General
Merry Christmas from the Sportsman crew!
Thank you for being part of our Sportsman family.[…]
Statewide LA
Bass Fishing
How to catch post-front bass
It never fails this time of year: You have a weekend tournament or plan to spend your weekend on the water and a cold front blows through.[…]
Deer Hunting
Top 5 tips for hunting the rut
The Top 5 things Darren Boudreaux, state president of the QDMA, does to put himself into position to kill bucks this month.[…]
Field Notes
Inshore insights: Tying and securing a double rig
Catching speckled trout two at a time is a hallmark of an excellent Louisiana fishing trip — and few rigs are better for the job than the double rig.[…]
Columns
Tourney tip: Target tide lines
The Inshore Fishing Association (IFA) Kayak Fishing Tour is a premier catch-photo-release kayak tournament series that spans from South Carolina to Texas. The five divisions (Atlantic, Florida East, Florida West, Louisiana and Texas) attract some of the best inshore kayak anglers from across the country.[…]
Columns
New gear reviews
If you’re looking for a reasonably priced spinning reel that’s built like a tank, the Penn Slammer III is it. Kayak fishing is tough on reels. Kayaks sit low to the water, and your reels will get wet and occasionally dunked.[…]
Columns
December’s best bets
Of course, Toledo Bend is a large lake and it’s difficult to pinpoint any one area. However, the diversity of terrain and varying depths allow for finding fish no matter what the conditions are. In Louisiana, December can mean heavy coats or short pants. If fishing a sustained warm stretch, the fish move shallower and the bite is a bit more determined.[…]
News Breaker
LDWF aerial survey: December duck count at 3.02 million birds
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ December Aerial Waterfowl Survey indicates a major migration of birds into the Bayou State has occurred since last month, with 3.02 million birds counted compared to 1.55 million in November.[…]
Bass Fishing
You need a Ned rig
If someone were to give you only one box of lures you could use for the rest of your life, the last thing you might want thrown in would be the relatively boring-looking Ned rig.[…]
Columns
Working the duck beat
Working migratory game bird seasons — particularly duck seasons — was always one of my favorite parts of the job. […]
Columns
Oyster recipes perfect for the holidays
From now through February and into March, Louisiana oysters are in their prime — fat and flavorful.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Inshore insights: Which boat is best for sight-fishing reds
It’s a common misconception that skinny-drafting boats are needed to sight-fish reds, but professional tournament anglers show us otherwise.[…]
Columns
LiveTarget’s BaitBall Spinner Rig
LiveTarget has an answer for those who want to fish a compact, manageable “umbrella rig” in gin clear or stained water — in the spring, summer or fall, and at any depth of the water column.[…]
Fishing
Tippets
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, we have a very cold winter ahead. That’s not all bad. This year’s tropical storms pushed a lot of bull reds back in the marsh.[…]
Deer Hunting
‘Magic times’
A journal is one of those things that you might not feel like doing at the moment but wish you would have done after the fact. […]
Deer Hunting
Stay away
Wesley Miller hunts in a completely different part of the state than Dennis Tietje — near Minden in Dubberly — and he has had just about equal success bagging December deer. […]