Contents
Cover: April 2018
After a brutal winter, trout anglers across the coast are looking forward to the start of the speck spawn this spring — and the hard-hitting action yellow mouths are famous for.[…]
Fishing
Bass Fishing
Post-spawn particulars
Caleb Sumrall and Marcus Curry left the launch full of confidence. After a winter that saw horrifically cold temperatures, the water in the Atchafalaya Basin was hitting the 70s.[…]
Catfish
Des Allemands fat cats
It was a massacre.
Fish blood, poop, and slime covered the deck of the boat and the interior of the ice chest.[…]
Columns
Gaspergou are everywhere
As common as gaspergou are in Louisiana and the United States, few people realize how unique this freshwater species really is. Virtually any waters that connect with the Mississippi, Pearl and Mobile river systems and all the Great Lakes except Lake Superior are home to the species — 27 states.[…]
Bass Fishing
Toledo Bend Spawn: Phase 3
To everything (turn, turn, turn).
There is a season (turn, turn, turn),
And a time to every purpose, under heaven.[…]
Features
Top 3 trout hotspots
This winter has been miserable, with frigid temperatures putting speckled trout all along the coast into lethargic moods.[…]
Bass Fishing
Gators, birds and bass
Lake Martin is for the birds.
Or so some say — mostly folks with expensive binoculars and life lists of birds they have spotted. […]
Features
Common trout mistakes to avoid
We all live for the days when you leave the launch and birds are diving everywhere — and trout seem to fly over the gunnel right into the ice chest.[…]
Crappie/Bream
Last call for crappie
Stuart Baum loves turning the last calendar page from March to April.[…]
Field Notes
4 keys to topwater trout
Capt. Theophile Bourgeois has spent his career learning what makes trout tick, and he lives for that magical time of year when the big girls come out to play.[…]
Fishing Hotspots
Head east for Buras trout
The high Mississippi River began sending tons of sediment out into the waters surrounding Buras in March — particularly on the west side, where trout will move to Grand Isle and Barataria Bay.[…]
Fishing Hotspots
Big trout moving into Lafitte again this year
Laffite isn’t generally known for lunker trout, but Capt. Theophile Bourgeois said last spring began with some 3- to 5-pounders making their way up the system.[…]
Crappie/Bream
Move with the fish for D’Arbonne crappie
Earlier in the year, crappie on Lake D’Arbonne moved from the 30-foot channels to the 12- to 15-foot flats, then into the shallows to spawn. To catch fish after the spawn, you just need to follow the fish right back out.[…]
Fishing
Daiwa LT spinning reels
Daiwa has introduced a full line of spinning reels designed to meet every angler’s needs and budget.[…]
Fishing
Z-Man SnakelockZ
The new Z-Man SnakelockZ jighead perfectly marries the inshore and freshwater fishing worlds, offering what amounts to a freely swinging bullet weight on a heavy offshoot hook that increases lure action and hook-up ratio.[…]
Field Notes
Inshore insights: Knowing where water moves first
It’s common knowledge that specks use moving water to their advantage: They’ll lay in ambush just out of the current, and wait for bait to pass before lunging out and striking. […]