A Look at the Hurricanes Effect on Gulf Coast Fishing
Kirk Stansel on Calcasieu Fishing
Editor’s Note: After Hurricane Katrina hit New
Orleans, the fishermen at Lake Calcasieu near Lake Charles,
Louisiana, still had good lives and enjoyed outstanding
fishing. The storm brought in plenty of speckled trout
and redfish. Many of the tourist areas along the Gulf
Coast had shut down, but the fishing business boomed.
However, anglers knew that good times generally didn’t
last, and bad times might follow. Four weeks later,
Hurricane
Rita jumped right in the middle of Lake Calcasieu. Although
most people around the nation remember Katrina and its
devastating effort on New Orleans, the anglers at Lake
Calcasieu never will forget Rita. But, on the heels
of Rita came some of the best trout fishing Lake Calcasieu
has had in years. We’ve talked to two fishermen
who guide and operate businesses on Calcasieu –
Captain Jeff Poe of Big Lake Guide Service and Kirk
Stansel of Hackberry Rod & Gun. Let’s listen
to their stories about what happened and what you can
expect this summer and fall, if you’re planning
a fishing trip to Lake Calcasieu.
“Our lodge dodged Hurricane Katrina, but we took
Rita on the chin,” Kirk Stansel explains. “Before
Rita hit, we were in kind of a down-turn on our fishing
cycle. Fishing had been tough for the last three years
in Lake Calcasieu. However, Rita hit in September, and
by mid-October, there were
fish all over Lake Calcasieu. That’s the good
news. The bad news is our dock was blown away, and our
lodge was torn up so badly that we had to completely
demolish it and rebuild. But our lodge should be back
up and ready real soon – sometime in July, 2006.
By mid-October 2005, we were taking people fishing.
However, most of our business came from people driving
in, instead of staying in this area. There just wasn’t
any place down here
for them to stay. Our guides brought in large numbers
of fish. We didn’t see many really-big fish, but
all the fish we caught were a good grade, with most
of them being in the 14- to 16-inch lengths. The lake’s
a little more stained than it has been in the past,
probably because of all the silt that’s been stirred-up
by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In the last three or
four years, to catch a lot of trout, we’ve had
to use live bait. But since Rita, we’re catching
all of our fish on artificial lures.
To learn more about fishing at Hackberry Rod &
Gun, call 888-762-3391, or visit www.hackberryrodandgun.com.
Tomorrow: More on Louisiana
Fishing with Kirk Stansel
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