Louisiana Sportsman

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June 11, 2026

Mississippi pro Brock Mosley said a short mono leader is all that’s needed to provide a little stretch between braid and topwater lures like the Bill Lewis StutterStep.

Add a topwater ‘shock absorber’

December 1, 2018 Andy Crawford

How to create a shock absorber between the main braid and your lures.[…]

How to catch wintertime speckled trout in the Geoghegan Canal

December 1, 2018 Chris Ginn

Some tips on how to fish the ledges in the Geoghegan Canal to catch wintertime speckled trout near Lake Pontchartrain this month.[…]

After a long summer essentially devoid of trout, Capt. Marty LaCoste is looking forward to the annual fall invasion of specks.

The ‘best month of the year’ for Dularge trout fishing

December 1, 2018 Andy Crawford

No twitch, just slow steady retrieve is key for Dularge trout Mother Nature has been a true hag this year, baking South Louisiana with scalding temperatures well into October. But November ushers in what Dularge[…]

Capt. Lloyd Landry’s second-favorite color for fishing the waters around Dularge is a green hornet Matrix Shad. Most often, however, he uses shrimp creole.

Magic Man

December 1, 2018 Todd Masson

Capt. Lloyd Landry is apparently a master of black magic. It’;s clear he spends his free time reading tarot cards, casting tea leaves and studying the works of Aleister Crowley.[…]

Lessard’s lure selection for chasing a slam.

Fishing the magic zone for bigger fish

December 1, 2018 Jerald Horst

Whether the term “Magic Zone” is Steve Lessard’s invention or not is irrelevant.[…]

Lessard credits much of his competitive fishing success to the Hobie-built Mirage Drive, a pedal propulsion system.

Stuck on Hobie

December 1, 2018 Jerald Horst

Steve Lessard started kayak fishing seven years ago. The Dutchtown resident was tired of the expenses and work after trips that went with the motorboat experience, but wanted to keep fishing. […]

Venice speckled trout like to position themselves at Y intersections in canals. The action was good, with both men often hooked up at the same time.

“Artificial’ Intelligence

December 1, 2018 Jerald Horst

Venice is arguably the ultimate fishing destination. […]

The Ballays only fish two color combos of plastic year round, black-and-chartreuse or purple-and-chartreuse.

Disadvantages of live bait

December 1, 2018 Jerald Horst

It is easy to check off the major advantage of using live bait. It can produce bigger fish catches because it is easier to fool fish with the real thing. Of course, the bait has to be put where the fish are: The best bait in the world can’t catch fish where they aren’t.

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The Ballays use unpainted jigheads, braided lines and keep their lure color selection simple.

Artificial lure advantages

December 1, 2018 Jerald Horst

1) Bottom bites are very subtle. Leave the monofilament at home. Braided line is much more sensitive. Both Brandon and Brent use 30-pound PowerPro line.

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