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
Fishing offers family bonding
“We fish as a family,” Amanda Menard said in the charming Southern drawl that she brought with her from North Louisiana.[…]
Bass Fishing
How pros rig magnum worms
To get the most out of a big worm, Bassmaster Classic champ Casey Ashley suggests dropping down in line size.[…]
Offshore Fishing
How to get your name in the Louisiana State Fish Records
Amanda and Dennis Menard, and their families don’t need any excuses to go fishing, but they do a lot of things to make their fishing more fun.[…]
Offshore Fishing
The Menard’s offshore trick bag
One of the fun things about fishing with other people is learning little short-cuts they use. Here are a few of the Menard’s tricks for mangrove snapper.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Reds of the rigs
Capt. David Iverson typically runs out of Red Pass and targets West Delta rigs in 40 to 50 feet for bull reds. However, when he’s up for a challenge and the weather permits, he’ll take South Pass out his favorite East Delta rigs, where close proximity to the Continental Shelf puts 300-foot water well within the reach of his bay boat.[…]
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.[…]