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Post Report

Sneaux!	11 December 2008
Woke up this morning to a veritable blizzard. 33 degrees with snow falling and having already covered the bushes, the lawn, and the trucks. Pretty neat stuff! And discounting the slop of 2004, the first, I believe, that I've seen since the "Christmas Freeze" of 1989. Love that global warming! Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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Rockefeller Again!	07 December 2008
Folks, the grand opening of the Baton Rouge Orvis store Saturday was much fun, but not nearly as much fun as what Dennis and I had at Rockefeller today! Cold, windy, and red-hot - I say, RED-hot - action! Totaled 20 and a flounder, 10 rats and three between 25 and 29 inches (Dennis's at 10-10) which were released, seven between 18 and 22 inches were kept. The purple fly and Dennis's gold fly - deep and slow -did the trick. And they did pull good! Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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Fly of the Month..........	29 November 2008
Made a trip this morning to the sand pits (TPH) down in Fourchon. Decided last night to tie this Fly of the Month to bring and give it a test. Arrived before daylight and positioned myself on a point and this fly was absolutely was the ticket. The water color was beautiful and clear. I managed to catch 13 trout on this fly pattern. I don't know if anybody else has tried this fly on trout yet but, you might want to apply some clear epoxy over the rattle. After about 6 fish the rattle will no longer exist. It was a good thing I tied a few of them. As soon as the rattle was knocked from the fly the fish would not hit it. So keep that in mind if you are planning on trying this pattern. I tied 2 colors Dark Brown/White and also Blue/White both with gold flash...Dark Brown/White is what they wanted the most. As soon as the front blew through this morning the wind really picked up and it shut the fish down completely. I will make sure that I have plenty of these tied for next time and the rattle will be modified to hopefully last longer than 6 fish. Stephen Until next time keep Chasing The Tails.
Stephen	Fourchon
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Sunday at Cane River	24 November 2008
Following brunch at The Landing, Cokie and I spent an hour fishing a small section of the riverwalk. Caught about two dozen bream, some between 6-7 inches, on olive fluff butt size 12 and using 3-weight rods. The gobbules fight hard in cold water!
Catch	Natchitoches
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Just Another Poopie Day in Paradise	20 November 2008
Pulling out of the driveway this AM I wiped out the mailbox with the boat-trailer. Upon arriving at the launch at Rockefeller I discovered I had a flat on the trailer. Swapped it out for the spare, launched the boat, caught eight reds and two flounders, and made it home okay. Haven't received any mail today, though. Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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Don't like the weather? Wait a day or two.	17 November 2008
For this weekend's Red Stick club Fall Catch-and-Eat, I had the pleasure of hosting Tom Lee of the Destin Fly Fishers. Tom had won a guided canoe trip with me, and opted to join me for this weekend. Well, Tom experienced wild mood swings of Louisiana weather - from gale force on Saturday to flat glass calm today. Our first stop Saturday was Bayou Lafourche just south of the Golden Meadow floodgate. Specks were busting, birds diving. But even on high, the trolling motor couldn't hold to a school. And the water was turning chocolate. We decided to can the canoe, and bank fish, and ended up with one speck and one flounder, both on clousers. Sunday morning was much better, wind was down to a breeze. We launched at Golden Meadow and worked the canals for specks (few and far between) and ponds for reds and drum (dead quiet). But we did find a pattern working the pipes that extend 10-15 off the many canal banks. We picked up about a dozen rat reds and sheepshead. Also, Tom landed two mid-size reds and one 10.5-lb red. We spotted the big red crashing minnows, and Tom put the clouser in front of him, he ate, and took off like a rocket along the bank! A little while later, I hooked what Tom thought was a sheet of plywood (lots of Gustav debris in the canals), but when I saw tail swishing I knew it was a fish. A very lethargic DRUMZILLA - about 3 feet long. Fortunately he got off... I say that because it was late and calm and gnats were coming out in force. Today was the bonanza. We fished the TPH on advise from Butch and caught a bunch of nice specks on clousers under vosi. Then we turned our attention to the marsh. The same marsh that was muddy was clear and glass flat calm. Lots of tailing drum, some sheepshead and reds working the banks. Tom got a few hookups on the Coma Spoon, but it seems the fish kept commiting the cardinal sin of swimming TO the canoe instead of away. Tough break, but still exciting. We left around noon, but not before meeting up with Vic Tedesco and his new -totally awesome- paddlecraft.
