Inshore Fishing

Trout slam continues in Elmer’s Island surf

Thursday was an 8 out of 10 on the fishing scale Cabot Corso consults when planning his trips, and even more importantly, the marine forecast called for only 1- to 2-foot seas — ideal conditions for the Destrehan angler to head down to Elmer’s Island and target speckled trout in the surf.[…]

Bass Fishing

Chunk and wind only?

Generally speaking, a buzzbait is a “chunk and wind” lure. You throw it out and reel it in just fast enough to keep it on the surface. Taylor has also had success in retrieving the lure in a jerking motion. If the fish are a bit sluggish, that sometimes triggers a strike better than a straight retrieve.[…]

Bass Fishing

Big bass in June?

No question about it, largemouth bass are bigger in the springtime, especially the females which are chocked full of eggs before the spawn. But big bass bite in the summer, too. And they are no lightweights.[…]

Bass Fishing

Slow up for the blow up

Frog fishing, like all topwater tactics, rewards diligent casting with that pulse-pounding surface assault. Whether it’s a walking frog or a popper, we watch that steady motion like a birddog on point, hoping with clinched jaw and held breath that the next movement of that plastic nose will detonate the explosive charge.[…]

Inshore Fishing

Cork fishing tips

Fishing with popping corks, like any other technique, is an art. Steve Kissee offered some tips for effective use of popping corks. Some are specific to his Versamaxx corks; others apply to the use of any brand of cork.[…]

Inshore Fishing

Why Shell Beach?

Lower St. Bernard Parish, whether one launches out of Shell Beach, Hopedale, Yscloskey, or Delacroix, has long been a sportfishing playground for New Orleanians. Fishermen can launch at any of the four sites to access the rocks at the end of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet.[…]

Inshore Fishing

A little fishing geography

The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a dredged channel completed in 1965, never lived up to its predicted potential to largely replace the river proper as a deepwater approach to the Port of New Orleans.[…]

Freshwater Fishing

Tip of the day

Mike and Freddie McMullen were making impressively long casts most of the day with minimum weight on the ends of their lines. I finally caught on to what they were doing.[…]

Freshwater Fishing

Brothers in arms

Mike “Road Kill” McMullen, 52, and his brother Freddie, 54, grew up in Treasure Island, essentially an island formed by Bayou DeSiard (pronounced DE zeerd) and Black Bayou, on the northern outskirts of Monroe, Louisiana.[…]

Freshwater Fishing

The Thunder Cork

Freddie McMullen’s fertile mind has spawned a rattling cork specially designed for bream and crappie fishing. Dubbed the “Thunder Cork,” it features tiny BBs in two glass tubes firmly affixed to opposite sides of the cork.[…]

Freshwater Fishing

Bream recipe

There’s a long list of how to prepare fish to eat. But one of the oldest and most popular is whole-fried bream. Many people grew up eating them this way.[…]

Freshwater Fishing

10 tips for finding and catching more bream

Bream are by the far the most plentiful fish and easiest to catch. You don’t even need a boat in many lakes and ponds. Almost every area body of water has bream in it and we have all kinds — bluegills. chinquapins, sunfish, goggle-eyes and all kinds of hybirds.[…]