Hunting
Don’t get lost on the water
It’s easy to get turned around while floating on creeks and sloughs in flooded timber because the channel can be difficult to see.[…]
Sidebars
Hunting
Expert survival tips
Lt. Lane Kincaid of the Wildlife & Fisheries offered these pointers to help keep Louisiana sportsmen safe:[…]
Deer Hunting
How the deer rut forecast is made
This forecast is based upon camera survey work that has always found major scraping to begin sometime between the new and full moons.[…]
Deer Hunting
Brain abscesses in deer
There has been quite a bit of research in the Southeast on the issue of brain abscesses, and researchers are finding that more bucks die because of this natural mortality than from hunting in some areas having a good adult buck component in the population.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Best gear
If you want to hear the cry “striper on” often, here’s the gear Captain D recommends.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Four seasons of Claiborne stripers
Persistent fishermen can catch striped bass on Lake Claiborne pretty much all year long. The four seasons of Claiborne stripers vary a little bit from traditional “seasons,” as Donny Hood outlined below.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Action and appetizers to catch more amberjack
An interested amberjack needs no coaxing. If they see it, they’ll eat it.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Eat, sleep, fish
Whoever came up with the “Eat, Sleep, Fish” T-shirt must have been from Louisiana. That’s because usually everywhere you find good fishing, good food can’t be far away.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Amberjack’s family tree
Dark-brown backs, white bellies, a faint golden stripe running nose to tail and a distinctive dark line that reaches from the eye to the anterior (front) dorsal fin are some of the defining marks of a greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili).[…]
Freshwater Fishing
History of Claiborne stripers
Lake Claiborne was completed in 1967. Even before that time, Hood’s father had property on the lake, and the two of them have actually walked all the way across what he calls the Little Lake area of Claiborne, which is the large open area north of the Big Lake but still south of the two large arms that extend far to the north of the spillway almost all the way to downtown Homer in Claiborne Parish.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Best amberjack fishing gear
Capt. Hunter Caballero’s amberjack gear is no joke: stout, 7 ½-foot rods with Penn 30-wide reels carrying 200-pound braided line.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Tippets
Ask any veteran fly angler and they’ll tell you that August is perhaps the toughest month of the year for fly fishing in Louisiana — with three very notable exceptions.[…]
Bass Fishing
Fishing deep-diving crankbaits for redfish
In some parts of the country, redfish are called “channel bass.” Reds and largemouth bass hail from different fish families, of course, but these two species share more than a common nomenclature — they share an interest in crankbaits.[…]
Bass Fishing
Hide-n-seek for crankbait bass
Deep water alone offers no promise of bass. Opportunity level, however, increases with the presence of fish-friendly features like ledges, humps, deep stumps, etc.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Where to go on Black Bayou Reservoir
Black Bayou Reservoir (not to be confused with Black Bayou Lake near Monroe) is a 600-acre body of water located eight miles north of Bossier City near the town of Benton.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Tackle for Black Bayou black crappie
Weldon’s Black Bayou setup is four 12-foot Outlaw crappie poles with 12-pound high visibility Stren gold monofilament line.[…]