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.[…]

Inshore Fishing

Make a drop shot rig

Drop shot rigs came to the United States by way of Japanese anglers who settled on the West Coast. They employed the technique with great success in the clear, deep bass reservoirs of California and was other anglers caught on to the tactic, it spread faster than a Western wildfire, pun intended.[…]

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.[…]

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.[…]

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.[…]

Columns

Genetics, age, herd or habitat

I made the statement last month in this column that now is the time to start preparing for the 2017 deer season if you want to have success. It begins with examination of the 2016 harvest data and surveying the 2017 habitat conditions.[…]

Ask Captain Paul

The Circle Rigs

I was wondering the coordinates for the circle rigs out of Belle pass. This is a group of rigs in a circle with numerous artificial reefs made up of old oil rigs and military APC’s. I believe it is approximately 30 miles due south of the pass?[…]

Columns

Live fast; die young

If ever a motto could be used to describe a fish, this one describes the dolphin, the riotously-colored, hyperkinetic, blue-water fish that Hawaiians aptly call mahi-mahi, which translates out as “strong-strong.”[…]

Columns

Killer new crossbows

In this day and age, the archery industry — like many others — has become extremely competitive and overcrowded, with new manufacturers constantly entering the marketplace.[…]

Contents

Grand Isle game plan

Whether you are a novice fishing Grand Isle, or a genuine old salt who’s been flinging baits around the island for decades, it’s a good idea to have a game plan for your day of plying the waters.[…]

Bass Fishing

Sizing things up on Lake Fausse Pointe

Lake Fausse Pointe is a 17,000-acre system located in Iberia and St. Martin Parishes. Contiguous to the Atchafalaya Basin, the lake is essentially a catch basin for northern runoff and as a result is somewhat shallow when compared to public systems north of Interstate 10.[…]