Crappie/Bream
Be a fish listener
Forget being a fish whisperer — when it comes to catching crappie, Nick Young is a fish listener.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Crappie/Bream
Adjusting on the fly is key
Earlier this year, Nick Young and father Jock beat 100 of the best crappie fishing teams in the South to claim the Crappie Masters Louisiana State Championship on Lake D’Arbonne with two seven-fish limits weighing 24.4 pounds.[…]
Catfish
How to make your own catfishing bottles
Jeremy Gremillion and Ray Ramagos both make their catfishing bottles from emptied, metal, 30-pound R-22 refrigerant bottles. Gremillion gets his from friends who do residential cooling work. Ramagos noted that they can also be purchased from scrap yard dealers.[…]
Catfish
Catfish genes
Six catchable sized catfish species occur in Louisiana waters. They can be divided into two groups: bullheads and true catfish.[…]
Catfish
Treasured catfish tips
Make a small gaff hook to use to pull stubborn fish from their bottle. “Sometimes I wonder how the fish get in the bottle when I can hardly get them out,” mused Gremillion. […]
Crappie/Bream
Look down for slabs
Jerry “J.T.” Thompson stared intently at the screen of his 12-inch down-scan unit as he brought the pontoon boat off plane.[…]
Crappie/Bream
Flat out crappie
“The fish have it backwards when it comes to the weather,” Nick Young said as he cruised his big Ranger down the edge of the boat channel, scanning his electronics for suspended crappie.[…]
Catfish
Look, mom: No bait!
Catfishing is supposed to be all about a gob of slimy worms, or bloody chicken liver, or smelly cut bait — or better yet some concoction of secret ingredients, usually including spoiled sour cheese.[…]
Crappie/Bream
How to create effective crappie brush piles
When crappie finish their spawning rituals, they head to deeper water and look for two things: Food and cover.[…]
Apex Predator
Apex Predator: Catfishing with double-baited hooks
One of the most important things when catching catfish is bait selection. After many experiments, I found a double-bait trick that has worked for catching more fish: I use a chunk of fresh cut bait — with the addition of a small pogy on the hook’s tip.[…]
Crappie/Bream
Crappie making converts on Black Bayou Lake
A few years back, the only time Randy Smith ever caught a crappie was by accident.
Now, he dedicates most of his time on the water chasing them.[…]
Crappie/Bream
Late spawn means bream action heating up on Henderson Lake
Bream probably will spawn later than usual this year at Henderson Lake, which means June should be a good month to deposit plenty of tasty panfish in the ice chest.[…]
Catfish
Drown worms for D’Arbonne cats
The summer months bring many things, but nothing better than the opportunity to go drown some worms and catch a good mess of Lake D’Arbonne catfish.[…]
Crappie/Bream
Try crawfish for Lake D’Arbonne bream
Bluegill and chinquapin bream are just getting going on Lake D’Arbonne in Union Parish. And while there are many ways to catch them, you need to stand out in the crowd to make the most of it — and that doesn’t mean wearing a bright yellow shirt or singing country songs loudly in the boat.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
St. Martinville man dies in boating incident near Lake Fausse Point
A 56-year-old St. Martinville man’s body was recovered Wednesday from a borrow pit near Lake Fausse Point about 10 miles north of Charenton in Iberia Parish, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.[…]
Crappie/Bream
Best bets for Toledo Bend crappie
Toledo Bend’s brush piles normally are filled with hungry crappie this time of year, but something has changed that pattern this spring, one of the reservoir’s veteran guides said.[…]