Bayou Dularge with Capt. Bill Lake

Eskimo anglers Paul Wegmann and Stewart Abercrombie, as well as 'the infamous' Coogan Ryan and myself fished out of Bayou Dularge with Capt. BillLake on Sunday. We had been having trouble locating the wintertime specks inLake Mechant (our usual spot) so we made a call to Capt. Bill Lake to take us on a tour of the Sister Lake side of Bayou Dularge. We were not disappointed. Although the water was the lowest I had seen in 10 years, Capt. Lake had a couple sweet spots in mind for just such conditions. It was near freezing that morning, and the low water and cold temperatures had the redfish stacked up in some deep canals in the marsh. The fish were relatively sluggish, however, and you almost had to aggravate them to coax a bite. We worked cocahoe tail plastics slow along the bottom and caught reds consistently throughout the morning. It was a blast hauling them in through the clear water, their bronze scales flashing in the morning sunlight.  We must have gone through 50-60 fish before arriving at our 25 keepers. THe ones we kept were very nice fish, some in the 6-8lb. class (perfect for the grill). We caught eight nice specks as lagniappe. Two went over three pounds.  We filled an 80 quart marine Ice chest until it was overflowing with reds and specks. We went out into Sister Lake in search of trout, but low water, lack of tide, and low temperatures made it apparent that the trout were not going to cooperate. Back to the camp, where I almost burned out my electric knife filleting those redfish. All in all it was a great day on the water. Capt. Bill runs an excellent operation.  He has been fishing the Dularge area for decades, and knows enough spots that he can put you on fish in almost any condition.  I will also say that Capt. Bill passes the "personality test" with flying colors.  He is a lot of fun to fish with, and is very generous in sharing his knowledge of spots and techniques.  I say this because Capt. Bill took extra time to show Coogan and me around some of his favorite "honey-holes" even after we had a limit of fish in the boat, and he did so knowing that he was very likely to see us fishing there in the near future.  Not many guides will do that.