Catfish biting, but catching sac-a-lait still a struggle

By Bruce McDonald

April 09, 2010 at 8:48 am  | Mobile Reader | Print 

Larry Toups with a yellow catfish caught on earthworms in the La. Cypress Canal. Though Toups helped catch 27 catfish, only one sac-a-lait was pulled out of the water.

Larry Toups, of Thibodaux, and I had a chance to make our way to the water in his 20-foot boat powered by a 27 horsepower Mud Buddy to Lake Cataouatche. Being a member of the Boutte Hunting Club, Larry wanted to check out the western end of the Davis Pond’s boundaries, which parallels the Boutte Hunting Club lease. 

We entered the Louisiana Cypress Canal and went to the last cut on the right. We headed north and found clear water coming out of the marsh. We anchored, threw earthworms on the bottom and caught 27 catfish and one sac-a-lait after fishing several locations. 

We also tried the last cut at the end of the west canal and the deep cut between the tank ponds and the netherlands.

The lone sac-a-lait was caught on the red/white/chartreuse min-jig. We tried to catch a few bass but were unsuccessful.

 I missed two good fish on the Ultravibe Speed Craw in watermelon red. We called it a day around 4 p.m. 

On Monday, my son-in-law Tom Sailor, and his dad, Mike Sailor, from Elkhart, Ind., wanted to make a fishing trip in our area.  So, we made our way to Outdoor Express to buy his out-of-state license. 

 Afterwards, we hooked-up the Kenner VX and headed to Pier 90 to launch. We headed towards Lake Cataouatche and  Mike was amazed at the amount of water south of Boutte. We crossed the tank ponds into the cut between the netherlands and anchored. 

Throwing earthworms on the bottom, we managed to catch 23 catfish. 

“I’m amazed how these fish bite so well,” Mike said.
 I told him that this was a bad day by our standards.
After catching the fish, we rode around to several spots. We picked up a few fish at the mouth of the La. Cypress Canal, the last cut before the West Canal, and the last cut on the West Canal.  We finished our fishing trip around 5 p.m.

Check your boat trailers while it's in the water before picking up!

After making our fishing trip Monday, I had a chance to visually inspect my boat trailer before picking up. To my surprise, the trailer had a rusted out u-bolt, which attaches the axle to the springs.  Each spring has two u-bolts, so I knew we could make the five-mile road trip back home. 

Could you imagine being 60 miles from home, heading to Grand Isle, and the axle detaches because of neglect? 

 I plan to change the u-bolts out as soon as I can. Here are some other areas to check.

•Any cracks on the trailer

•Lights - burnt out

•Tires - look for worn spots and bulges, proper inflation

•Loosen and grease lug nuts and re-tighten

•Wires leading to lights

•Grease bearings

•Rust on the u-bolts and springs

•The crank strap - look for bad spots

•Cracked transom saver

•Tie down straps

•Spare tire

•Electric brakes - check for proper working conditions

•Inspection of trailer hitch