Catch	Highway 1
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Trout!!	16 November 2008
Hogy, Kevin, and I arrived Friday ready to catch some fish. We went into the ponds to the right of the landing at Catfish Lake and caught trout all day, as well as some reds. Total was about 30 keepers for the day. Saturday we arrived a the canal to Elmer's Island to view a torrent of water pouring through. We back tracked to the TPH and started out bank fishing with poppers under a cork. Kevin went behind the island and caught two really nice flounders and lost several more at the kayak. I saw two guys steady catching trout and went to see what they were using. Large Johnson Sprite gold spoons. I put one on and caught several as well. We ended up with a respectable box of fish. This morning we got to the TPH at about 7, it was still cold. I was about ready to pack it in, but went ahead and tried with a DOA under a cork. First two casts, two fish. We all got in the kayaks and fished the hole and the marsh behind the island. Hogy got a redfish at least 30 lbs to right under the kayak and broke the leader trying to get it off the bottom. I stayed in the TPH trowing a gold spoon and caught trout almost on every cast. Just as we were all about ready to call it a day at 1 pm, trout started busting shrimp in the middle of the hole. We drifted among them and caught schooles on every cast, and some big ones. I was limited out and Hogy and Keven had about 15 nice trout each. We packed it in and went and cleaned fish for over an hour before we headed back to BR. I almost forgot the highlight of the trip. Hogy cut a trout up and put it on the bottom of the hole. He caught and landed a huge gar, over five feet! For some pics, check my blog at http://lafishing.blogspot.com As soon as Catch emails me the pics he took, a pic of the gar will be there.
Butch Ammons	Redstick
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You just know	14 November 2008
You know you are having a good day speckled trout fishing when: ..you get tired of those pesky 13 inchers hitting your fly. ..you start swinging in 13-14 inchers in your kayak like choupique on a cane pole. ..trout put on an aerial display by your popper that rivals Sea World. ..shrimp and trout are jumping out of the water all over and gulls are jumping in. ..you know you didn't get hit every cast but its hard to remember when. ..no catfish are landed ..the 8-10 knot wind seems like a gentle breeze guiding your fly right to the trout. ..all the fish are downwind ..your 2nd clouser has lost more hair than you ..you lose count ..you leave at lunch to go home to your wonderful wife ..gas at Luling is $1.97. GO FISH
JeffM	Golden Meadow
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Desecration	11 November 2008
Guys, I cannot believe it! Bored out of my skull and trying to find something constructive to do, I was reading tags on some hook boxes - Mustad hook boxes. Lo and behold, on a box of size 2 S71S-SS's - one of their "signature" models - was printed "Made in China". Mustads!! Our trusted Norwegian makers of stainless forged and very high-quality and quite excellent hooks have outsourced at least this version to China! Is anything sacred anymore? Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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Why is it so cold already?	10 November 2008
Spent the last few days in Destin doing everything from family business to meeting with the local fly fishing club. And of course, fishing with the local expert "Master Jake". A front came thru on Friday and it just got colder and windier each day. Saturday morning waded the surf at Henderson Park. Water was chilly, but not uncomfortable, and with the north wind, surf was flat. But only one bite. Later tried the jetties, but no bites. All the fast pelagics that cruise up into the pass and along the beach and make your reel buzz - spanish, kings, bonito, jacks, bluefish, even tarpon - have all gone for the winter it seems. Sunday morning early the wind was down, it wasn't too cold (48 degrees) so we hit the grass flats along the MidBay Bridge where we caught a few specks. Around 11am, we joined the Destin Fly Fishers club, of which Jake is a member, for their tournament finals picnic. We were doing some casting using their new Casting Analyzer they purchased, and about this time the wind picked up something ferocious and the temperature started to plummet. The casting clinic was short-lived. This morning no fishing as the temperature was 34 degrees with a 15-knot wind! Winter's here? What happened to fall?
