18 Louisiana Sportsman^ | April 2015
field notes
I
t’s not unusual for anglers in Lake Pontchartrain to deal
with a variety of conditions — wind; a 1 1/2-foot chop; and
steady, strong current —that makes it tough to actually feel
a speckled trout bite, especially along the bridges.
“We’re playing against a lot of different situations where you
don’t feel the bite. But a lot of times you can see it,” said Chas
Champagne, owner of Matrix Shad and Vortex Shad soft-
plastic paddle-tail lures. “That’s why Lake Pontchartrain gets a
reputation as being hard to fish.
“People think you can go out there blind and just jig it around,
and it’s going to feel like a shark is hitting your line. But it really
feels like a mosquito is on your line.”
That’s why Champagne and other Lake
Pontchartrain fishing veterans rely on
their eyes as much as the feel to monitor
their line from the rod tip to the water as
they fish the bottom anywhere from 10
to 25 feet down.
“You’ll notice, cast after cast, the rate
it takes for it to hit the bottom. It’s the
same rate every time,” Champagne said.
“You can see it sinking and floating, and
you can watch it sinking down. If it looks
like it’s either sinking too fast or it looks
like it quit sinking and you know you
weren’t on the bottom yet — that could
be a fish that grabbed it while it’s falling.
“So when the rate changes, whether
it’s faster or slower, a lot of times that’s
a fish and you don’t even feel it in your
rod because it’s in 15 feet of water and it’s
choppy and there’s current.”
Champagne typically uses 17-pound
Stren Original monofilament line
because it’s easy on his eyes.
“It’s got a clear blue tint to the line,
and it really separates itself from the background color of the
water,” he said. “Your eyes can see it easy.”
He’s not a fan of braid, but he suggested choosing a highly-vis-
ible color with a short leader if that’s your line of choice. Avoid
green in Lake Pontchartrain, he said.
“Braid is really popular right now within the fishing world,
but the problem is a lot of it comes in forest green, and you
don’t want to use that because it blends in with the water,”
Champagne said. “If you’re fishing with green braid, you’rereally wasting your time; you can’t see it.
“So make sure you use a white or a yellow so you can see it.”
The majority of days he fishes, the 17-pound Stren is what he uses.
“If I’m on some really big stuff, where I have a shot at a 7- or
8-pound speck, I’ll use 20-pound Stren,” Champagne explained.
“If we’re just fishing the bridges on a typical day, we’ll use
17(-pound test), and once we get off the bridges and go in the
marsh catching school trout and reds, we’ll drop it all the way
down to 14 (pounde) sometimes.
“But 17 is a good number — that’s what we use about 70-per-
cent of the time.”The key is to react when you detect any type of difference in
your line — either visually or by feel.
“We typically have the rod in the 3 to 6 (o’clock) position when
we’re jigging, and we rare it back all the way over our heads to
set the hook,” Champagne said. “If nothing is there, just let it
fall back to the bottom. Our little joke we always say is, ‘Hook
sets are free.’
“It’s better to take a swing and a miss than to not know a bite
is there.” ■The right line for Pontchartrain
By Patrick Bonin
Contrasting colors critical to ‘see’ the bit, Champagne saysThere are a lot of choices when
it comes to line, so what’s
right for Lake Pontchartrain?104 Marina Del ray Dr.
MaDisonville
985-845-Hours: Mon-Fri 8am - 6pm
saturdays 9am - 4pmFinancing available
Looking For A
Pontoon Boat?
Come See The Large
Selection In Bent Marine’s
Indoor Showroom
We accept all
Trades, boats,
Rv’s & bikes
8001 airline Dr.
Metairie, la
1-888-319-246 Cayman
All New
Demo
Special!H22B
shown with options
25E 400
39ST
OutbOard re-POwer
SPecialS!Chaparral
21H2O FS
Andy Crawford