Clear river loaded with fish

March 20, 2023 Todd Masson Field Reports, Newsletters

Nearly every year, in the spring and the fall, nearby rivers fall to low levels, reducing turbidity and concentrating fish, and Joe Lavigne is always among the first to know when the rivers are right.

A lifetime resident of Louisiana’s Tangipahoa Parish, he has made more casts on local rivers than a retired Montana flyfisherman on the Bitterroot. Whenever Mother Nature has sewn up the skies for a couple weeks, Lavigne entreats his accommodating wife to tote him, and buddy and a short, light aluminum skiff upstream for a day’s worth of bumping into logs and reeling in furious spotted bass.

A couple times a year, I am that buddy, and I was this week. Check out the video for all the details!