Keith Lusher I have to admit, I was never much of a fan of trolling for specked trout. The idea of dragging lures behind a boat and having to wait on a fish to jump on isn’t exactly my idea of a good time. I’ve been on numerous trips where I’d see people catching trout while jigging, at the same time the boat I was in pulled baits through the water with the poles never bending.
I recently made a trip to the Trestles for a trolling trip with Captain Andy Jones of Wicked Charters, that made me reconsider my contempt for this “sport.” We we’re joined by “Rod N’ Reel Girl” Wanda Stewart and her fiancé, Joe France of Slidell. We launched at The Dock and made our way through the thick fog that made the dreary cold morning even more depressing. I have to admit that neither mine, nor Captain Andy’s outlook for the day was positive. I heard him mumble under his breath “You gotta be crazy” just before he gunned the throttle down and the 22’ Triton Sea Flight sliced trough the lake’s cold water. Not only was the weather raw, but we had just seen a cold front pass through which has been known to give speckled trout a case of lock jaw. We headed for the normally visible Trestles, but the dense fog made for a blind ride west as the fog was so thick that the lake had no horizon. I glanced over to the rods that were perched in the rod holders and saw drops running down the lines. This was the very definition of a raw morning in December.
I recently made a trip to the Trestles for a trolling trip with Captain Andy Jones of Wicked Charters, that made me reconsider my contempt for this “sport.” We we’re joined by “Rod N’ Reel Girl” Wanda Stewart and her fiancé, Joe France of Slidell. We launched at The Dock and made our way through the thick fog that made the dreary cold morning even more depressing. I have to admit that neither mine, nor Captain Andy’s outlook for the day was positive. I heard him mumble under his breath “You gotta be crazy” just before he gunned the throttle down and the 22’ Triton Sea Flight sliced trough the lake’s cold water. Not only was the weather raw, but we had just seen a cold front pass through which has been known to give speckled trout a case of lock jaw. We headed for the normally visible Trestles, but the dense fog made for a blind ride west as the fog was so thick that the lake had no horizon. I glanced over to the rods that were perched in the rod holders and saw drops running down the lines. This was the very definition of a raw morning in December.
The drawbridge at the Trestles peeks through the fog on a cold December morning
We arrived at our first spot at 7:45 in the morning. It was on the west side of the train bridge just past the 176 marker. Andy took a pole out and placed it in a rod holder protruding from the back of the center console of the boat. He flipped the bail on what looked like half of a pole and started letting line out. “These short rods are good for trolling because they’re durable. There’s no need for feeling the bite when trolling, the fish jumps on and you real em’ in,” Andy said. He grabbed another and fixed it to the other side. Both of these lines were rigged with Rat-L-traps as the main lure and from the hook of the crank bait, there was another line that lead to the trailer lure, a white B2 Squid.
"This is heart attack fishing without a doubt" says Joe France on his first hookup Andy then handed Joe a 6.5 ft. pole with monofilament line and a green and white color MirrOLure. Joe started letting line out as we proceeded down the train bridge. For approximately 5 minutes our conversation got deeper as we focused less on fishing. We started talking about our jobs and how busy our lives had become and that when it happened. Mid sentence, Joe stumbled and made an about face as if his rod shocked him. The rod bent down and he started to crank. “This is heart attack fishing without a doubt,” Joe exclaimed as he cranked on the reel. The whole boat grew excited as we knew the trout were in the area but thought that the they would be hesitant to bite with the passing of the cold front the night before. Joe reeled the fish in and flung it over the gunwale of the boat. Is was as if it was what we need to make us concentrate on fishing. Joe opens the ice chest and tossed the cold silvery fish into it. Now, everyone was quiet. We all peered at the rods as if at any moment, a fish would jump on. It happened again, but this time one of the short rods that were in the rod holder snapped down and started flexing up and down. Andy yelled “fish on!” as Wanda grabbed hold and removed the rod from it’s station and began cranking.
Wanda Stewart hauls in her first trolling trout The fish surfaced about 30 ft. from the back of the boat and surfed the way back to the boat as she hauled it in. The 18” fish flopped on the floor of the boat. “You can't beat the trout we have here! Most of the ones we’ve been catching are between 14”-18”,” he said. After celebratory high fives, she added the fish to the ice chest and we continued down the foggy path along the bridge. A few minutes went by without a bite and Andy pointed out that the water was a little dirtier, so he suggested that we crank up the big motor and head back to the 176 marker where we originally started. We all worked as a team to reel in the rods so that we could make the journey back to our starting spot and when we arrived we noticed more boats anchored in that spot. “When fishing the Trestles, typically the boats will tell you where the fish are. Unfortunately, where the most boats are is where the catching is happening,” Andy said as he pointed at all the boats. We threw out our lines and before the first line was completely out, Joe yelled “Whoa!” and began reeling. He turned the reel with a confused look on his face as if he didn’t know for sure that there was a fish on the other end of the line because the line was only 20 ft. out. After a few stern tugs from the fish Joe realized that he actually had a fish on the other end and put what was our third speckled trout in the boat. We continued down the path putting fish after fish into the boat on the second pass. We came across the murkier water, picked up our lines, and relocated once more for another pass. By this time we were a well oiled machine. We all knew what to do as we hardly spoke to on another. We put our lines back out and started down the familiar path down the bridge once more.
After a 5 minute span of no action, the pole nearest to me bent over and I immediately grabbed it. Instinctually, I set the hook which caused Andy to reminded me that I didn’t have to set the hook when trolling. “The natural speed of the boat is going to put that hook in the fishes mouth, and setting the hook often leads to ripping the lure out of the fish’s mouth,” he said. As I reeled the fish in, I could feel more resistance than usual. As the fish neared, I could see that it was clearly bigger than the ones we were flipping into the boat, so I told Andy to get the net. Instead, he dropped down on his knees at the side of the boat and snatched the trout from the water.
Andy Jones reaches down to grab a 21" speckled trout Andy held up a 21” trout and everyone celebrated. “Thats the thing about trolling, you never know what’s going to jump on that line. It could be a 12” trout, or one like that! That’s what’s so exciting about it!” he exclaimed. After a few more speckled trout were caught, the fog worsened as the winds lied down and we decided to call it a day and head back to the launch. We ended the day just past noon with 35 big beautiful speckled trout and more importantly, a new appreciation for a style of fishing that it took me 42 years to warm up to.
