Columns
Vermilion Bay means seafood to Trout Masters
It didn’t take us long to learn that Vermilion Bay Trout Masters can cook. Here are recipes for crab salad and Zydeco Sauced Fish.[…]
September 2016
Columns
Be smart about where you hunt
I hugged the ground a little tighter and turned my head to the side as shotgun pellets ripped through the trees overhead. Leaves cut from the branches sifted down around me while I listened to the shouts and laughter emanating from the source of the gunfire.[…]
Fishing
The next step in trolling motor evolution
My first real bass boat was a new 1973 Raycraft Pro built in St. Augustine, Texas, right between Lake Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend Reservoir.[…]
Columns
Pre-season scouting plans
If you are reading this, you obviously survived the long, hot summer — even though the heat and humidity will still linger into September.[…]
Columns
ICAST 2016 – Pedal yak explosion
Every July, the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades descends on Orlando, Fla., for what is the world’s largest sportfishing trade show.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
The perfect crappie boat
Every fisherman is proud of his new fishing rig. Steve Danna is no exception, but he didn’t just pick out a boat he liked.[…]
Deer Hunting
How breeding dates are determined
Biologists determine breeding dates based on measurements of deer embryos and fetuses using a fetal scale developed through research conducted by Quality Deer Management Association founder Joe Hamilton and other deer researchers.[…]
Deer Hunting
Is the rut on?
Hunters frequently tell me they do not see bucks chasing does when the rut should be in full swing. Lack of cold weather will certainly be a reason for deer activity to be poor.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Tippets
Water temperatures begin to drop this month — slowly at first due to radiative cooling but more so as cool fronts invade the state.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Basics of cork fishing for trout
In addition to the chunk-and-wind routine, late-summer trout anglers fishing Breton Island or other coastal island will do well to keep a cork rig handy.[…]
Bass Fishing
Pros and cons to spinners
Tony Landry explained why spinnerbaits work.
“They are profile baits that effectively mimic different things that fish eat,” Landry said. “The rubber skirts we use pulse in the water, and the blades also pulse and reflect the flash of food fish.”[…]
Bass Fishing
How to make your own spinnerbait
Tony Landry for years built his own spinnerbaits as a hobby, adding that it had a lot more to do with his love of tinkering and less about saving money than one would think.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Capt. Erik Rue’s fall redfish lures
Capt. Erik Rue’s go-to bait for most of this morning’s fishing trip was a simple jighead and MirrOlure Lil John Twitchbait, but he made a special effort to point out the effectiveness of the Jenny’s Jigs jighead.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Cameron-Creole Wateshed Project a ‘necessary evil,’ fishing guide says
Much of Rue’s fishing this time of year is done on Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge located on the eastern shore of Calcasieu Lake.[…]
Inshore Fishing
The Cameron-Creole Watershed Project controversy
The Cameron-Creole Watershed Project, like many marsh restoration projects, carries fishing controversy baggage.[…]
Hunting
The 411 on coastal WMAs
Harvest numbers are ultra-impressive from last season for one of the wildlife management areas in the Coastal and Nongame Resources Division — so high that many hunters might do a double-take and make immediate plans to hunt it in 2016-17.[…]