Louisiana Sportsman

Never pass wood in Blind River without casting to it.

Tips for Blind River summertime bass

July 15, 2018 Jerald Horst

• Look for places that bass go to eat. That’s where they congregate. Focus on sloughs and points without ruling out bank fishing.[…]

When Bobby Phillips gears up for Ouachita River crappie, you can bet these lures will be on deck.

Geared up and ready to go

July 15, 2018 Kinny Haddox

With tackle stores full of a thousand sizes, shapes, styles and colors of crappie jigs and fishing equipment, you could spend days or weeks just trying to figure out what to fish with. Or you could just let Bobby Phillips tell you his favorite go-to gear, and copy this veteran guide’s success.[…]

Overall, a Texas-rigged Strike King Rage Tail Rage Craw is Johnson’s go-to lure on Blind River.

Johnson’s Blind River bait calendar

July 15, 2018 Jerald Horst

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.[…]

Bobby Phillips cruises the river system, searching for tops that might hold crappie.

The Ouachita’s long and winding path

July 15, 2018 Kinny Haddox

There are more than 90 miles of Ouachita River between the Arkansas line and the Columbia Lock and Dam in Northeast Louisiana. The river lakes, bayous and cuts off the river are too numerous to mention. But the nice thing is that good access is available up and down the river, and prime fishing isn’t far away. […]

Lyle Johnson serves both as president of the Louisiana Outdoor Writer’s Association and chairman of the Louisiana Fish Records Program.

Don’t cook a record fish

July 15, 2018 Jerald Horst

“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.[…]

Keeping your distance from a top and fishing it from the outside in helps you catch more crappie.

What’s a “top”?

July 15, 2018 Kinny Haddox

A top is simply a submerged brush top, the top of a bush or tree or a fallen tree with lots of submerged limbs. Tops sometimes lay where they fall, and other times current washes them onto sandbars or into river lakes.[…]

Lyle Johnson devotes a lot of time he could be fishing to maintaining the Louisiana Fish Records Program.

A ‘consumptive conservationist’

July 15, 2018 Jerald Horst

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.[…]

Grass shrimp are tiny but lethal baits. Virtually every fish species eats them. The larger shrimp is a female bearing eggs on the swimmerets beneath her tail.

How to catch your own grass shrimp

July 15, 2018 Jerald Horst

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. […]

Sloughs leading into both Blind River and Alligator Bayou are dependably productive spots.

Blind River: Pros and cons

July 15, 2018 Jerald Horst

Blind River is one of Southeast Louisiana’s secret spots. Located between the major population centers of urban and suburban New Orleans and Baton Rouge, it may be accessed from U.S. Highway 61, which parallels Interstate Highway 10.[…]

Leonard Kleinpeter keeps one hand on the trolling motor to position his boat carefully to avoid spooking the fish, while fishing with the other hand. Note the homemade pedestal seat mount.

The man and his boat

July 15, 2018 Jerald Horst

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.[…]

Jeb’s terminal rig is built around a lot of weight, a 2-ounce pyramid sinker, plus a ¼-ounce jighead.

This is brute fishing

July 15, 2018 Jerald Horst

“This isn’t finesse fishing,” chuckled Jeb loudly. “We want to get them in.”[…]

Leonard Kleinpeter mounted this brass plaque in Crackerhead to commemorate a long bream fishing friendship.

The plaque in the swamp

July 15, 2018 Jerald Horst

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.[…]

Back in the day

July 15, 2018 Jerald Horst

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.[…]

Leonard Kleinpeter applies vanilla extract from a pump spray bottle to keep gnats at bay.

Tip of the day

July 15, 2018 Jerald Horst

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.[…]

Stay mobile for maximum trout action

July 15, 2018 David A. Brown

If the notion of “shooting fish in a barrel” appeals to you, summer trout fishing probably won’t be your cup of tea. Sure, you may find a pile of fish, but finding implies looking — and this time of year often requires a lot of that.[…]

Kayak anglers can rent mini-sheds at PAC Kayak Rentals and keep their boats on site, eliminating the need to transport ‘yaks for each trip. It’s proven a popular option, and additional sheds are currently being built.

PAC Kayak Rentals Revisited

July 15, 2018 Chris Holmes

It was a little over two years ago when we reported on Louisiana’s first and only kayak-specific marina. When Eddie and Lisa Mullen opened Pointe-aux-Chenes (PAC) Kayak Rentals, it was something special. It’s even better now. They wanted to make a place that was specifically designed for the needs of kayak anglers.[…]