Learn It!

Jerald Horst

Many sac-a-lait in this area sport a beautiful chocolate brown stripe between the dorsal fin and the tip of the nose, a color variation for black crappie that is common in areas in and near the Atchafalaya Basin.

Like so much of Louisiana, the Bayou Corne/Grand Bayou area seems to be a maze of canals and bayous. All of them look almost the same, so “what does a poor girl do?”

"You gotta come out here and experience it to learn what to look for," the 69-year-old Looney said. "I feel sorry for folks that only come out here once every couple of months.

"It’s just absolute sheer luck if they catch something. There is some luck involved, but most of catching fish is experience."

And that takes time, he said.

"You have to concentrate on an area and learn it. That’s the key to catching fish," Looney said. "Not everyone wants to do that. They are out for a day on the water and all that. Well, more power to them. People come to the landing with two fish, and they say ‘they weren’t biting.’ Well, they were — they just weren’t in the right spot.

"There are so many places out here that I pass up. I’ve never caught fish in them. History speaks! It takes losses to learn. I can’t tell you how many jigs are out there on the bottom. I see people that hang up and to save a 10-cent jig, they go into the spot with their boat to get it back. The fish stop biting, and they wonder why."