Louisiana Sportsman

Big Year contests level the playing field among anglers, giving young Will Cameron a shot at beating veteran anglers in his club.

It’s a big year

August 10, 2018 Catch Cormier

Several years ago, I went to see the movie “The Big Year” starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. While it was enjoyable, I also found it somewhat educational.[…]

Understanding how water moves through the marsh — and the ‘traffic system’ fish use to travel — will help you locate more honey holes and make you a better angler.

Understanding how water flows through the marsh

August 9, 2018 Devin Denman

It’s easy to look upon Louisiana’s prairie marsh and only see a bunch of grass and water.[…]

Lure profile – not just color – an important factor to consider

August 9, 2018 Devin Denman

In addition to color, the profile of your lure will also determine its effectiveness depending on what forage predators are feeding on.[…]

Capt. Nick, Kimmie and Cooper Poe are all smiles after boating a big tripletail. Jeff Poe, Nick’s father, advised anglers fishing anywhere from the beach to the near-offshore rigs to target any trash floating on the water because it could be a tripletail

With speckled trout fishing success up and down this year in Calcasieu Lake, particularly during a summer plagued by high west winds, it’s time to point the bow of the boat to the beach from Johnson Bayou to Holly Beach.[…]

Capt. Hook poses with some Breton Sound hammers at the dock.

Stay on the move to find Hopedale trout

August 8, 2018 Rusty Tardo

Hot. Sizzling, searing, scorching, broiling, roasting — all describe our summer weather, and the trout don’t seem to like it any more than we do. Perhaps it’s why they pulled a disappearing act in June and have had anglers scratching their heads ever since.[…]

Devin Denman and some fishing buddies tagged and released lots of speckled trout along the MRGO rocks earlier this spring, and he’s already received several recapture reports on some of the fish.

Tracking trout movement at the MRGO

August 7, 2018 Devin Denman

Back in May, me and some of my closest fishing buddies targeted speckled trout to be tagged and released at the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) Long Rocks. […]

Get an early start, keep an eye on the radar and take advantage of the falling tide for Lake Borgne trout this month.

Beat the heat for August specks

August 7, 2018 Joel Masson

Fishing is all about stacking as many odds in your favor as possible, and something you should certainly put in your favor this month is leaving the dock early. Not only do you beat the heat, but you also get a much better speckled trout bite, according to Slidell guide Capt. Matt McCabe.[…]

GPS waypoints: Delacroix to Point A La Hache

August 7, 2018 Captain Paul Titus

This area is actually where Capt. Paul’s Fishing Edge got started. The interest generated from this location allowed me to start marketing waypoints for 21 different areas, including Barataria Bay, Lake Borgne, Hopedale to Bayou Terre Boeufs, Bayou Bienvenue, Port Sulphur, Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne and many more.[…]

Redfish are thick in the Buras marsh right now. Just be certain you're putting your baits right up on the bank.

Redfish swarming the banks of Buras marsh

August 6, 2018 Andy Crawford

Fishing in Buras right now is a one-horse show — but you’ll go home with tired arms and plenty of meat for the table.[…]

Marsh Man Masson vid: Which soft-plastic is best for speckled trout?

August 6, 2018 Todd Masson

There are more varieties of soft-plastic paddletail lures on the market than boats, outboards and trolling motors put together. Each manufacturer constantly develops new colors and styles in hopes of catching anglers’ attention as they side-step down the aisles of their local tackle shops. But do these lures actually catch fish?[…]

So what’s a sunperch?

August 4, 2018 Jerald Horst

Louisiana’s bream fishermen have a pile of fish to choose from. Tops on the list are bluegills and redear sunfish (also called lake runners or chinquapin). And fat-bellied goggle-eyes are always in the mix somewhere. In a lot of places, you can throw in some green sunfish (slick perch) or red-spotted sunfish (stumpknockers). […]

Big Lake trout fishing has been off and on this summer, but there are plenty of redfish to keep your rod doubled.

Big Lake fishing is ‘best of the season’ right now

August 3, 2018 Andy Crawford

Farmers might be bemoaning a lack of rain in Southwest Louisiana, but Capt. Erik Rue sure isn’t complaining. That’s because low rainfall levels have allowed salinity in his home waters to soar.[…]

Wes Rollo (left) and Hunter Owens of Natchitoches Central High School took the lead on the first day of the 2018 Bassmaster High School National Championship on Kentucky Lake with 19 pounds, 11 ounces.

Natchitoches High leads after Day 1 at Bassmaster High School National Championship

August 3, 2018 From Bassmaster.com

Cutting short their fishing time proved beneficial to Natchitoches Central High School anglers Hunter Owens and Wes Rollo during Thursday’s opening round of the Bassmaster High School Series National Championship at Kentucky Lake in Tennessee. […]

Landings estimates from LA Creel indicate about 70 percent of the state's recreational allocation of red snapper have been caught so far. leaving about 213,000 pounds remaining before the season is closed.

LDWF: Red snapper harvest now at 530,300 pounds

August 2, 2018 From News Reports

Through July 22, Louisiana’s recreational anglers have harvested slightly more than 530,000 pounds of red snapper — or 71 percent of the state’s annual private recreational allocation of 743,000 pounds.[…]

A violet goby is a speckled trout favorite, and just might be the reason we have purple-colored lures. Keeping a close eye on what a trout throws up when you reel it in can give important clues on what it’s eating that day — and might ultimately help you

Inshore Insights: Mystery baitfish revealed

August 2, 2018 Devin Denman

We were fishing Delacroix when a speckled trout coughed up this weird thing shown in the picture above. Read on to learn what exactly it is — and why it’s important to you as an inshore angler.[…]

Despite the Delta’s abundance of redfish, Capt. Ryan Lambert still enjoys tugging on largemouth bass.

Busting Delta marsh bass

August 1, 2018 David A. Brown

With morning glories blooming across the canal, Capt. Cody Obiol was pushing away from the dock as I waited for his boss, Capt. Ryan Lambert to launch his Skeeter bay boat. Obiol was after bull reds that morning, but he knew my mission involved something much different, so his gracious salutation stoked my optimism.[…]