W
by Chas Champagne
Dockside TV
54
June 2016 www.marshandbayou.com
hen tracking down trophy trout across the
Gulf Coast, salinity is the key ingredient. Monster trout in
Lake Pontchartrain, a well-known trophy trout estuary, have
been as rare as a unicorn on the moon in the last several
years. Sure - two, three, and four pound trout are showing
their faces as normal in the Lake, but the real wall hangers
are not around and haven't been for several years now.
We spent many, many years in the past seeing multiple
six, seven, and eight pound trout every month caught
by multiple anglers across the Pontchartrain Basin,
but those size trout have been extinct lately.
The last big trout run we had in the Lake was
back when a spurt of monsters came through, and
Doc Weiss caught multiple trout in the eight pound
class back in 2012. With all the fresh water this year
and the opening of the Spillway in January, I knew this
year was going to be a tough one for the big girls in the
Lake. Surprisingly though, this spring season was actually pretty good - even better than the last few years,
but the lake monsters still avoided us for again another
year. So, what do you do if you want to have a shot of
putting a big speck on the wall? The answer is Find
salty water. In late spring to early summer, salinity is
probably as important as having a hook on the lure
you’re using in chances of catching a real monster.
The Lake right now is at a dismal one part per thou-