Sidebars
Treble hooks hold tight
Capt. Tommy Pellegrin uses slip corks because they make it so easy to cast.
He uses slip corks because they make it so easy to cast, even working over deep water.[…]
Fishing
Sidebars
Beating the barrier islands
When conditions are slick enough to allow you to work the beaches on the barrier islands, ice chests can quickly fill with solid trout throughout the summer.[…]
Crappie/Bream
How to catch your own grass shrimp
Leonard Kleinpeter stresses that a proper dip net is needed to effectively catch grass shrimp from their preferred habitat, dense beds of coontail and other aquatic plants. […]
Sidebars
How to tie a uni knot stopper
Tying a uni knot stopper is easy and quick, once you get the steps down. Here’s how you do it in five easy steps.[…]
Crappie/Bream
The man and his boat
In spite of having lived a high-powered life, Leonard Kleinpeter is living proof that effective fishing doesn’t demand investment in an expensive fiberglass bass boat.[…]
Sidebars
Why sliding corks are best
After the early morning topwater action dies out, it’s pretty much a sure bet Capt. Tommy Pellegrin will turn to live shrimp.[…]
Crappie/Bream
The plaque in the swamp
Bass, crappie and bream fishermen who frequent the canals of Crackerhead can’t help but to have seen a solid brass plaque mounted on one of a pair of modest-sized cypress trees standing in the water off a canal bank.[…]
Sidebars
The bay is all about structure
If conditions rule out fishing the beaches — or if the bite just isn’t on — plenty of action awaits in Timbalier Bay.[…]
Inshore Fishing
This is brute fishing
“This isn’t finesse fishing,” chuckled Jeb loudly. “We want to get them in.”[…]
Crappie/Bream
Tip of the day
He smelled so good I wanted to lick him.
Leonard Kleinpeter has just sprayed himself with bug repellant, but not the stinky stuff in a can.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Back in the day
Jeb and Tina Ard weren’t always catch-and-release, fish-for-fun anglers. Early in their marriage, the couple, both 43, fished for food. Especially for Jeb, fishing meant eating.[…]
Bass Fishing
Tips for Blind River summertime bass
• Look for places that bass go to eat. That’s where they congregate. Focus on sloughs and points without ruling out bank fishing.[…]
Bass Fishing
Johnson’s Blind River bait calendar
Topwater frogs and Texas-rigged craws are “in season” on Blind River for Lyle Johnson from March to November. But he is quick to admit that the Texas craw is his mainstay lure. The clear water coming out of the sloughs draining into the river is what prompted his heavy use of the frog the day we fished.[…]
Bass Fishing
Don’t cook a record fish
“Get in the books.” That’s Lyle Johnson’s message to his fellow fishermen.
As chairman of the state’s Fish Records Program, he encourages people to enter their fish, even if it isn’t a No. 1.[…]
Bass Fishing
A ‘consumptive conservationist’
Lyle Johnson wears a lot of hats.
The Gonzales native is the long-serving president of the Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association (LOWA), the state’s professional organization for outdoors writers and communicators.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Tippets
Early July should be great surf fishing for speckled trout. Try poppers starting at first light. An hour after the sun rises, switch to Clouser Minnows or other baitfish patterns. An intermediate or sink tip line will help get the fly down in the trough areas where the larger trout are feeding.[…]