Freshwater Fishing
Chains help slow down drift for more crappie success
Crappie pro Mark Williams knows that working with the wind is a make-it-or-break factor for spider rigging.[…]
Sidebars
Inshore Fishing
Calcasieu Lake Carolina rigging how to
Maximizing success with Carolina rigs is all about the setup, Capt. Paul Davidson Jr. said.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Bank-fishing tactics
Capt. Tommy Pellegrin fishes different bottom relief features on top of the big Ewing Bank. He has multiple spots marked on his GPS screen, each of which he has found to be productive by previous trial and error.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Tackle talk for spider-rigging crappie
Williams said his standard spider-rigging outfit comprises a 14-foot medium-action Wally Marshall rod with a Wally Marshall spinning reel strung with 8-pound monofilament terminating in a snap swivel for quickly attaching and switching out rigs.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
You gotta have an attitude to clean a turtle
Before Dirk Matherne sits down to clean turtles, he has to dispatch them. For this, he uses a .22 pistol, placing each shot neatly through the top of the head.[…]
Offshore Fishing
All about banks
For most offshore-fishing Louisianans, the existence of hard rock banks off their coast is unknown except for the one commonly called the “Midnight Lump.”[…]
Inshore Fishing
Tippets
The Fly Division of the CCA STAR tournament is off to a great start, with a number of big fish weighed in. And while late summer is perhaps the toughest time to catch big trout on the fly, that doesn’t mean you can’t still be a winner.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Louisiana’s turtles
Louisiana has 25, maybe 26 species of turtles within its borders or along its coastline. Not all of these are targets for freshwater turtle fishermen.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Offshore bag and size limits
One of the things Tommy Pellegrin likes about fishing for his Cocodrie exotics, besides the variety, are the relatively liberal bag limits for the fish he catches.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
What’s legal as a turtle trap?
According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division, the definition of a turtle trap is quite liberal, essentially calling it any device used to catch turtles.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Rigging up for offshore bank fishing
Pellegrin’s offshore bottom rig is very simple. His reels are spooled with either 60-pound-test monofilament or 65-pound-test braided line.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
The feast
“This is plain, old pot-frying, not turtle soup like at those French Quarter tourist restaurants,” Dirk Matherne said wryly. “Of course, ours has turtles in it. I don’t know if those restaurants even have any turtle in their soup.[…]
General
Marshall’s early years
Bob Marshall grew up in what is now called “Old Metairie,” a suburb of New Orleans.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
How to make a turtle trap
Dirk Matherne’s turtle trap is simple in construction, requiring nothing more than 2-inch-by-4-inch animal wire fencing material and hog rings to hold it together.[…]
General
The making of a journalist
Bob Marshall almost became an optometrist. At a career day at his high school, a young optometrist spoke to the seniors. […]
Inshore Fishing
Spoons for any fishing situation
Jason Shilling and Gerald Roy couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me when I told them I wasn’t a big fan of fishing spoons for redfish.[…]