Louisiana Sportsman

January 23, 2025

Drake Morvant was able to catch this 18-inch speckled trout using live shrimp on a drop-shot rig.

How to “fix” the speckled trout game in your favor

May 24, 2024 Keith Lusher Jr.

While rigs exist to produce fuel, for Drake Morvant of Victory Bay Charters, these platforms exist to point him to the speckled trout.[…]

The author with a good ship channel speck he caught.

Lake Charles is true “City Limits” speckled trout mecca

May 24, 2024 John Flores

Lake Charles fishing for speckled trout and redfish is very accessible and so are things to do after a day on the water.[…]

Launching a kayak from Highway 1 is a good way to access the area’s incredible fishing. (Picture by Terry L. Jones)

Bayou Lafourche

May 22, 2024 Terry L. Jones

The only way to drive to Grand Isle is by way of Highway 1, and it allows fishermen to access the area’s bountiful waters.[…]

Baylor Allen is pictured throwing a cast net. (Pictube by Ricky Aucoin)

The art of throwing a cast net

May 19, 2024 Ricky Aucoin

Throwing a cast net can be very beneficial to a fisherman for a multitude of reasons, including the savings from not having to buy bait[…]

Cast nets are great for catching your own live bait. They can easily be learned to throw from land or docks. However, if using in a kayak or wading, it takes a bit more practice to get proficient, but it can be done.

Shrimp are what’s for dinner

May 6, 2024 Chris Holmes

Kayak fishing provides some challenges for anglers wanting to keep a healthy supply of shrimp or other live bait along for the day’s trip.[…]

“Burrs under the saddle” make the ride in outdoor Louisiana a little prickly

May 2, 2024 Joe Macaluso

Erosion, subsidence and degradation of the lands built by thousands of spring floodwaters depositing sediment across our coast.[…]

The Louisiana inshore waters have a high carrying capacity and can sustainably hold many more redfish and trout than are currently living here.

Enhanced fisheries

April 19, 2024 Jon Miller

While it could be a difficult endeavor, Louisiana stock enhancement through hatchery programs should be given serious consideration.[…]

Cole McCarty with Sea Mac’s Charters in Grand Isle, La. shows off a speckled trout he caught while fishing at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo by John N. Felsher)

Spawning speckled trout

April 19, 2024 John N. Felsher

Hopefully new regulations will keep more spawning trout in Louisiana waters so these highly prolific fish will continue to delight anglers.[…]

Berkley PowerBait Power Swimmer

April 14, 2024 Brian Cope

Available in a range of sizes from 2 inches up to 4.3 inches, the Berkley PowerBait Power Swimmer is effective on multiple species of fish.[…]

Big bull reds like these caught by Brooke and Sam Allen will usually go for a big chunk of cut mullet or half a crab.

Spring redfish basics

April 11, 2024 Ricky Aucoin

April is a great time to get out to your favorite waterway and catch redfish. Live shrimp are one of the best baits to use.[…]

Ken Chaumont, owner of Egret Baits, smiles as he gets his hands on a nice redfish. Chaumont is proud of the fish-catching ability of the HOT Mullet.

Vudu’s HOT Mullet

April 7, 2024 Don Shoopman

Vudu’s HOT Mullet is the perfect imitation of a small finger mullet, a sought-after food source along any coast for inshore fish.[…]

Tanya Jinks had her hands full with this big trout she hooked and boated in West Cove on the west side of Calcasieu Lake while fishing with Hackberry Rod & Gun.

West Cove is where the specks stack up

April 5, 2024 Don Shoopman

Kirk Stansel of Hackberry Rod and Gun knows the potential this time of year for West Cove. It’s a gold mine for speckled trout.[…]

Capt. Ryan Vincent caught this 16-pound redfish off a rock point in Bayou Pirogue, fished off the bottom with dead shrimp on a 3/8-ounce jighead.

Lafitte fishing heats up

April 4, 2024 Rusty Tardo

According to Capt. Ryan Vincent of Reel Cajun Fishing, fishing action picks up in April and just gets better after that in Lafitte.[…]

Coastal fishermen can color the month red

April 1, 2024 Joe Macaluso

Louisiana has settled in on a redfish management plan that might check at least most of the boxes in a strategy to restore this species.[…]

Wade on in to catch big Calcasieu specks

March 22, 2024 Christopher Harp

Capt. Bruce Baugh is a local legend in Southwest Louisiana when it comes to wade fishing for the largest of Calcasieu Lake’s speckled trout.[…]

The big trout bite

March 22, 2024 Jon Miller

The new Louisiana regulations for speckled trout, which preserves more of the 3 year olds, will give our fishery a size boost.[…]