Catch	Destin
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Nursing the wounds of LSU's loss	09 November 2008
After suffering through a single player throw away LSU's chance of beating #1 ranked Alabama yesterday, Danny Williams and I decided to nurse our wounds by getting on the water for a little fishing. Shortly after first light, we pulled into a large pond that is a favorite of ours. It was cool, around 45 degrees, with perfectly clear skies, and the water at the ideal level of tide. We immediately started seeing fish push and move, but with the sun low on the horizon in the direction we were looking, we would spot them and lose them before getting a shot. As we polled futher back into the pond, the water got to be gin clear, and the higher the sun got, the more active the fish got. Soon we were starting to see singles and fish in small pods pushing wakes, tailing and blowing up on bait. This morning the fish were feeding on very small shrimp which are very abundant in the marsh right now. We started picking up fish, and were really clicking along nicely, both of us casting a fly line much better than Jarrett Lee throws a football. We were working the north bank of the pond, headed east when I looked up at a distant point and saw a sight that gave me chills. It was a true Crimson Tide. A large school of redfish was tight to the bank, pouring across the point. Now I've seen bigger schools of fish, and I've seen redfish in shallower water, but I've never seen a school this large in water this shallow. There were redfish pouring down the bank, tumbling over each other, swirling and sloshing, all with their backs out of the water. As the fish rolled over and around each other, they came so far out of the water that their eyes were breaching the surface. Danny zipped off a cast and laid it tight to the bank ahead of the school. I tucked the push pole between my legs and laid one out there too, as the school passed over our flies, it was an instant double, fight the fish to the boat, cast, fish on from both ends of the boat again. Throughout the day, we saw numerous schools, lots of small pods of 2-3 fish, bunches of singles and more. The wind got a little stiff, but we were able to set up and work with it so as not to be hindered by it. We ended the day with 24 redfish on fly, all sight casting.
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Estuary
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Anomaly	09 November 2008
Went down to Hwy 1 near Grand Isle yesterday morning. Got there at first light. The predicted high winds never materialized. The barometer showed 30.04". I picked up a couple of nice reds, three sheepshead and a few trout in the first three hours. Then nothing. I looked at the barometer and it read 30.08, then starting falling to .07, .06, .05 and then .04. Still nothing. My old observations suggested that the fish get lock jaw at 30.10 and above. Unless this was an anomaly, i will have to start fine tuning my rule. Still, it was a beautiful day to be in the marsh. Marc Pinsel and a couple of guests from Memphis showed up at around nine, right when the lock jaw set in. Hope they have better conditions today.
Mike LaFleur	Hwy 1 - Grand Isle
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On my way back...	03 November 2008
to Shreveport yesterday, from a 10-team swim meet this weekend in Conway, Arkansas (where Centenary kicked butt), stopped at the Caddo in Glenwood and the Little Mo in Murfreesboro for a couple hours each to get some stream casting in. At least, that's what it amounted to. I did catch a couple largemouth bass and a dozen killer gobbules on the Caddo. First cast on the Little Mo near the Wall Hole hooked me up with a large jackfish (aka pickerel) that broke me off after a brief but arobatic tussel. After that, nothing. The fresh stockers were there, even saw a couple swim by me, plus two bass, but no fish would eat my bugger. Lots of other fishermen, both lure and bait, at the Wall Hole and Hinds Bluff, and only saw one trout caught. A great day for fishing, just not catching.
