Hello all and a Big Lake Question

[cwhite6]

Hello all! I was referred to this site on The Hull Truth by a couple of members here. My name is Chip and I live in the frozen north around Alexandria, LA. Born and raised in Walker, LA and graduated from LSU in 2002. I started saltwater fishing a couple of years ago when my buddy from work brought me to Big Lake. I now have a few Venice trips under my belt and my own boat, a 2007 Sea Hunt Triton 232 with a 225hp E-TEC. I am taking my wife and little girl (8 years old) on their first fishing trip on Sunday! Due to schedules, we are only able to fish on Sunday. So, we are driving down to Lafayette to drop off the youngest daughter at Mimi's on Saturday night and heading to Lake Charles to fish Sunday. I have been there about 5 times fishing, so I am somewhat familiar with it. The weather looks nice so far. I am putting in at Calcasieu Point Landing. Any pointers for the area right now? I want them to catch something besides dang hard heads. I am planning on running down to the lake (Turners Bay and Reef area) at daylight to try drifting with the birds for some trout before we move to a couple of spots I normally fish. I have been given some coordinates of the old south jetties and the basket reef area I will try also. Thanks for any advice! I am not going to try Cocodrie or Vermillion Bay as I have never fished there and I want them to enjoy themselves without me freaking out because I am in unfamiliar waters.

[meaux fishing]

you can always try the wiers or LNG you can almost always catch something either of these places with gulp or shrimp

[bullcroaker]

My friend and I went last Sunday. We fished all over and did the best the north end of the lake for specks and pretty good at the wiers for reds. Wiers had tons of 15 in reds. We ended up with 13 specks and 5 reds. Reds caught on dead shrimp on bottom specks on doa under a cork.

[cwhite6]

I can ask a stupid question. We exactly are the weirs and LNG?

[PaulMyers]

Originally Posted by cwhite6

I can ask a stupid question. We exactly are the weirs and LNG?

If you launch at Cal Point, you're in LNG, just go East. The weirs are located in the SouthEast part of the lake.

[inchspinner]

Best thing is grab a hook n line map from academy and its labeled gr bayou in se of lake and as paul said go E from cal point....plus the map will have some points on the way to either!

[cwhite6]

Thanks guys! I have one of those maps at work my buddy gave me. I will check it in the morning.

[gatortrax35]

204 views and only couple nice guys. I heard the are catching them around Old Camp. Seems like alot people are heading to SE corner of the lake. Good Luck.

[lsufish]

Originally Posted by gatortrax35

204 views and only couple nice guys. I heard the are catching them around Old Camp. Seems like alot people are heading to SE corner of the lake. Good Luck.

Its not that i'm not nice per say, I'm just trying to determine if this is a troll attempt.

[PaulMyers]

Originally Posted by gatortrax35

204 views and only couple nice guys. I heard the are catching them around Old Camp. Seems like alot people are heading to SE corner of the lake. Good Luck.

He was asking for pretty much a sure thing as he wants to put his wife and 8 yo daughter on some fish. The weirs and LNG are as close as you can get to a sure thing on Big Lake in my opinion.

[ckinchen]

Light southeast wind on Sunday, east bank should be good. Commissary is a community hole but worth fishing as is the old blue camp area. If you do not have one already get a hook and line map (any of the local tackle stores sell them and they are sponsors). This map also will have the weirs marked for you with GPS coordinates. As a new person on the lake pick up some live shrimp for the kids.

[meaux fishing]

Originally Posted by PaulMyers

He was asking for pretty much a sure thing as he wants to put his wife and 8 yo daughter on some fish. The weirs and LNG are as close as you can get to a sure thing on Big Lake in my opinion.

exactly

[gatortrax35]

Common on. REALLy. He lives almost three hours away. Not like he is going to fish biglake every freaking weekend. He may be able to make what three trips a year. WOW if you don't want to give out info then why troll this forum? Lord send the guy a PM then. If anyone every wanted saline larto info heck ill help you out. Dang it's a dang fish and lake that's feed by the Gulf of Mexico. Not like this lake will run out of fish like a land locked lake. And you probably have more trout in your deep freeze than you can eat now. Sorry I was raised on help thy neighbor, and God will bless you in the long run.

