Bobfish Tales

Fishing the "marsh" is a totally different dynamic than fishing lakes or rivers. The marsh is unique in its own way. Typically the water is shallow, compared to other places, running an average of 5-8 feet. Understanding the different phases the marsh goes through will help you catch more fish. Summertime patterns differ from fall and winter in that there are grass lines or beds, which will be the best places to target. Early fall can be the same, but when the grass dies off or for any reason is no longer available to fish, the tactics change. Fishing grass lines are usually better with a jig and cork, although tossing a beetle spin works well also. Broken patches or irregular features in the grass seem to produce more fish. However, there are always exceptions. Sometimes just finding holes in heavy weeded areas will produce and there are times if crappie are chasing shad, the middle of the canal will produce. For the live bait users, minnows or grass shrimp are the baits of ...

Perhaps years ago, this title may have read a fisherman's life.  But as my English professor once said,  "fisher" is generic for all those who fish. No doubt she was right about that. A fisher is anyone who loves the sport and enjoys the many great memories, as well as endures the many trials and tribulations that the sport brings. A fisher's life is one that has seen Mother Nature and all her beauty, scary, dramatic, and most of all wonderful scenes. Some days we float on quiet lakes, thanking the Good Lord above for our time in such tranquil times. Other days we run from vicious storms praying we make it back safe.  Fishers all have one thing in common.  No matter what Mother Nature brings, there is no place we would rather be than in the great outdoors, casting a line to try to catch that elusive "Walter." For those who don't know the story of "Walter". Back in the 80's there was a movie called "On Golden Pond".  The main chara...

 Fellow fishers are always curious about how other fishers are catching fish. They ask what kind of bait or color you are using, but the  one question that everyone ask, that is probably the most irrelevant, is "how deep are you fishing"? The one thing modern technology has proven is that under most circumstances, there is no right answer to this question. Unless there is extreme weather like really hot or cold, fish will be all over the water column. This is especially true for crappie.  Livescope technology has totally changed the perception that fish all school together at a certain depth. As a matter of fact I have seen fish swimming a few inches under water, even in 30 feet of water. One would think that if a fish in that depth of water, it surely would be suspended deeper than a few inches.  Even in cover like standing timber, some fish may be at the top, some in the middle, and some may be on the very bottom and all on the...

  Every fisher dreams of that day or time when everything aligns and you catch a fish or fishes of a lifetime. Well that happened to the Doc and me one week in March 2015 at my favorite small lake in north Louisiana,  Poverty Point Reservoir.  The weather that March day was cold and when we arrived at the lake there was no one there, not a truck in the parking lot or boat on the water.  We launched my 17ft G3 and hadn't been on the water long when Doc hung a monster crappie. It was a 3 lber and his second one he could brag about. I was thinking, where's my trophy.? Some things are just not fair. Day one on the lake had started great, at least for Doc. The next day a few other seekers of the giants had arrived and one was a bass guy looking for that trophy. We were fishing a cove that had a log pile we had come to love over the years and had produced big fish. The only problem was the bass guy knew about the log pile also.  We were anxious to fish it, but he stay...

    One thing a good fisher will tell you is that you can learn something new every time you go out. This is true no matter how many years you've been fishing. Modern day technology has certainly made learning something new each trip easier.  It's a given that location is always the number one reason you will be successful or not. No matter the presentation, type of bait, or color that you are using, the area must have fish to catch. Location is the key for success, but presentation  may be the most important reason you will catch fish once you have found them. There are many ways to present your bait to crappie. You can cast, dock shoot, spider rig, pull or push baits, or by drop/tight lining the bait onto the fish.  For those using Garmin's Livescope or Lowrance's Active Target, presentation is made easier. For those who don't have such technology, knowledge and skill are the keys to catching fish. With this modern day technology, one can visualize the bait in...