Louisiana’s outdoor scene certainly wasn’t lacking in newsworthy stories throughout the past year. It seemed like a month didn’t go by without something of great interest to hunters and fishermen taking place — some good news, some bad news and some just plain interesting.
So we researched the archives of LouisianaSportsman.com and came up with the 5 best-read news stories of the year.
1. Anglers fishing off Mississippi Delta land Gulf’s largest blue marlin
By John N. Felsher
On Oct. 19, 2023, the Best Trait, captained by Chris Mowad, fished the Blind Faith rig, located about 60 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River. The immense rig, the deepest operated by Chevron, sits in about 7,000 feet of water in Mississippi Canyon blocks 695 and 696 in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig stands 29 stories tall, including the massive structure underwater. A “block” covers one degree in latitude by two degrees of longitude or about 5,000 to 5,760 acres. It is located about 160 miles southeast of New Orleans.
Sitting in the hot seat that day, Scott “Scooter” Anderson, Jr. of Houston, Texas, fought a giant blue marlin in a duel to the death. The enormous blue weighed 1,145.60 pounds. It stretched 175 inches, or 14.58 feet, from the tip of its bill to its tail. Without the bill, the behemoth measured 145 inches long or just over 12 feet with an 84-inch, or 7-foot girth.
“All the credit goes to Captain Chris,” Anderson said modestly. “He marked it on the sonar and told us when to drop the baits. This is really Chris’s story. It’s a team effort to catch a fish like this. I’m more happy for Captain Chris. A captain dreams of catching a fish like this. I was just lucky enough that it ate my live bait.”
The crew also included Tyler Robinson, Travis Bashaw, Addison Gilly and Joseph Glover. Glover, from Prairieville, La., usually serves as a mate on another deep-sea boat. Scott Crump of Jasper, Ala. owns the Best Trait, a 55-foot Viking sportfisher.
Read the full story here.
2. Soileau expedition harvests massive Sicily Island alligator
By Nick Vaccaro
They say that you have to take big risks if you want big rewards. Hunter Soileau learned this firsthand when he and Jered Cizek landed a 13’9” long alligator from the murky waters near Sicily Island last week. Not initially realizing the size of their catch, the two would quickly learn how big of a situation they were in when the alligator began to thrash and roll, revealing its enormous girth and might.
As the head guide and operations manager of Full Strap and Stringer Outfitter and Guide Service LLC (fullstrapandstringer.com), Soileau started his day with Cizek and three customers from Arkansas. Having two tags available for alligator hunts, Soileau previously baited and set two lines. The crew loaded up in Soileau’s 1848 aluminum boat and arrived at the first line to find it cut. Moving to the next hook, Soileau found himself perplexed that his line had been severed.
Maranda Swain of Arkansas was one of the three lucky customers aboard Soileau’s boat that day and is credited with making the kill shot. From catch to kill, Soileau counted almost a two-hour struggle after getting the creature into the boat.
Read the full story here.
3. Reeves’ Bussey slab takes No. 2 spot in record book
By Kinny Haddox
Jeremie Reeves of Gilbert has only been to Bussey Brake Reservoir north of Bastrop one time for about 45 minutes and he’s seen three crappie on his forward-facing sonar. The first was about a pound and he caught it. The second was about a pound and a half and he caught it. The third was, as he says, “Whoa, that’s the one I’m looking for.”
It was a 3.76 pound white crappie sitting by a stump in about 10 feet of water and yes, he caught it, too. It was weighed on certified scales and was witnessed by an LDWF biologist and it is the second-biggest white crappie ever caught in the state.
“I’ve been catching some huge crappie in a lake up in Arkansas and I was headed there,” he said of his Feb. 18 trip. “But a friend told me I should go to Bussey and I decided to try it. It was my first trip there and I decided I was going to look for some 10 foot water where the fish might be staging pre-spawn. It didn’t take me long to find a spot and I caught those two smaller fish. Then I saw the big one. I dropped down on her and she swam off the stump, but didn’t bite for some reason. The wind blew me past the stump and I tried again and she nailed it.”
Read the full story here.
4. Clayton saw all she needed to rack up huge 12-point Catahoula buck
By Glynn Harris
Jordyn Clayton, 20, a nursing student at Louisiana Tech University, followed her husband Zac’s advice to shoot the shoulder of a deer that had its head and massive antlers hidden from her by brush. But he could see it. She did as he instructed and ended up with a huge 12-point buck that scored 180 3/8 inches.
Jordyn and her husband live in Catahoula Parish and hunt on a 100 acre tract owned by her father, land that lies just across the highway from their home. On the afternoon of Dec. 26, the duo decided to walk across the road and head for their box stand located in an area overlooking an opening with heavy timber on each side.
“We left the house about 3:00 and walked to our stand,” Jordyn said. “After about half an hour, we began hearing lots of noises coming from the thick woods, and suddenly a doe came out running across the clearing and she was followed by two bucks chasing her. I told my husband that if one of them came back out, I might try and shoot it as they were both nice bucks.”
Read the full story here.
5. Houston angler catches Toledo Bend lake-record bass
By Dan Kibler
Good things come to those who wait.
Bill Cook of Houston can understand that sentiment. Cook, who has fished for largemouth bass on Toledo Bend Reservoir for more than 50 years, caught a bass bigger than any taken from the 186,000-acre Sabine River impoundment.
Fishing in a Bass Champs tournament with partner Ken Burgess of Houston, Cook cast an Alabama rig at a pod of what he thought might be bass – or carp – that he’d seen on his LiveScope. One of those bass decided she liked the jingling, jangling collection of wires and swim baits and swallowed it.
A few minutes later, after no small amount of searching around Cook’s bass boat, Burgess found the landing net and dipped it under a fish like none other – at least in Toledo Bend’s waters. A 15.67-pound largemouth, it broke the 22-year-old lake record previously held by a 15.32-pound fish caught by Eric Weems.
Read the full story here.
