Features from March 2021
Planer boards allow fishermen to slow-troll their baits and lures in extremely shallow water as prespawn crappie move toward the bank.
Twitchbaits, jerkbaits and stickbaits belong in the tackle boxes of speckled trout fishermen. Here’s how to choose and use them.
On a late-winter or early spring day, bass will flock to the warmest water around, and that’s often next to sun-soaked wooden cover.
A single, isolated piece of cover will often be a spot where a big, prespawn or post-spawn bass is hanging out.
Don’t put up your trail cameras after deer season ends. They can be valuable tools for preseason turkey scouting.
A swim jig is the perfect lure for bass when it seems like nothing else is working, and it doesn’t take a pro to tie one on and catch fish.
Columns - March 2021
- Before turkeys go on the nest, one of the best ways to track gobblers is to keep tabs on the hens beforehand.
- Coastal kayak anglers have a relatively new, green target: largemouth bass, aka green trout can be caught alongside redfish and trout.
- Bass pro Mark Daniels set out to design a square-bill crankbait. The Bill Lewis MDJ Series SB-57 is the result.
- Blue catfish are highly adaptable and live in almost any type of freshwater; lakes, ponds, creeks, swamps or rivers.
Outdoor Updates - March 2021
- Todd Couvillion of Darrow killed a rare leucistic green-winged teal on a late-January morning in an Avoyelles Parish rice field.
- On Jan. 30, four lunker bass over 10 pounds were brought to the scales at Caney Lake, including a 12.40-pound largemouth caught by Ben Raley.
- James Morgan of Rocky Branch hooked a 3.22-pound black crappie in some thick brush on Jan. 23 at Bussey Brake WMA.
- Anthony Griffith caught a 3.60 pound Bussey Brake white crappie on Jan. 30, that will be the No. 2 white crappie ever caught in Louisiana.
- Joshua Whitt shows off the 11.06-pound bass he caught while fishing a Jan. 1 tournament on Caddo Lake.
- Kim Greer of Calhoun killed a 240-pound, 11-point trophy buck while at her hunting club in Madison Parish on Jan. 16.
- Nikki Gaspard killed an 11-point Bienville Parish buck that always had five does accompanying him on Jan. 23.
- An avid bowhunter, Joey Woodard of Rosepine took this big Natchitoches Parish 8-point buck with his bow on Jan. 22.
- Hunter Bordelon killed a 12-point Avoyelles Parish brute on the same box stand that he took another trophy fifteen years earlier.
Hot Spots - March 2021
- Bass anglers are preparing for a magical time of year on Toledo Bend — the spawn — depending on the pool stage in late February and March.
- According to Shane Johnson of New Iberia, speckled trout may be finicky around Marsh Island in March, but redfish aren’t.
- Reggie Legendre catches big trout in Golden Meadow off the bank and in his small eight-foot Pelican boat this time of year all along Hwy. 1.
- The past three years in March, Capt. Kris Robert of One Last Cast Charters has found very good speckled trout action in Lake Catherine.
- Redfish and largemouth bass co-exist in Sabine National Wildlife Refuge marshes, and the fishermen love it.
- Look for March crappie at mouths of canals, small bayous along Tchefuncte River. Slab-sized sac-a-lait spread out throughout the month.
Field Notes - March 2021
- Southeastern Louisiana University bass-fishing stars Dawson Andrews and Wyatt Ensminger plan to head to the professional ranks.
- Bass pro Cliff Crochet uses the Spike, a soft-plastic, stickbait-style worm, year-round, but especially during the prespawn and spawn.
- Terry Smith said his arsenal of speckled trout baits is fairly limited; he sticks with baits that have fooled fish in the past.
- Threading a minnow on a jighead behind a soft-plastic bait gives your crappie offering increased bulk and some flavor.
- Brent Taylor knows t’s a good time to start targeting speckled trout and redfish around Bayou Bienvenue, Shell Beach and Hopedale.
- Kinny Haddox scaled, cleaned and removed all the inedible parts from two 16-inch crappie and decided to cook them whole.
