Took the family on a little vacation to Mississippi and Louisiana, and got to spend one day fishing out of Point Sulfur, LA. Hooked my first Bull Red and now I'm hooked.



I had been thinking about taking my kayak to Braunig or Calaveras for some time, but now I really have the itch to go.
Have any of you guys fished Calaveras? I understand they do alot of trolling on that lake with downriggers and all. I haven't done any trolling out of my kayak but am willing to give it a shot if that's what works there. I recently picked up some of the Whisker Seeker rigs which are very similar to Santee Cooper Rigs that I could troll for Blues or Redfish.

Is it possible to troll Rat-L-Traps deep under a slip float rig? I was just brainstorming ways to minimize snags.

Any pointers or suggestions would be much appreciated!

You won't get a lot of snags, so a slip float is not necessary.

Most of the trolling for reds at Cally and Braunig is done with downriggers in order to put the lure at the exact location in the water column where the school is holding. This is especially important during the summer months.

I'd recommend flatline trolling traps, deep diving cranks and weighted spoons at both lakes during the spring months as reds will be more dispersed throughout the lake and water column.

I read it wrong as well ... but awesome fish!

Damn nice fish. I'm jealous.

If it's still allowed (it's been 10 years since I've done this), cruise out to the crappie wall (intake barrier) at Calavares and tie off there. I think the peak time for this run is in late July, but the reds chase bait fish back and forth through that intake channel. When you see reds hitting the top of the water near the wall throw at least a 1 oz. rattle trap or spoon into the middle of them. By near, I mean about as far as you can throw a bait caster with a 1 oz. weight. Those reds don't get much closer than that. In between runs, drop a crappie jig down one side of the wall. The wall has holes in it that allow water to go through when the plant is running. The crappie suspend in those holes. One word of caution - if there are a lot people at the wall then the reds are running, those idiots will run from one side of the channel to the other when the reds started hitting the surface. The wall is somewhere around 3-4 ft thick so there isn't much room for error when those buffoons start running back and forth.

There is also a fresh water inlet in one of the coves. If that inlet is open and running, catfish congregate over there for the oxygen rich water. I'd have to look it up on a map to tell you which cove it's in, but it is past the crappie wall on the west side of the lake.

The crappie wall is an inverted weir.

Ironically, there are very few crappie in Calaveras.

The most consistent way to catch reds from the crappie wall is to use a balloon above a sizable live shad or tilapia and let the prevailing SE breeze drift the bait out to where the intake channel doglegs. As mentioned above, expect crowds here.

Thanks guys for the input! I appreciate it! I'll report back if I do any good