Deer of the Year
2017-18 Deer of the year
It almost seems like yesterday that bowhunters in the Bayou State headed into the field in early fall to kick off the 2017-18 deer season in Louisiana. […]
Features
Bass Fishing
Bistineau bigmouths
“We fished this very spot,” murmured 59-year-old Rickey Lee. “I can’t remember names and faces, but I can remember where I caught a fish.”[…]
Bass Fishing
Drop by design — The ins and outs of dropshotting for bass
It’s the go-to rig for finessing finicky fish, nudging the cold-weary and lightly probing a variety of hard-cover scenarios from docks to laydowns, to bridges.[…]
Bass Fishing
Lunker mentality
Spawning activity typically cranks up across Toledo Bend this month. Use these tips to take advantage of some of the best bass fishing.[…]
Crappie/Bream
King of the ‘Hill’
On Lake D’Arbonne, February means crappie action is just about to kick in. And that means local angler Rick Hill is ready to mop up.[…]
Crappie/Bream
High five
Details on a handful of the hottest crappie-producing spots in Louisiana — and tips for you to catch some slabs.[…]
Features
Dog day afternoon (or morning)
Everything was gray.
The woods were drab, leafless and gray. The bare tree trunks and limbs were gray. The dead leaves underfoot were gray. And the sky was heavily overcast with uniformly gray clouds.[…]
Features
Cold water consistency
Buck Perry, the father of structure fishing, always advised that fish would either be shallow, deep or somewhere in-between.[…]
Features
Treed’s a crowd
The late Jerry Clower may be the only person that coon hunting ever made famous, or vice versa. The “Mouth of Mississippi” won a bushel of country comedy awards and never recorded an album or put on a performance without telling a good coon hunting story.[…]
Features
Ducking Caddo
Dawn was hauntingly beautiful.
No flamboyant sunrise color; rather a suffusion of light through the fog-veiled cypress trees. Todd Hopkins’ and Brandon Garner’s duck calls echoed off the fog as effectively as off a steel wall.[…]
Deer Hunting
Driven to distraction
Behind my house five years ago at 5 p.m., I killed a buck that I captured on camera 4 miles down the road at 2 a.m. that very same morning.[…]
Features
Air power
I had spent a good 30 minutes creeping up on three particularly vigilant cat squirrels. It was late in the season, and even though I was covered head to toe in a leafy Ghillie suit, it was slow going against the hyper-alert critters.[…]
Bass Fishing
Always bet on Black
I’ve got to admit I wasn’t expecting much.
Chad Wiley, a Bassmaster tournament pro from Pineville, asked me to meet him at Joe’s Horseshoe Lake Marina in Monterey.[…]
Crappie/Bream
Warm up to winter crappie
When baitfish go deep in colder months, crappie follow them. Try these tips from some professional guides to load up on winter slabs.[…]
Features
Little things that count — Late-season goose-hunting tactics
Shot-wise things were slow. Way too slow.
The speckle bellies were down in good numbers, but for some reason acting real finicky — just plain uppity at times.[…]
Features
Delta winter hotspots
Step outside and the chilly winter air stings your nose and ears. What do you do? You grab a jacket, gloves and maybe a neck gaiter. Pretty standard stuff, but fish have no such options. They gotta deal with whatever nature throws their way by being smart and seeking refuge in life-sustaining habitat.[…]