Inshore Fishing
Get straight to the point with snelled hooks
After breaking off a live croaker on a mangrove snapper that tied me up in a rig, Capt. Craig Matherne saw me tying on a new hook.[…]
Fishing
Contents
Cranked! Tips for catching summertime marsh bass
“So uhhh — Dad. Why do we have to leave again?” my son Jason asked, while he was setting his crankbait with a solid jerk into another little marsh bass.[…]
Contents
Island Invitation: Head to the Chandeleur Islands for great redfish, trout action
It was the eve of Feb. 1 in the year 1700 — a day long celebrated by Europeans as “Candlemas,” a day when their religious clergy blessed the candles that would be used in their religious services for the remainder of the year.
On the eve of that holy day, French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville dropped anchor alongside a long chain of uninhabited islands off the border of the Louisiana/Mississippi coast and christened them Les Iles de Chandeleur (Translated in English a “The Chandeleur Islands”) in honor of the event.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Best baits for marsh bass
Marsh bass feed heavily on invertebrates. So anglers should fish trenasses that drain marsh ponds, small bayous that drain into large bayous right at the mouth, pipelines and ditches with water flowing to take advantage of prime ambush areas.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Chandeleur Island lighthouses that once were
History buffs might be interested to know that three lighthouses once stood on Chandeleur Island, and prior to 1915 there was farming on the island and a fishing settlement.[…]
Contents
Cover: August 2012
It’s time to start thinking about the upcoming deer season. Also, Capt. Scott Avanzino knows the beaches are full of trout this month.[…]
Contents
Goin’ Downstairs: Tips for catching summertime fish deep in the MRGO
The trip looked doomed. It always happens this way. The prospects for the morning’s fishing trip always decrease in direct ratio to the number of wine corks popped and trips to the keg. When Doc cranks up “Shattered” by the Rolling Stones, the plans are seriously tail-spinning.[…]
Columns
Red Snapper:
Writing about red snapper biology isn’t a lot of fun. In fact, it’s downright depressing. The 40-day recreational season ended in July.[…]
Bass Fishing
It’s always football season
Much more than a chunky, lumbering bottom bumper, the football jig offers a diverse tool for probing deeper spots — especially those with lots of hard stuff on the bottom.[…]
Cobia
Don’t love hardheads? Cobia do!
Most Louisiana saltwater anglers hold hardhead catfish in contempt, but tough cobia love gulping down the spiked fish.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Old Gulf of Mexico oil rigs drive economic growth
In additional to the repercussions to the fish habitats and those who love to fish around the rigs, there is also a very big economic impact at stake.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Coalition grows to oppose Idle Rigs policy
In early June, a coalition of recreational-fishing organizations requested a moratorium on the government’s stated plan to quickly dismantle more than 650 oil rigs.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Reality of rig removals seem to belie official stance
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said rig removal has not been, as suggested, recently ramped up as a knee-jerk response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster; however, many of those who have been making frequent trips out in the Gulf see it differently.[…]
News Breaker
Rig removals killing offshore habitat
Earlier this year, one of spearfisherman Terry “Papa Smurf” Migaud’s favorite oil platforms was removed. It was the Main Pass 305 platform, which Migaud said hosted “wall to wall” grouper in the winter, and large schools of amberjacks and snapper in the summer — along with a large variety of tropical fish.[…]
NEW PRODUCTS
Max Bait Trays keep trolling baits cool but not soggy
Danny Sykes was tired of having soggy baits, but he needed to rig his offshore trolling baits the night before to be ready for hot action when he went fishing off the North Carolina coast.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Black Bay, Delacroix marshes heat up
Running to Black Bay from Delacroix and working your way back through the marsh to Orange Bayou is your best bet for a fat, mixed bag of inshore species.[…]