Bass Fishing
Toledo Bend ready to bust open
There has been quite a buzz about how good bass anglers are expecting the fishing to be at Toledo Bend this spring.[…]
Bass Fishing
Bass Fishing
Youth Gone Wild – Big Basspirations
Many teenagers don’t know what they want to do with their lives. Zack Gagnard, a 16-year-old high-school junior, isn’t one of them. Gagnard has his future all planned out.[…]
Bass Fishing
Flushed and Refreshed
One of the reasons Bill McCarty has been successful on the bass tournament trail is the same reason he catches bass more often than not in the Atchafalaya Basin in March, a time when the nation’s last great overflow swamp is high and some anglers go elsewhere.[…]
Bass Fishing
Marshy Bed Spreads provide great bass fishing this month
Have you ever seen those guys on TV trying to catch a bedding bass during some big-money tournament? Man, they have it made. Crystal clear water, big shiny beds, hardly any wind … and then they prance around and kiss the fish or yell at the poor thing after they yank it over the side of their boat.[…]
Bass Fishing
Weather changes should result in another Classic ‘slug fest,’ Hackney predicts
The 50 Bassmaster Classic qualifiers showed up at Alabama’s Lay Lake for three days of practice last week, and were met by brutal weather. Temperatures remained consistently cold, and strong storms blew through the area.[…]
Bass Fishing
King of the Lake
A cold front had pushed through the night before, and the sun threw light over cypress trees and turned the skies from black to burnt orange to sapphire blue. Donaldsonville angler Richard Sherman already was on the water, working a stretch of bank in search for his first bite.[…]
Bass Fishing
Rodemacher’s Resurrection
I kept my eye on Porter Trimble’s water temperature gauge as he maneuvered his big Nitro 929 bass boat across the surface of CLECO Lake. The air temperature was in the lower 60s, and there had been enough cold nights to drop the water temperature into the 50s.[…]
Bass Fishing
Poor conditions can’t slow CLECO bite
Wouldn’t it be something if there were a lake that offered near perfect bass fishing conditions during the winter? It would attract anglers like San Diego attracts residents.[…]
Bass Fishing
Battered, Bruised, and Beautiful
While watching the TV announcers trying to fill time during the lightning delay in the LSU-Mississippi State game, I heard one of them say, “Things aren’t quite the same around these parts, but you can tell it’s coming back because you can see these people doing what they do.”[…]
Bass Fishing
Bass biting around Wax Lake
One year has passed since Hurricane Rita tore through Southwest Louisiana. The Atchafalaya Basin area was hit especially hard, and there haven’t been very many successful fishing trips between then and now. Things are slowly getting better, though, and The Wax Lake area is starting to come around.[…]
Bass Fishing
Rooted in the Red
I love the Red River. I’ve tried to impartially write about each of the Louisiana waterways I’ve covered so far this year, but I can’t recuse myself from this one. I’m biased toward the Red River, and I can’t withdraw my emotions.[…]
Bass Fishing
Comb Over Bass
Have you ever seen a comb over? You know what I’m talking about — a man in his 50s or 60s starts losing hair on top of his head, so he combs the hair on the side over the top.[…]
Bass Fishing
Bayou Segnette bass rebounding well
The state of bass fishing around the Mississippi River has been up in the air since Hurricane Katrina. Reports of fish kills were rampant, and it looked like bass anglers would have to travel north for a while if they wanted to continue catching fish.[…]
Bass Fishing
D’Arbonne channel holes turning on
While many bass anglers are trying to beat the summer heat by fishing at night, there are lots of lakes in Louisiana that offer a strong daytime bite for those willing to bear the stifling heat.[…]
Bass Fishing
Cross Examination
Of course, there are plenty more examples of crossness at Cross Lake. Pull up to the City Park boat ramp on Memorial Day, and you’ll see what I mean. Listen to the conversation between two boats fishing the same spot, and you’ll see what I mean.[…]
Bass Fishing
Fake frogs are fooling bass
Sid Havard made a cast down the side of a floating log that was partially enshrouded by the low-hanging branches of a group of cypress trees. He immediately lifted the tip of his rod and started reeling.[…]