Volume 32 Number 6 - June 2012

FEATURES:

	A full plate Red snapper aren’t the only fish swimming around structures just off the coast. Plenty of other fish are on the menu when you hit the shallow rigs. “Ain’t no way!” Eddie snarled in response to Pelayo’s entreaty, which involved a “rig-fishing” trip. Eddie, though only recently back from his northern exile after his second disbarment, was fully aware of the new and diminutive red ... Humberto Fontova

	Afternoon Delight Caney Lake once turned out massive fish, and there are still some beasts lurking in the reservoir. Here some tips on how to put those lunkers in the boat. It doesn’t take much to get a typical Louisiana bass angler out of bed early during June. He knows he’s not going to be out there on the lake all that long anyway. After launching his boat in the dark, he falls into a predictable ... Chris Ginn

	Dancing the jig Jig fishing is a standard for filling red snapper limits, so follow these tips to fool even the most-wary Gulf darlings. Saltwater fishing has its ups and downs, but when snapper top your target list you’ll have a ton of fun with a bait based on the notion of up-and-down. We’re talking jigs here. Drop it down, reel it up — well, there’s a little more ... David A. Brown

	Deep Sound Resist the urge to stop at hotspots along the way and you’ll be glad you make the long haul to Breton Sound this month. I’d talked about taking this trip for months and now, finally, I was on my way. I was seated beside Capt. Casey Kieff (504-512-7171) in his 25-foot C-Hawk, which was cutting a meandering route through Hopedale’s China Pass, Halfmoon ... Rusty Tardo

	Delacroix Inside Out Heading outside is definitely a good option this time of year, but most days you don’t have to run that far. Capt. John Gremillion quit guiding because he likes to fish too much. After a stint in the 1990s working under Capt. Mike Frenette and the late Capt. Mike Adams as a deckhand, Gremillion got his captain’s license and began running ... Todd Masson

	Elite strategem The world’s top bass pros descend on Toledo Bend this month. Here is how they’re likely to decode the lake as they chase the $100,000 top prize. Dean Rojas won last year’s BASS Elite Series stop at Toledo Bend with 70.15 pounds of bass caught over four days of fishing. Rojas reportedly found fish on beds and caught some on grass flats by fishing a Big Bite Baits WarMouth (a ... Chris Ginn

	Heading ’em off at the passes Why run miles into the Atchafalaya Basin when bull bream await in the short passes right off the Intracoastal Waterway? In sort of a hypnotic, mesmerizing motion the tip of my float wavered left to right in a semi-circle until it slowly sunk beneath the surface of the water. “What the heck kind of bite is this?” I said to my friend Raymond Delco while ... John K. Flores

	Night Shift Catching big red snapper requires a different approach, and this accomplished trophy angler shares his tips. “And they call this recreation?,” I thought to myself as the Snapper Time, a 21-foot Cape Horn, swung into a wide arc and slowed to pull up to a big yellow-legged steel oil and gas platform. Recreational means fun by most definitions. Jerald Horst

	Predatory Pursuits Coyotes, hogs and bears aren’t just an inconvenience — they can ruin the ability for deer hunters to pattern their quarry. The bow season is under way. You’ve prepared the stand, scouted intensely and labored over the land — all in anticipation of enjoying the outdoors and taking a whitetail. As time passes, you begin to ponder why no deer have shown up; ... Tommy Kirkland

	Rack ’em and stack ’em Lake Raccourci trout are just dying to be caught. Here’s how to take grab your share of the catch. “Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after,” said Henry David Thoreau, the 19th century American poet, naturalist, hermit and philosopher. Obviously, Thoreau wasn’t from South Louisiana. ... Rusty Tardo

	Sighting in You don’t have to drop to the bottom to catch red snapper. Instead, bring them to the surface to pick your targets. I used to be fascinated at how quickly my grandfather’s catfish would come to the surface of his two farm ponds as he drove across the field in their direction. Before he could even get out of his truck, whiskered mouths began ... Chris Ginn

	Thoroughfare Thoroughbred The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway can be a tough place to fish, but this bridge veteran feels it’s well worth learning. The average horse’s heart weighs 7 pounds. The historic racehorse Eclipse, a distant sire of triple-crown winner Secretariat, had a 14-pound heart. That meant the horse, like his progeny from the 1970s, could go longer ... Todd Masson