Even when you're catching schooling trout, you have a very good chance of catching a large fish at Calcasieu. Photo by John E. Phillips

For more than 25 years now, captains Jeff and Mary Poe, of Lake Charles, have guided on Lake Calcasieu, spending nearly every day of May on the large lake searching for jumbo speckled trout. During this time they've learned that everything from the salinity of the water, the direction of the tide, the location of the baitfish and the water's clarity has an impact on the trout.

And thanks to that knowledge, the pair, along with the other guides at their Big Lake Guide Service, will generally concentrate most of their fishing efforts on oyster reefs.

"The salinity of the water determines on which oyster reefs in Lake Calcasieu the trout will be holding," Jeff Poe said. "If this area doesn't have much rain, and the lake stays really salty, the trout may be holding all the way up to the northern end of the Lake. But usually in May, if this region has had a lot of spring rains, the fish will mainly concentrate on the south end of the lake."

In the vicinity of the old jetties in the southwestern corner of the lake, you can drift almost anywhere and fish successfully for trout over oyster reefs. As you get further away from the cuts that bring Gulf of Mexico water into Lake Calcasieu, the reefs become more scattered.

Ordinarily, Calcasieu anglers seeking speckled trout watch for diving seagulls, which home in on the numerous schools of trout that push shrimp and baitfish to the surface, thus providing easy pickings for the birds.

Said Poe: "Usually when you fish under the birds, you'll catch smaller trout weighing from 1 to 2 pounds each. Last year we didn't have that much bird activity in May, but in 2003, there was quite a bit of bird activity during the month of May. That year I caught one trout under birds that weighed over 9 pounds.

"Don't overlook the old jetties themselves, because they've produced numbers of really big trout. One year I caught a 6 1/2-pound trout fishing a topwater lure around the jetties. However, usually the jetties will pay off better later on in the summer."

BEACH BUMS
In May, the beach just outside of Lake Calcasieu also yields large trout for anglers willing to wade. According to Poe, beach anglers in search of these brutes should look for any troughs running between two sandbars. "Most of the time with two sandbars out from the beach, the trout will be in the trough between the first and the second sandbar," he said. "But if you can find a cut through either the first or the second sandbar, those cuts are usually the most productive for trout."

Poe notes that if the tide's high, the big trout may be right in the surf where the waves break. Yet if the tide goes out, he looks for the fish to move to deeper water. "If some people are wade-fishing and others are fishing from the boat, the wade-fishermen will be casting as far out as they can," he observed, "and the anglers in the boat will be casting as far in as they can."

THREE TOUR-FISHING HOTSPOTS FOR MAY
During the month, Poe usually does best all along the oyster reefs near West Cove, Long Point and Commissary Point. His lures of choice are soft plastics such as Norton's Sand Eel and the 5-inch Saltwater Eel by Bass Assassin.

"Depending on the current, I'll either put a 1/16-, a 1/8- or a 1/4-ounce lead up the line," said Poe, who mainly uses 12-pound monofilament. "Next I'll tie 24 inches of 20-pound-test fluorocarbon leader to my main line. Then I'll use a No. 2/0 hook with a leadhead and attach one of those eel-looking baits on the hook, rigging it Texas-style."