Features from August 2019
- When slabs reach their summer haunts in deeper water, if often takes a vibrating, rattling crankbait to draw a strike. Here’s how to get one.
- If you think the trophy trout train has already passed by, think again. Here are two places to target and several techniques to use.
- Put ‘power’ into your ‘finesse’ fishing with some interesting rig-lure combinations that will trigger bass to bite while others struggle.
- Louisiana’s deer season is right around the corner. It’s time to start getting things lined up for the promise of opening day.
- August marks the month when bass fishing begins to go bananas along the cane stands that seem endless and eternal south of Venice.
- Higher water temperatures in summer increase a trout’s metabolic rate and force it to feed four times more often than it feeds during the winter.
- The sky is the limit when fishing around nearshore rigs during the summer. Cooler water plus lots of structure equals fish magnets for Louisiana anglers.
- White-tailed deer can be found throughout Louisiana, from northern Caddo Parish southward to the mouth of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish.
Columns - August 2019
- African pompano (alectis ciliaris) are saltwater fish that are usually caught in deep, offshore water around wrecks and artificial reefs.
- The Bayou Coast Kayak Fishing Club offers a unique event allowing members to challenge themselves to successfully catch a wide variety of different species.
- The new Mathews Vertix offers several features, including Switchweight technology, and an integrated arrow-rest mounting system.
- The Matrix Rip Shad is a hard-body artificial lure, a jerkbait, that’s already a favorite of his and charter boat captains in Louisiana.
- The night before making a raid on big Sabine Lake trophy speckled trout, 37-year-old fishing guide Robbie Trahan treated me to some Johnson Bayou cooking.
- To prepare for fishing the latter months of the year, you should look at the lures you used last season and consider why and where they were successful.
Outdoor Updates - August 2019
- Jansen Weaver of Abbeville caught a 91.45-pound ling on June 14 while fishing with his future father-in-law out of Don’s Boat Landing.
- One coastal industry hurt by misinformation about the algae bloom has been charter fishing, but most captains say they never quit catching fish.
- Chris Hall has been on lots and lots of blue marlin trips — but none as successful as he and his crew experienced during the Louisiana Billfish Classic.
- The Coastwide Nutria Control Program (CNCP) bounty will be raised to $6, up from $5, when the program season commences Nov. 20.
- The LDWF oversees the stocking of community fishing locations throughout the state as part of the Community Fishing Program.
- The Northlake Christian School Fishing Team of Christopher Capdeboscq and Sam Acosta won the 2019 TBF/FLW High School Fishing National Championship.
- Insurance is one of the best ways to protect your trucks, boats, ATV’s, UTV’s in the event something goes wrong. But what is actually covered by insurance?
- New Iberia’s Clay Peltier has walked the two weirs along Bird Island Bayou in Marsh Island with cast net in hand for many years to catch shrimp.
- Caitlin Domingues was fishing around drilling rigs out of Don’s Boat Landing when she caught two tagged red snapper that were numbered consecutively.
- When Fuzz Fontenot went fishing in Caney Lake he hooked and reeled in a 39-pound flathead catfish using ultralight fishing gear with 6-pound test line.
Field Notes - August 2019
- During late summer, anglers often target bull redfish in tournaments or simply for fishing enjoyment. Here’s some do’s and don’ts to remember.
- With the opening of deer season approaching, hunters need to start finding the major food sources that whitetails are using.
- When bass are deep, there’s no better way to coax them into biting than dragging a big chunk of plastic on a Carolina rig past their noses.
- During the dog days of summer, Grand Isle’s Trout Master sometimes turns his attention away from chasing specks just long enough to head offshore in pursuit of different prey.
- One of the best tools a bass fisherman can have, especially during the summer when fish live largely in deep, cool, oxygenated water, are toothpicks.
- When Chas Champagne, creator of Matrix Shad, heads out in pursuit of fish, he often relies on this tried-and-true, real-time indicator of tidal movement.
- Find a ditch, a dock and an oyster bed in the same area, and you’ve got the makings of a great place to catch a late-season flounder in Louisiana.
- The details of your setup and presentation are important. Follow these tips to help you make the best of your night-fishing trips for crappie.
- Every summer, Tommy Vidrine tears himself away from catching hammer speckled trout at Grand Isle and heads offshore in pursuit of mangrove snapper.
- From late June through November catfish move around a lot due to a number of factors and one of the best ways to target mobile cats is to drift or troll.
- Capt. Tommy Pellegrin firmly believes snelling circle hooks offshore has a direct correlation to the number of fish coming over his gunnels.
Hot Spots - August 2019
- Anglers in the Cocodrie area are enjoying the best speckled trout action they've seen in years. Capt. Tommy Pellegrin says the area is teeming with fish.
- Vermilion snapper, known as beeliners, make excellent table fare and don’t tear up your gear as much as red snapper or mangrove snapper do.
- Toledo Bend has always been a really good night fishing lake. Last August was awesome and it should be great again this year.