L_S_2015_04_

232 Louisiana Sportsman^ | April 2015

A

pril is an astronomically awesome month

to be outside. The birds are chirping, flow-

ers are blooming and temperatures are the

most comfortable of the year. But outside

has a completely different meaning to Dulac angler

Chris Macaluso. For him, “outside” means outside

of the marsh, where he finds the action to be really

good when he is able to get

out to Terrebonne Bay on the

calmer days.

“I’m going to be out in the

bay if I can,” Macaluso said.

“In April, a lot of your bigger

fish will be outside.”

Macaluso’s favorite areas

include Lake Pelto, the rock

piles at the end of the ship

channel and the reefs on

the back side of the barrier

islands.

Most anglers would agree

that there’s nothing like see-

ing a big trout furiously crush

a topwater bait. Macaluso

can’t get enough of it, and fre-

quently fishes them in April

around Lake Pelto.

“When I’m fishing platforms

out in Lake Pelto and around

the barrier islands, I am going

to start throwing topwaters

and suspending jerkbaits,”

Macaluso said.

Macaluso prefers MirrOlure She Dogs over the qui-

eter Top Dogs for topwater baits.

“You definitely want something with a high-pitch,”

he said. “She Dogs I find get bit better.”

Macaluso also said he likes fishing a Bomber

Badonk-A-Donk topwater. This lure has the same

high pitch that he looks for in topwater baits when

fishing around the outside structures.

Although Macaluso feels color is not important

on his topwaters, as a general rule he prefers black/

chartreuse. As the season moves along, he will go to

a bone-colored topwater.

Not everyday, unfortunately, will fish smash topwa-

ter baits. When this happens, a lot of anglers give up

on the hard-plastic concept and will go straight to

a soft plastic. While this will a lot of times produce

fish, Macaluso reaches for another form of hard-

plastic lure to get better-quality fish.

“If they are still a little slow, and they won’t eat the

topwater baits, I’ll switch to a suspending jerkbait,”

he said. “The bigger fish are going to hit those top-

waters and jerkbaits.”

Macaluso likes throwing a Bomber Long A green/

silver jerkbait when the water is clean. However,

when the water is a little off-colored, he’ll go to a

darker black/gold or bright chartreuse.

If all else fails, Macaluso will impale an avocado-

colored 5-inch soft-plastic on a 1/8- or ¼-ounce

jighead.

Many people mistakenly overlook their gear when

fishing hard-plastics. Too stiff of a rod, and most of

the time the fish will end up substantially happier

than you. Macaluso fishes the baits on a 6 ½-foot

medium-power rod with moss-green Power Pro tied

straight to the bait. In a lot of places, fishing without

a monofilament or fluorocarbon leader would guar-

antee you much fewer bites, but Macaluso doesn’t

think one second about it.

“In that whole Grand Isle/Cocodrie area, I don’t

find it makes a difference at all,” he said.

Some Aprils, being able to get outside is the excep-

tion rather than the rule. When the winds are blow-

ing hard enough to sweep you off your feet, you can

Time to move

outside the marsh

Chris Macaluso caught

this 25-inch speckled

trout at the end of the

Navigation Canal out of

Dulac on a Badonk-A-

Donk topwater.

fishing forecast

Sportsman

Toledo Bend

Southeast

Southcentral

Southwest

Central

Northeast

Northwest

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forecast

index

By Joel Masson

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