Doc's Perspective on Backwater Trolling

A light aluminum skiff glides easily and quietly over the slick waters of Graveline Bayou. Only the sound of water lapping gently across the boat's bow breaks the early morning silence. It is cold, but hunkered over a cup of hot coffee, the fisherman stays comfortable as his two rigs probe the depths of the bayou. Already he has hooked and landed two nice trout - one, a healthy four pounder, and the second, an even more impressive five-and-a-half pound fish. Both fell for the chartreuese inch-and-a-half MirrOlure that trailed behind the larger 52-M-series plug. The second outfit, rigged with twin Cocahoe Minnows, had not yet elicited a strike.

As the boat rounded the bend just above the Old Shell Landing, a small armada began to appear. Just an hour ago, a solitary vessel had taken station over the deep waters surrounding the landing; but now, some eight boats maneuvered for position. Two bent rods and the intermittent whine of drag washers yielding to big fish was sign enough that this hotspot was indeed hot this morning.

As he rounded the bend, the angler throttled back the little Eska trolling motor, partly to help him negotiate the clutter of other small boats and partly to keep him in the strike zone a bit longer. Just as his baits passed over the channel's edge, both rods lurched abruptly. But the alert fisherman managed to grab one just at liftoff. The second was securely nuzzled in the arms of a clamp-on rod holder. As he struggled with the first fish, the other rod continued to dip low, straining with the unseen weight below.

A minute or so had passed before the fisherman managed to bring his fish to net. Another very nice four-pounder joined the others on ice. Quickly, attention was now diverted to the still straining rod as it continued to dip and sway with the familiar rhythm of a fighting fish. From the weight, it was obvious that this was no ordinary fish. At least, if it was ordinary, it was extraordinarily large. The angler, fishing with twenty-pound test monofilament, had little fear that the line would give to the pressure; but still, he backed off the star drag on his Ambassadeur 5000. Years of experience and scores of lost trout had taught him a valuable lesson here; and he was not about to lose this fish because of a poor drag setting.

As the fish began to come to the surface, the water erupted in unusual fashion - An angry boil to the left matched by another to the right; a sharp pull to the bottom punctuated with a powerful surge in the opposite direction. What kind of fish behaved in this manner? By now, the fisherman would be happy just to see the fish, to identify it and mark it for recognition in future encounters. Then, he saw it - or them, as the case was - two big yellowmouth trout. Each had taken one of the Cocahoe Minnows deeply; and, joined by a two-foot leash of monofilament, they now argued about which direction to go. In the end though, the fisherman would settle the argument as he brought the pair to net.

Back at the launch, someone pulled out a de-Liar to weigh the five-fish-catch; and it fell just ounces short of twenty-four pounds. That's a fine stringer in anyone's book, even if it was caught last season. It just goes to show you though that January is not the time to become a couch potato. Deep jigging a pair of tandem rigs might be just the ticket to making this mid-winter tale come true for you this year. . .