[cwhite6]

Thanks for the info and help guys. I am appreciate it a lot. I am not looking for anything more than a few suggestions of where I can put my two ladies on a few fish. Type (except I have a deep burning hatred of hardheads) is really not important. Neither one of them has every been salt water fishing. I just want them to have a good time and catch something. I have fished Big Lake about five times with a buddy of mine. He has fished there a good bit. I am just not up on the terminology of the places very well. Again, I understand the hesitation and I really appreciate the help. I will try to post some pics of them having fun on Monday.

[ckinchen]

Have a great trip and let us know how you did. If you do end up fishing at the weirs do not anchor past the signs and you will want to be fishing on the bottom their not with a cork. Bring lots of tackle as you will break off very frequently in the rocks. Regarding live shrimp I think Calc Point has them now or so I heard.

[ckinchen]

Originally Posted by gatortrax35

Common on. REALLy. He lives almost three hours away. Not like he is going to fish biglake every freaking weekend. He may be able to make what three trips a year. WOW if you don't want to give out info then why troll this forum? Lord send the guy a PM then. If anyone every wanted saline larto info heck ill help you out. Dang it's a dang fish and lake that's feed by the Gulf of Mexico. Not like this lake will run out of fish like a land locked lake. And you probably have more trout in your deep freeze than you can eat now. Sorry I was raised on help thy neighbor, and God will bless you in the long run.

Did you not read my post it was post number 11. What more could I have told him? I guess I could have offered to buy the map for him and have it shipped to his house.

[swamp snorkler]

Welcome Aboard fella, if you want to avoid hard heads don't use shrimp, that's about the only advise I can give you. I don't know the area. But keep this in mind, as bad as you don't want to catch your Daughter has never caught one and would probably be stoked to reel in any fish.

[ckinchen]

Big Lake can humble you until you figure it out. Buy the shrimp and make a big deal about it when your daughter does catch a catfish and they will have a good time. With a southeast wind all of the reefs on the east side are not a bad spot to try and if you have live bait they will catch something.

I fished over in Grand Isle most of my life until we bought a camp in Hackberry and it does take some time to figure the lake out. Over in Grand Isle I could get by with a lot less skill and planning. Once you figure it out Big Lake is a great fishery.

[meaux fishing]

Originally Posted by gatortrax35

Common on. REALLy. He lives almost three hours away. Not like he is going to fish biglake every freaking weekend. He may be able to make what three trips a year. WOW if you don't want to give out info then why troll this forum? Lord send the guy a PM then. If anyone every wanted saline larto info heck ill help you out. Dang it's a dang fish and lake that's feed by the Gulf of Mexico. Not like this lake will run out of fish like a land locked lake. And you probably have more trout in your deep freeze than you can eat now. Sorry I was raised on help thy neighbor, and God will bless you in the long run.

The reason I recommended those places are 1) he said he just wants to catch something 2) just because you tell somebody where a reef is doesn't mean they will catch fish there. Because they are not familiar with the area and so don't know the conditions it takes to catch fish there. I don't want him wasting time just sitting in an area with wife and daughter getting bored. 3) he mentioned the type of boat he has in the first post and it not the best for fishing the reefs in big lake due to the absence of a trolling motor. 4) I have caught trout both at LNG and the weirs. 5) I haven't fished the lake in a few weeks so I don't want to just say go here or here and give the guy false information. That to me is even worse than not saying anything

Rant Over

To the OP. If you do fish decide to try to fish some reef on the hook n line map, remember swing wide around them and shut your motor off. start fishing 100yds or so off the reef and drift with the wind over the reef. If you start catching, either place your anchor in the water and let out a little line till it catches or keep drifting. When you stop catching circle back around and drift over it again.

[cwhite6]

Thanks folks! Meaux, thanks for the advice on the reef fishing. I have a cajun anchor and usually my buddy and I will do like you said. Drift until we catch something and then plant the cajun anchor and fish for a little while. ckinchen, I plan on not fishing at all. I am going to help my wife and daughter fish and I will make a big stinky deal out of anything they catch. I am kinda hoping one of them hooks into one of the big ole black drum I caught last time I was there. I won't eat it, but the big ones a hoot to catch. Again, thanks for all the advice folks. I will post back on Monday how we did.