Features
The best thing you can do when fishing topwaters
Nothing is more exhilarating than catching speckled trout on topwater lures — and nothing is more maddening than missing fish. Here’s what you need to do.[…]
June 2015
Crappie/Bream
8 tips for great bream fishing
Try out veteran angler Freddie McMullen’s tips for great bream fishing to up your success and fill that cooler with slab-sized sunfish.[…]
Columns
Something is cooking on the Vermilion River
Recipes for Island Crawfish Étouffée over marinated fried fillets and Bacon Shrimp Wraps from Amanda and Dennis Menard Jr.[…]
Fishing
Smart battery charging 101
Fishermen learn the easy way or the hard way that how long a trolling motor battery lasts depends on how competently they charge it. I’d go so far as to say that proper charging can be more important than how well the battery is built and how much you paid for it.[…]
Columns
Learn to spot trouble before it sails your way
Louisiana summer boating activity peeks in June. Considering how much boating takes place on any given day of any other month in the Sportsman’s Paradise, it’s safe to say things can get pretty hectic on a sunny weekend in June.[…]
Columns
’Yaking to parts unknown
Although likely to be seen near any popular fishing spot in Louisiana, there are still times when kayakers get even stranger looks.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Get ’em out, get ’em up
For his butterfly jig action, Capt. Billy Wells uses a 5 ½-foot Shimano Trevalla rod and Shimano Stella loaded with 80-pound PowerPro.[…]
Bass Fishing
Slick river vegetation bassin’
Punching through vegetation is a great way to catch bass, and lure manufacturers are now creating new options for just that purpose.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Tippets
With summer comes a change in sight-casting strategy. As the long, hot days heat the shallow ponds, bigger reds will move to the edges of lakes and bays.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Lake Pontchartrain’s trout-fishing cycle
While John Falterman happily accepts charters for any species that swims in the big lake and its connecting waters, his specialty is speckled trout — certainly Louisianan’s favorite saltwater fish.[…]
Inshore Fishing
How to make a stupid-fishing rig
John Falterman explained that the idea for stupid fishing came to him during a charter trip a few years ago.[…]
Bass Fishing
The biggest and best Lake D’Arbonne bass
While 8-pounders like David Harrell likes to catch are enough to send most of us to the local tackle store to show off, those fish are just about half the size of the official record on D’Arbonne.[…]
Bass Fishing
Best lures for Lake D’Arbonne bass
David Harrell has an “everyman” approach to fishing for big bass. He doesn’t have any big secret weapon or perfectly matched tackle and bait combo.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Go goujon fishing heavily armed
Johnny Broussard’s fishing gear is not finesse tackle. Both goujon and blue catfish grow large, and much of Broussard’s fishing is next to the dense wood of submerged tree stumps and snags that are the lairs of these big fish. […]
Inshore Fishing
Pick glow/chartreuse plastics when you can
There’s no doubt Capt. Chris Pike is mainly going to throw live shrimp during June, but if he gets the opportunity to throw a soft plastic, there’s also no doubt what color it will be.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Bait is key when fishing for yellow catfish
“It’s harder to catch the bait than it is to catch the fish,” Johnny Broussard said, with note of frustration in his voice. “I spend a lot of time getting bait.”[…]