What lures did you use? Last time I went out there I only caught a couple punching grass mats with sweet beavers. I bringing a friend of mine Saturday to teach him how to freshwater fish so any tips would be appreciated! I'm only fimilar with lil pigeon but heard other reports of big pigeon & grand lake given up some bass on top water. Like I said any help would be appreciated. I'm not asking for any honey holes just types of lures & what to look for! Thanx

Your doing much better than me out there for just learning the place. I fished clear water for almost a year before I found out that it's not good to fish in the basin. I grew up fishing in South Lafourche and that's what you looked for when fresh water fishing. Root beer. As I find out, root beer water is dead water in the basin. Stained water is optimal. Be careful out there. Leave a float plan.

Ive burned plenty of gas in search of clear water in the pigeon area and it's rare to find. Im from denham springs so there's no way of me knowing what the water clarity is until I get there. Thanx for the help! I'll definitely do more fishing then riding around from here on out!

Stop passing up all of the muddy water. If the water is moving this time of the year, FISH IT!!!

givemhell, I think you misunderstood me. Clear water sucks in the basin. It's dead water with no oxygen. It's the exact opposite from where I grew up. Even the crawfish don't live in the clear water. Look for stained water. Dirty moving water. That is the best in the basin.

Hey man if you want to catch some bass dont fool around with creature baits out there. Im sure people have success throwing them out there but ive been having some big time success throwing worms. Go out there and throw a Red Shad worm along the outside of the grass matts and around any logs on stumps that are visible along the banks of the canals early in the morning. Bass out there bite alot better early in the morning right now. The bite pretty much shuts off when the heat of the day starts coming out around 10 to 11 then doesnt start back up until 4:30 to 5 in the afternoon. Clean water is not commonly found in the spillway but honestly i catch more fish in water that is pretty dirty. I think the bass like that better than clear water out there. Dont ask me why, because i don't think anyone knows the true answer to that, but they just do. Throw a ribbet early early in the morning or late late in the afternoon. Grand Lake is on fire right now its just a pretty long run from the launch. If you want to catch some fish pretty close to the landing just run deep down big pigeon and fish its banks where the water turns from muddy muddy to a little bit cleaner. you and your friend should have a good time tearing up the goggle eye and bass saturday doing this. Get out there early early though

Thanx for all the pointers! I'm definitely gunna look at the area a lot different now and hopefully get on the bass.

no problem man let me know if you have any more questions. good luck

Most of the time the muddy moving water has more oxygen and is normally a few degrees cooler than clearer non moving water. So i would have to agree with everyone here. Ive caught ALOT of bass out there in clean water but it wasnt black swamp water. And 99% of those bass were 10 to 13 inches, definatley alot smaller than the off colored water.

Great information in all the above post .

In my opinion oxygen is the single most important factor in summer time fishing . Water tempature being second . Specifically in our area , the mud is like 100% oxygen and the black water is zero oxygen . If you'll notice theres not that many fish in the real muddy water , or the real black water . But if you fish the mixture , that's where the majority of the fish are holding . I don't fish bass but catch tons of them fishing sacalait in the same water . In my opinion the fish cant survive in a very oxygen enriched water or a oxygen depleted water , but thrive and feed best in the perfect oxygenated waters .

. The fish normally stack up in these perfect oxygenated , moving water areas during the summer because most of the water during the summer gets stagnated and hot . If you can find these places you can really put a hurtin on them . Good luck !

I would LOVE to be able to thin out some of those Goggle-Eye...check your email.

Thanks

Tell me you guys caught them fish on a red shad worm and crankbaits...? Not wanting to know where but on what kind of baits.I heard its a good area in late fall and winter.

red shad worms all the way. tequila sunrise also works very well. Go stop by spillway sportsman and get them to hook you up with what you need. Does anyone know of any tournaments out of bayou pigeon or bayou sorrel in the near future?

Have you had a chance to check out any of Bayou Cowan or Catfish? Just wanted to know if it was all grassed up or loaded with lillies.Havn't fished that area in 8-10 years. Mostly stay in Sorrel area...usually in the winter time...WHEN EVERYBODY ELSE IS HUNTING!!!!!!!!!!!! What kind of boat you running now?

Hey man i havent fished over in Bayou Cowan or Catfish lake yet but i will go check it out for you tomorrow and let you know what its looking like

And im running a 18 foot triton Bass Boat with a 150 Yamaha on the back right now. made the best purchase of my life with the power pole that ive got on the back of it. It comes in handy so often you wouldnt believe. Its a life saver

I dont know of any out of bayou pigeon. Most tournaments in that area are run out of Doirons landing. Ive fished a few from there and normally run to pigeon/grand lake area to fish. So i would check with Doirons or check out the Advocate this thursday to try to find one.

I'm going to try and head out to pigeon tomorrow 8/7/12 if I can get all my chores done around the house today since I worked nights all weekend. I went 2 Saturdays ago with a little luck only 10 bass with 1 keeper.

thanks man ill check the advocate thursday. How far of a run is it from Doiron's landing to the Pigeon area? just wandering because i don't ever fish anywhere near Doiron's but i feel that i can put a pretty good stringer together fishing the pigeon area. Givemhell, let me know how you do tomorrow. Fish crankbaits, red shad worms, and watermelon baby brush hogs. You don't need clean water to catch fish. Honestly clear water is not good out there, remember that. You should be able to catch 30 or so bass with 5 to 10 keepers pretty easily. The water is so low right now i wouldn't try to run to Grand Lake, but the Murphy Lake area has been producing a lot of bass. Not the Lake itself because the water is so low, but the dead end canals off of the Crossover canal on the way to Murphy Lake are holding a lot of fish. good luck and let me know how you do

Flies - the canal from Little Pigeon to Murphy is not called the Crossover. There is only 1 canal called the Crossover and that is close to the Tower and is too shallow right now.
The canal from Pigeon to Murphy is called Cross Bayou.
Getting to Grande Lake is no issue right now. Use the Texaco Canal past the Tower/Cowan area. I've never seen the water so low as to make that canal too shallow.
I'm not trying to bash you or make fun of you. Just don't want someone looking for The Crossover on their way to Murphy and getting confused.
As for tournaments, they usually aren't any open tournaments this time of year but if there are and you are confident that you can catch 11+ pounds, that's pretty strong.

Caught 19...14 in cross bayou & another 5 in big pigeon. Zero keepers but had a great time. All were caught on a zoom 10' tequila sunrise worm. No luck with spinner, crank, or punching heavy cover with beaver (or at least the cover I could get the 11/4oz to actually go thru. Everything was caught on the bank side of trees, stumps, & logs first thing this morning after sun came up things slowed down but still landed a few in the shade side of the structure.

Sounds like you got a nice rig.Going to try to make a trip to the pigeon area soon maybe even try the Williams canal (if its not to low)Havn't been in that area since my Dad past away 5 years ago.Thanks for the report. 'Hurry-Up Wintertime'