a great spring run on flounder this year, and the redfish numbers seem to be about the same as always. If our area has good weather this summer, I expect us to have one of the best years we’ve ever had with speckled trout, redfish and flounder.

“I believe Hurricane Rita has been like a restocking program at Calcasieu because fishing has just gotten better. Storms are bad for the people and the coastline; however, they’re really good for fishing.

“Our biggest problem after the storm hasn’t been fishing, but rather having housing for our guests. We’re fortunate; we got our housing rebuilt by mid-November.

“Our bookings have been full since the storm. So if you’re planning a trip to Calcasieu this summer or fall, you need to go ahead and book now. Since the fish have come back after the storm, so have the fishermen.

“Another advantage to the storm is that it really cleaned up the marsh for duck hunting. I didn’t have any type of debris problems in my marsh since it’s north of the Intracoastal Canal.

“If this region has a cool winter, we’ll have a great cast-and-blast season where you can duck hunt in the morning and fish for speckled trout and redfish in the afternoon. Cast-and-blast has become so popular that you may want to go ahead and book your hunting and fishing for the fall. Yes, we had a terrible year last year because of the storm. But the hurricane also made our fishing better than ever.

“Anglers have learned about our outstanding fishing. If we don’t have a bad storm during the warm months of 2006, we should have a very productive fishing season.”

For more information on fishing with Captain Jeff Poe at Big Lake Guide Service, call 337-598-3268, or go to http://www.biglakeguideservice.com.

Capt. Kirk Stansel

“Our lodge dodged Hurricane Katrina, but we took Rita on the chin,” Stansel said. “Before Rita hit, we were in kind of a downturn on our fishing cycle. Fishing had been tough for the last three years in Calcasieu Lake.

“However, Rita hit in September, and by mid-October, there were fish all over Calcasieu. That’s the good news.

“The bad news is our dock was blown away, and our lodge was torn up so badly that we had to completely demolish it and rebuild. But our lodge should be back up and ready by the end of June.

“By mid-October, we were taking people fishing. However, most of our business came from people driving in, instead of staying in this area. There just wasn’t any place down here for them to stay.

“Our guides brought in large numbers of fish. We didn’t see many really big fish, but all the fish we caught were a good grade, with most of them being in the 14- to 16-inch length.

“In the spring and early summer, the trout fishing has been outstanding. We’re locating schools of trout from one end of the lake to the other, even in muddy water, which always has been a tough task for successful fishing, even before Hurricane Rita. The lake’s a little more stained than it has been in the past, probably because of all the silt that’s been stirred up by Katrina and Rita.

“In the last three or four years, to catch a lot of trout, we’ve had to use live bait. But since Rita, we’re catching all of our fish on artificial lures.

“So many trout are out there now. We still have some customers who want to fish with live bait, and we certainly allow them to, but you can get your limit of trout with artificial lures now with no problem.

“We’ve been seeing big fish since April. We’ve already seen a few 6- and 7-pound specks, and the sizes of fish our anglers are bringing in now are much better than last fall.

“I really feel like the big fish will move in with the new moon in June (June 25), since that’s usually when we start seeing those 8-, 9- and 10-pound fish.

“Our bookings have been slow up until now because most of our customers who fish with us prefer to come and stay at our lodge. But many of them now say they’re returning to fish at Hackberry as soon as we get our lodge back up and running.

“Our summertime fishing is usually the best time to catch trout and redfish. So if you’re going to book, now’s the time, since we have people calling every day and booking the lodge for when it re-opens.

“One of our best and most-successful fishing trips has been our night boat trips. The fishermen eat dinner with us at the lodge and then board a 40-foot houseboat that carries six people out fishing. We put out lights over a reef and anchor up, and as soon as the bait shows up, the trout start following them. After dinner, the boat leaves the dock, and the fishermen stay out until about 4 a.m. The night boat usually brings in mostly trout with a few flounder and redfish in the catch.

“With all the fish in the lake now, the night boat should really be a great way to catch a lot of speckled trout and redfish and dodge the summer heat at the same time. The night boat, which usually runs through October, has been so popular that most of our weekends are booked-up already through the summer. But we still have some openings during the week.

“Hackberry Lodge starts its cast-and-blast trips for ducks and trout with teal season in September. Our big duck season generally begins the middle of November, depending on when the state sets the season.

“We have a lot of people who like to get up in the morning, eat a good breakfast, shoot ducks, come in for gumbo at lunch, and then fish for speckled trout and redfish until dark. A cast-and-blast trip is a before-daylight-until-after-dark hunting and fishing trip that everyone really enjoys.

“Based on the numbers of fish we’re seeing now, I predict that this summer and fall, we’ll have the best fishing year that we’ve had in the last five or six years.”

To learn more about fishing at Hackberry Rod & Gun, call 888-762-3391, or visit http://www.hackberryrodandgun.com