Inshore Fishing
Outer limits
This is it: You don’t have to wait any longer.
The month we long for with impatient anticipation throughout the entire year has finally arrived in all its spring glory.[…]
May 2012
Freshwater Fishing
Stump field slabs
Every year during March and April, fishermen hammer Lake D’Arbonne’s shallow cypress trees and banks for spawning white perch (aka crappie or sac-a-lait).[…]
Inshore Fishing
Croaker Soaker
“I fish live bait — live croakers,” the 68-year-old says with conviction, as if looking for a challenge. “Using plastic can be a good way to find the fish,” he adds, seeming for a moment to soften a bit, “but when I find them, I throw croakers to catch more.[…]
Catfish
Back to basics
Whether it’s blue catfish or channel catfish, Central Louisiana’s coastal bays in the springtime are teeming with both. Toss in the occasional flathead, and what you have is the skinning pliers Ictalurus Trifecta of North America.
From the Atchafalaya River to East Cote Blanche Bay, nearly every bayou, canal or unnamed tributary that empties freshwater is a potential location to drop anchor and tightline for catfish in this region.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Back to basics
Whether it’s blue catfish or channel catfish, Central Louisiana’s coastal bays in the springtime are teeming with both. Toss in the occasional flathead, and what you have is the skinning pliers Ictalurus Trifecta of North America.
From the Atchafalaya River to East Cote Blanche Bay, nearly every bayou, canal or unnamed tributary that empties freshwater is a potential location to drop anchor and tightline for catfish in this region.[…]
Hunting
Sure-Loc Lethal Weapon
The Sure-Loc Lethal Weapon is a dependable, accurate bow sight loaded with a host of new features, including the popular Retina Lock, which will identify even the slightest torque or change in anchor point.[…]
Contents
Pocket Perch
When I first moved to New Orleans as a (very) young man in the mid-1960s, I just knew that I was a fishing hot dog. I thought I knew all there was to know about catching bass, bream, white perch and catfish — and that’s where the fishing world ended.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Frabill Crawler Can
Fish catfish with worms long enough and chances are quite good that many will die in the wax-coated cardboard or styrofoam containers they come in.[…]
Contents
Double dipping
The craggy man at the bow controls of the boat turned off the boat’s engine. He lit a cigarette and scanned the points formed by the intersection of the Texaco Canal and Grand Bayou.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Don’t connect the dots to get to far-away fish
He has seen it too many times for it to be an anomaly and he has yet to figure out why people — even guides — do it, but Capt. Jeff Poe with Big Lake Guide Service would never run over a potential fishing spot just to get to another potential fishing spot.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
The scribe
Jim Looney is more than the average angler, with 12 fishing booklets to his credit. The books focus on how to catch bass, bream and sac-a-lait in the Grand Bayou-Lake Verret area, as well as the Atchafalaya Basin, and redfish and speckled trout in Pointe au Chien.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Increase in knowledge leads to decrease in pressure
Although there’s been a lot of talk of increased fishing pressure at Big Lake in the last few years, Capt. Jeff Poe feels like there’s something going on that might have gone a little bit under the rader recently.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
No fancy stuff
Modern bass fishermen are known for their endless array of fancy and expensive equipment. Fishing with Jim Looney is like a throwback to a simpler time, a time when it seemed like any angler could be reasonably confident of catching bass.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Stick with basic baits under pressure
One might think that changing lures would be a good way to counteract fishing pressure at Calcasieu Lake. […]
Freshwater Fishing
The 14-inch minimum:
The 14-inch-minimum-size limit on all black bass — both largemouth and spotted — in the Atchafalaya Basin, Lakes Verret, Palourde, Fausse Point/Dauterive areas has been in effect since the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.[…]
Contents
Ostrica is the New Venice
May loomed, and Eddie assumed our traditional summer fishing schedule also loomed.[…]