Bobfish Tales

Lake Verret has always been one of my favorite lakes to fish here in South Louisiana. I remember driving from Houma to the Attakapas landing before the modern day improvements. The last part of the drive was a shell road that went through the swamp and the big cypress trees would create a kind of tunnel effect. It was a magical sight and at times the road would be a few inches under water which made the drive even more scenic. At the time, some of the residents that lived across the lake had no road access and a boat would pick up the children to bring them to a bus for school. The lake was absolutely a fantastic crappie and bluegill fishery. There were days I would be on the lake at daylight and still made it to work for 10am with a mess of sacs. Crappie wasn't the only fish in great abundance. Catfishing and big bull bream were plentiful also. Bass fishing wasn't my thing but the reports were always good and at times you could catch more than your share on a crappie pole. My...

Many fisherman have a box full of tackle, more rod and reels than they could possibly use, and every lure needed for catching a particular type of fish. After all, these are the essentials for catching fish right?. What can be more important than the right gear? Well, that just may be timing. Timing is everything when it comes to putting more fish in the box. It's not just the time of day, it is the time of month, and year. Having all that gear and special tackle does nothing if you are out on the wrong day or at the wrong time. So what is the best way to get it right. Sometimes it may be impossible with work, school, family, etc. which may not allow you to be out on the perfect day or at the perfect time. But there are ways to increase your chances. Weather, tidal flow, moon phases, and time of day, month, and year, as well as river levels can all affect when you should be on the water. Adjusting when and where to go is determined by the all of the above. Prime examples are if you...

Perfect day for some serious trout action. Incoming tide usually means clear water for the islands, plus light winds create the perfect conditions for big trout. It didn't disappoint either. After hitting some of the inland spots with a few nice fish, we decided to hit the gulf side of last island. We found the mother load of some really nice trout. The average size fish was 18-21 inches. Doc Brooke, my fishing buddy of the day lost a mule at the boat. One of those in that 6lb class. A two man limit filled a 70 quart ice chest. That is some really nice trout. The best part about the surf today was not only was it loaded with trout, but schools of redfish also, but no room to put them. As usual, we stayed away from live bait and caught them on Yo-Zuri jerk baits, and many on top water. Mirror lure she-pup was the choice for topwater. However, if live bait is your choice, it is a great way to load the boat also. We cruised the beach until we would see flocks of birds feeding and thos...

Everyone who fishes has a story, a tale, and perhaps a wish list to add to their fishing lives. This is mine and the one I cherish the most because of my love for crappie fishing. I grew up an avid Sac fisherman here in south Louisiana. A very southern term for certain. This fish is called by many names throughout the country: crappie, sacalait, specs, paper mouth, and white perch. As a kid, with cane pole in hand, I caught many nice fish but, marsh crappie seldom reach 2 pounds. My father, an Akansas displacement had showed me the fundamentals. He was one of the best sacalait fisherman in our parish. We have fishing rodeos. They are like tournaments but have many categories to enter fish for prizes. Rex, my dad, always seemed to beat the field when it came to crappie fishing . He just knew how and where to catch the big ones. His vision was to catch the biggest crappie ever; that 3 pound plus fish. Although, my dad, God rest his fishing soul, never found that 3 pounder, thanks to hi...

There are many ways to catch trout from live bait to artificial. One of my favorite lures is a jerk bait. There are a lot of choices when it comes to jerk baits. Rapala, Yozuri, Rebel, and many other companies make jerk baits that work really well. The lure of choice on this trip was the Yozuri crystal minnow with a chartreuse back. The trout went absolutely crazy after the bait. At times there would be 5 or more trying to eat it. Jerk baits are similar in action to crank baits. At times you could let it float back to the surface and the big trout would explode on it. The strange thing was that they would ignore a top water lure, but slam the jerk floating up. Reeling it down with a twitching action worked best. So next time you want to try something other than plastics or live bait, tie on a jerk bait and let the action begin. Good luck fishing. Hope to see ya on the water.

The springtime spawning run is in full swing along the coast for speckled sea trout. Just like any spawning fish, they can be easy to catch once located. Those locations include many of the islands to the rigs in the bays and along the Louisiana coast. The trout tend to run much larger than you will find in schooling fish under birds. It is not uncommon to catch fish in 2-4lb range and some 5lbs plus. Techniques are somewhat different than fishing for schooling trout. Live bait can be a plus, if not necessary at times. However, in many cases artificial baits work just as well as live. Live bait includes, minnows, croaker, mullet, and shrimp. These are typically fished either under a popping cork or Carolina rigged with a sinker and hook. A plain jig head can also be used for live bait. Once you have located fish, you can anchor the boat and catch limits of fish. Although if you are not into anchoring, a trolling motor can be used to stay on the fish. Boat position usually depends on wh...

There are many techniques for catching springtime trout. But one makes catching fish easy and at same time difficult. That technique is chasing trout, that are chasing shrimp, which are being chased by gulls. It is the fishing food chain. When this occurs it makes finding trout easy. The difficult part is catching up to the schools before the fish move on or for whatever reason simply disappear. But there are ways to stay on the fish as long as possible and load the cooler with fish. The key is not to spook the school, so a good trolling motor is key. Another way is to let the wind move you toward the fish, that is if the wind is blowing. Sometimes a good tidal flow can push your boat toward the school without spooking the fish and best case is to have a light wind and tide going in the same direction along with the trolling motor. Schools can produce a few fish to many fish. Today was a good example. The wind and tide were in the same direction and we followed the birds and schools of...