Join the Calcasieu club - Louisiana Sportsman

The Calcasieu Estuary stretches 40 miles from the Port of Lake Charles to the Gulf, offering some of Louisiana's most productive saltwater fishing. The system connects multiple lakes, channels, and nearshore platforms—each with its own character and fish populations.

Speckled trout dominate summer catches. In August, they migrate south toward cooler, deeper water in the lower Calcasieu Ship Channel and around Big Lake's reefs. Live shrimp under popping corks catches them consistently, though artificial shrimp work too. Larger trout (5-8 pounds, sometimes bigger) hunt deeper and prefer live mullet or finfish like menhaden and pinfish.

The Calcasieu and Sabine systems have produced double-digit trout in the past. Anglers can still catch a 10-pound trout anywhere on any cast.

Bull redfish run massive schools in late summer—300 to 400 fish moving along the beach edge and through the channel. They hit live croakers, mullet, whole crabs, or crab halves on Carolina rigs. The Marker 56 and Nine-Mile areas in the channel produce consistent action.

Black drum, Spanish mackerel, tripletail, sheepshead, and jack crevalle also bite regularly. Around the jetties at Calcasieu Pass and the nearshore platforms 5-12 miles offshore, you'll find even more variety.

• •South Chenier Reef & Jack Lawton Reef — traditional summer spots for trout
• •Calcasieu Pass jetties — rock structure holds big specks and bull reds
• •Prien Lake & old river channel — late summer when saltwater pushes north past I-10
• •Nearshore platforms — trout suspend around rig legs; cobia and tripletail hover under floating debris
• •Sabine Lake — east of the system, equally productive
• •Marshes surrounding the estuary — redfish and flounder, 15,000+ acres protected in Cameron Prairie NWR

Live shrimp works everywhere. As late summer progresses and shrimp thin out, switch to live mullet for bigger trout. Effective artificials include 4 Horsemen Boom Boom Shrimp, Down South Lures, Lil' John's, and Marker 54 Shrimp on 1/8-ounce jigheads bounced along the bottom.