http://www.LouisianaSportsman.com April 2015 | Louisiana Sportsman 65
“You might not catch a
bunch of doubles, but it’s a
great way to learn how to feel
the bottom.”
The more we fished, the more I realized exactly
what Hibbs was doing to get bit. Although he
verbally wished many times to try a multi-pole
spider rig one day, he was fishing these sac-a-lait
just like he would fish for speckled trout in Lake
Pontchartrain.
In other words, rather than
suspending his bait at the
exact depth of the fish or
slightly above them as is
often the best strategy for
sac-a-lait, he was allowing his
bait to hit bottom before hop-
ping it up and down.
“If you see fuzz on bottom
you better get your bait
on bottom,” he insisted. “If
they’re on bottom in 24 feet of
water, you better be on bot-
tom in 24 feet of water.
“Now, if you see something
on your fish finder that looks
more like a Christmas tree
than balls of lava, then you’re
going to want to count it
down to that depth, and then
swim and jig it.”
And, wouldn’t you know it,
just about the time Hibbs
described sac-a-lait stacked
up like Christmas trees, I
looked at his Lowrance and
saw exactly that scenario.
“That’s probably why the
bite has slowed down,” Hibbs
said. “First thing this morn-
ing, they were right on bot-
tom. Now that it’s warmed
up, they’re suspending a little
bit to stay close to the bait.”
Once he realized that the
sac-a-lait were about 12 feet
deep rather than on the bot-
tom, Hibbs started swimming
his lure right at that depth,
and the bite turned on again.Searching for fuzz with his depth
finder, Ty Hibbs stops and fishes
wherever he spots blobs of what
he calls “lava” on his screen.