Contents
Calcasieu Heat: Tips for Big Lake speckled trout success
Ten-year-old Phillip Rue was scrunched up on the bow seat of the boat, torquing the handle of the spinning reel ferociously.[…]
Fishing
Inshore Fishing
Fishing the jetties and other Calcasieu Lake trout options
There are always fish of some type on the jetties in the summer, Capt. Erik Rue said. They might be specks, and they might be redfish.[…]
Bass Fishing
It’s always football season
Much more than a chunky, lumbering bottom bumper, the football jig offers a diverse tool for probing deeper spots — especially those with lots of hard stuff on the bottom.[…]
Cobia
Don’t love hardheads? Cobia do!
Most Louisiana saltwater anglers hold hardhead catfish in contempt, but tough cobia love gulping down the spiked fish.[…]
Inshore Fishing
How ’bout mullet for Big Lake trout?
Mullet, usually striped mullet but occasionally white mullet, have always been popular bait. In recent years, however, they have slipped somewhat in popularity — but not because they don’t catch fish.[…]
Bass Fishing
A splash of color
There’s a reason so many of the worms, skirts and trailers we see in the bass-fishing arena are green pumpkin — the color mimics crawfish and all types of finfish forage.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Rue’s speckled trout rig
Erik Rue’s live-bait rig is simplicity itself.
It consists of a 6-foot length of 20- or 25-pound-test monofilament or fluorocarbon. Monofilament is a little softer and easier to deal with, but fluorocarbon is more abrasion resistant when fishing around the rocks.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Old Gulf of Mexico oil rigs drive economic growth
In additional to the repercussions to the fish habitats and those who love to fish around the rigs, there is also a very big economic impact at stake.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Coalition grows to oppose Idle Rigs policy
In early June, a coalition of recreational-fishing organizations requested a moratorium on the government’s stated plan to quickly dismantle more than 650 oil rigs.[…]
Offshore Fishing
Reality of rig removals seem to belie official stance
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said rig removal has not been, as suggested, recently ramped up as a knee-jerk response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster; however, many of those who have been making frequent trips out in the Gulf see it differently.[…]
News Breaker
Rig removals killing offshore habitat
Earlier this year, one of spearfisherman Terry “Papa Smurf” Migaud’s favorite oil platforms was removed. It was the Main Pass 305 platform, which Migaud said hosted “wall to wall” grouper in the winter, and large schools of amberjacks and snapper in the summer — along with a large variety of tropical fish.[…]
NEW PRODUCTS
Max Bait Trays keep trolling baits cool but not soggy
Danny Sykes was tired of having soggy baits, but he needed to rig his offshore trolling baits the night before to be ready for hot action when he went fishing off the North Carolina coast.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Black Bay, Delacroix marshes heat up
Running to Black Bay from Delacroix and working your way back through the marsh to Orange Bayou is your best bet for a fat, mixed bag of inshore species.[…]
Fishing
Clean your displays inside and out
Who hasn’t mistaken the shadow of a water spot on an LCD screen for a fish, waypoint or radar target? Or was it a smear of sunscreen lotion or insect repellent left by a fingertip? Hopefully it wasn’t a permanent scratch, crack, craze or other scar.[…]
Freshwater Fishing
Conditions make Venice bass-fishing trip a challenge
Let’s get this straight: Allen Crawford is NOT a bass fisherman.[…]
Inshore Fishing
Sweeping up
Making a clean sweep seems to always make things feel a little fresher.[…]