http://www.LouisianaSportsman.com April 2015 | Louisiana Sportsman 93
Dustie Latiolais had armed himself for the morn-
ing with two casting and two spincasting rods. One
baitcaster was rigged with a Rat-L-Trap and the other
with his favorite bass lure, a 5-inch Zoom Finesse
worm rigged wacky worm style on a weighted 3/0
hook.
Red bug color is “the best in the Basin,” he explained,
closely followed by watermelon seed.
He fished his worm slowly, letting it sink to the bot-
tom, and then twitching it a couple of times, pausing
and repeating the presentation.
But it soon became obvious to him that this wasn’t
going to be a bass day, which left him completely
unperturbed. He shifted to
his spincast rods, equipment
seldom seen in the hands of
an experienced fisherman.
“I like spincasts because they
are easy for my whole family
to use,” Latiolais explained.
“There are just less incidents
with the line. And they catch
fish.
“I use them mainly for bream,
sac-a-lait and catfish.”
With either piece of equip-
ment, Latiolais believes in
going light. The casting reels
were spooled with 8-pound-
test line and the spinning reels
held 6-pound test.
Terminal tackle on the
spincast reels was simple: a
small gold wire hook snapped
onto a snap swivel suspended
below a small foam cork. A
small split shot clamped on
the line just above the swivel
completed the rig.
His preferred live bait was live
worms — not just for that day,
but all of the time — for one
simple reason.
They stay alive well.
“I can keep worms in the
refrigerator at home,” Latiolais
said. “Crickets don’t last —
same with shiners.”
Later in the year (July and
August), Latiolais will shift to
artificials for bream fishing, pri-
marily beetle spins. His favor-
ite grub colors for the lures are
chartreuse with black stripes
and white with a red dot. ■16815 East Main Street
Cut Off, La. 70345Phone: 985-632-8988
Fax: 985-632-5538Renovations,
Your Full Service
Marine Warranty Center
V-LiftsFloat LiftsSunPort 2NOW Introducing
Weapons of choice
Latiolais’ live-bait rig is effective on
both bream and catfish.