Features from October 2021
- The Attakapas Island Wildlife Management Area is great spot for hunters during archery season for deer in Louisiana.
- One place bass will gang up in October to fill their bellies are underwater humps. Here’s how one angler attacks them.
- Redfish now preside over Jean Lafitte’s old stomping grounds in the Barataria estuary. Here’s how to put them in your treasure chest.
- Wet weather during warm season points to an excellent year for deer and possibly an early peak of breeding throughout Louisiana.
- Biologists think it will be a good season for squirrels and rabbits on public-hunting areas across Louisiana. Here’s where to find them.
- Nearshore, inshore oil and gas rigs along Louisiana coast provide speckled trout with places to fatten up around productive structure.
Columns - October 2021
- A soft-plastic shrimp fished under a cork is the best thing you can offer a speckled trout on the Gulf Coast in October.
- Cobia are pelagic, living most of their lives offshore, but they enter estuaries occasionally. And they will eat just about anything.
- Cotton Cordell’s tail-weighted Boy Howdy, a discontinued topwater bait that was dusted off and redesigned and reintroduced last year.
Outdoor Updates - October 2021
- Jock Smith of Lacombe has been catching fish from a personal watercraft for 3 years. He shares the pros and cons of fishing from a jet ski.
- Maria Ellis, 35, of Baldwin killed an 11 ½-foot alligator with one of the tags she won for the Sherburne WMA lottery hunt.
- As Louisiana’s early teal season wrapped up, hunters in the southwest saw a productive season, while southeast hunters had spotty success.
- Deer hunters and state taxidermists will be entered into a contest when they submit a sample from a buck harvested in the 2021-22 season.
- A big fish kill at Lake Salvador, Bayou Gauche is occurring due to effects from Hurricane Ida earlier this month.
- The LDWF continues efforts to rescue oiled birds at the site of an oil spill near Alliance Refinery at Belle Chasse.
- The 2022 Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour is opening with a six-day event on three small north Louisiana Lakes.
- Due to the impacts of Hurricane Ida, the MDMR is allowing Louisiana charter captains to launch from Mississippi ports through Dec. 31, 2021.
- Donald Gilbert caught a bull red with a rope tied around its neck in Vermilion Bay near the mouth of Boston Canal on Aug. 21.
- Ten-year-old Landon Smith with the 12.05-pound largemouth bass he caught from a private pond near Atlanta, La., on July 18, 2021.
- Dr. Grant McCall caught a 6-foot-6 alligator gar while fishing on the Mississippi River near Mardi Gras Pass on Aug. 22.
- Michael Woods of Many caught a 11.15-pound Toledo Bend lunker and entered it into the Toledo Bend Lake Association Lunker Bass Program.
Hot Spots - October 2021
- Tons of white shrimp in bays east of the Mississippi River, south of Delacroix, should attract redfish and speckled trout.
- Long-time guide Paul Keith said bigger bass are keying on shad that have grown to full size in October at Caddo Lake.
- North Louisiana’s Lake Bistineau is a fantastic location for October bass fishing. Concentrate on the channels during fall drawdown.
- Anglers can take advantage of changing October weather putting speckled trout and redfish on feeding binge at Calcasieu Lake.
- Egrets, gulls can lead anglers to great fishing on Sabine Lake and Big Lake. The birds can lead you to shrimp and gamefish.
- Falling water temperatures in October can bring out the best in feeding Toledo Bend largemouth bass for anglers.
Field Notes - October 2021
- High school angler Jase White of Haughton has an appetite for snacks that is matched only by his appetite for catching bass.
- Pumpkin spice starts showing up everywhere when fall arrives. Even crappie will savor a little pumpkin spice on their dinner tables.
- It’s time to polish off the remaining meat from last year’s harvest. Nothing pairs better with backstrap than chanterelle mushrooms.