

A SACALAIT A DAY - A Sacaliat a day continued
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"I got started fishing sacalait this way by Rex Wells and his sons," he told me as he modeled the same rig he used to catch the record fish. And Lewis is living proof that it doesn't take an expensive, fancy rig to catch sacalait.
He fishes exclusively from a small flat boat, has a trolling motor but very rarely uses it. He prefers to "scull," a paddling technique that has nearly become a lost art. Sculling is done with a small paddle worked with the hand and forearm to propel and control the boat. Lewis finds he can work the bank structure more efficiently and more quietly from the bow of the boat with the paddle and not the trolling motor.
"I use an 8 ½ foot Ugly Stick fly rod with a conventional-style fly reel loaded with backing line tied to monofilament. I’ll use 6-8 LB test line and tie on a 1/32-ounce jig head with a #4 hook. Sometimes I'll use 10-lb. Test but only if it's the type that measures .11 diameter. I remove the barbs to keep from hanging up in the structure where sacalait hang out. I'll use blue, chartreuse and other colored tube jigs but by far my favorite is a blue/green combination head with a flecked chartreuse skirt that J&M Tackle puts out," Lewis said.
It's not fly-fishing and it's not pole fishing, but somewhere in between. The real beauty of Lewis' rig is the ease with which snags are freed. And when dropping a jig in submerged treetops and logs, it happens a lot. When it does, Lewis simply moves the boat as close as possible to the snag, reels up the slack until the jighead reaches the rod tip eyelet. Then with a quick forward push, the hook dislodges and it’s back to fishing. Lewis calls his fishing technique the "vertical swimming jig." He starts off by dropping the jig shallow, close to the bank or structure. Holding the rod tip out and up allows it to "swim" back to the boat. Raising and lowering the rod tip can work the bait worked at a desired depth. After a few casts, it's an easy method to get the hang of.
"Springtime fishing reaches its prime when the water temperature reaches 63-66 degrees. During the spawn, I'll concentrate on dropping the jig near the bottoms of large cypress trees. I'll mostly fish the canals in spring unless there's an early summer or a major flood, then I'll move to the larger lakes," Randy said as unhooked and released another sacalait in a canal off Verret.
"In the early part of summer in May, I'll fish both canals and the lakes as well as main bayous. As temperatures heat up, I'll fish the lakes working the jig in the outer edges where there's trees and blow-downs in 5-7 feet of water. Around Des Allemands, I fish at the edge of the hydrilla grass beds and 2-3 feet out from those mats of water hyacinths. I start shallow and work deep until I find them. In late summer when it’s really hot I try to fish at sunrise but I’ve caught rodeo-winning fish during those dog days between 1-3p.m. I've found sacalait will not stop feeding until the water reaches 93-degrees."
During the fall Lewis continues to fish the lake in 6-8-feet of water but when water temperatures begin to drop from the 80s into the 70s, he knows it's time to move back into the canals.
During winter you'll find Randy working the small canal structure in 2-3 feet of water, looking for certain signs.
"Water quality is very important. You don’t want it too clear but not too dirty either. Anywhere from 4-inches to-11/2 feet is good visibility. With visibility less than 2-inches, I don't waste my time."
One important ingredient to catching sacalait that Randy forgets to mention is confidence. Knowing that your technique, your bait and location will consistently produce fish is important. But that's second nature to Doctor Sac and it only comes with years of experience that allows him to average way above the prescription of "a sacalait a day."