Little did any of us know, as Capt. John
got the Sportsman’s nose into the channel
and headed towards Lake Borgne, we had all
picked an incredible day to go fishing.
We headed south once we hit Lake Borgne, in
the direction of the rig where we wanted to
start. About halfway there, we saw a big tarpon breach the surface, coming completely
out of the water, before splashing back down.
I took that as a very good sign for our day.
As we pulled up to our rig, Capt. John
lowered his remote control Minn Kota Ulterra
and checked his Humminbird to make sure we
were over the part of the shell pad where he
wanted to start. We were right where he
wanted to be, so as we got started fishing, the
good captain explained what we were doing.
Capt. John said, “It gets hot in Louisiana
this time of year, so we look for deeper spots
that have cooler water and structure for holding good numbers of solid and trophy trout; I
like the deeper rigs out here in Lake Borgne,
and the CSX bridge. In these deep spots, the
water temperature on the surface might be 85
degrees, but on the bottom, it may be as low
as 71 or 72 degrees. You wanna get the sweet
spot that’s somewhere in the water column;
that’s when my Humminbird is really handy, I
can literally see where the fish are in the water
column. I also like moving water, not too
much, I don’t want the current to push the fish
off. A lot of times, the fish will sit on the edge
of the current or eddie where they can expend as little energy as possible ambushing
food. I use a drop shot rig on Penn spinning
rods and reels, with Fins braid on the spool
and Berkley Big Game clear monofilament as
a leader.”
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July 2016 www.marshandbayou.com
Capt. John continued, “The
weight on the drop shot will vary
depending on depth and current; I pretty much always use an
Eagle Claw #6 treble hook. The
reason I like the drop shot over a
Carolina rig is I just feel you’re
more in touch with your bait this
way. No swivel and no weight
going up and down your line
means no extra contact points. It
gives you a better feel from rod
to bait. Bait can also tend to
bury itself in the mud sometimes;
and with the drop shot, I can suspend the bait anywhere in the
water column where I want it to be. The
weight is also a form of fish attractant; it will
clatter all over the shell pads and draw attention to the bait. It’s a simple way to fish, and
anyone can have success with it.”
As Capt. John finished explaining his rigging, Jacob pulled in a very nice 16-inch trout.
That was a very good way to start.
A moment later, something absolutely
smacked my live shrimp; I set the hook and
started reeling. The fish felt like a trout, but, it
seemed kind of big for a trout as hard as it
was pulling.
Then the fish hit the surface near the boat;
it was a trout, it was big, and it was furiously
shaking its head trying to throw the hook.
Capt. John got the net under the fish and got
the trout