Catch	southwest Arkansas
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Tuesday Hooky Was Played	29 October 2008
Fished yesterday with Mike and Jason, his younger son. I carried both the Ultimate 12, and the Pungo down to Basson's, using the new Yakima rack for a "double haul" for the 1st time. No problems at all. We had to go yesterday because it was the only open date for Jason, who flies back home to Washington state today. Temps in the 40's, high winds (10-15 with higher gusts), VERY shallow and murky water, and barometer at 30.5 (on Mike's GPS)combined to make for challenging conditions, to say the least. Jason got to see how flyfishing for reds from kayaks is done, but I'm afraid that's about all we accomplished. I caught one smallish, but keeper size red; and that was it for the day. That fish was absolutely FULL of beautiful shrimp, most about the size of the 1st two nuckles of my little finger. He had been gorging himself as I caught him, because the shrimp were undigested for the most part. I think I'll mount him . . . in a frying pan.
Joe Kahler
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A Close Encounter of the Redzilla Kind	26 October 2008
What is a Redzilla? It is a redfish much greater than the 10-pound size which was once considered the upper limit for redfish in the marsh. Monsterquest would have no trouble finding evidence, given the number of encounters this past month. The latest incident occured Saturday along Highway 1, and within spitting distance of the road! First some background. Arrived at the TPH around sunrise, and it was a bit breezy. Uncertain as to what the wind would do, I started from the bank with commie tackle. On my second cast, a 7 1/2 pound red hit blew up my topwater. Blew up is a good description because it looked like a depth charge went off. After a few undersized specks, I switched to the fly rod and to the ditch on the other side of the road. First cast caught a 16-inch speck on red/white seaducer. Caught two rats and two barely undersized specks. That convinced me to launch my yak on the north side of the road (west side of Lake Laurier). Things didn't go as expected, maybe lack of tide or high pressure, but no diving birds and only a few fish on the clouser under vosi. But just before noon, the wind died down, and high clouds moved in. The specks turned on and big time. Seemed like trout everywhere, and a good number of 14"-17" fish. Well, I was drifting back to the cut in the ditch where I launched, still casting and catching small trout, when I made my last cast to the cut itself. The vosi went under, I set the hook, and the rod didn't budge. Instead the line went zipping off back to Lake Laurier, pulling the yak with it. This fish took a fully loaded yak dragging a stringer of trout, faster than I could paddle it myself! For the next 20 minutes, we waged war. Thanks to lessons learned from a Billy Pate video long ago, this fight didn't go longer. With the monster tuckered out, I managed to trap him against an island of grass on one side and the yak on the other. Since I couldn't lift him with the gripper, I took a couple of measurements with the tape and then let him go. I thought I was reviving him, but it was just an opportunity for him to get even by soaking me to the bone with splash. Anywho, the fish taped out at 34 1/2 inches, which based on the Rodnreel.com calculator works out right at 19 pounds. Since he wasn't as big as the ones caught by my friends Joe and Steve, I'm submitting him as "Son of Redzilla".
Catch	Grand Isle
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Rios	26 October 2008
I made another trip to City Park in New Orleans Friday. I caught many Rios and small bass. You can read more and see photos by clicking on the link below. http://www.warmfly.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1484.0
Larry Offner	City Park
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Lake Martin	23 October 2008
Found Lake Martin at least two feet lower than it was a month ago and still falling - the result, I've been told, of a drawdown for an upcoming special project that requires low water to complete. Whatever, the bugs are hatching, and some fair bass and bluegills are responding. No sac-a-lait yet. They should show up shallow after the next front (Not this one!) calms down. #8 Yellow sponge spider did the job - the only thing I could tempt with a sinking fly was a choupique. Stay warm. Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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Could have been worse...	21 October 2008
Fished Lake Concorida this past Saturday. We had everything going against us... high winds, birds-eye day, front moving through and high pressure. We still managed to catch about 36+ bluegill. Still had a great time and got to wet a fly.
Larry Offner	Lake Concordia
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I am haunted by seaducers	13 October 2008
I can't help it. This fly looks so good in the vise, and has so much action in the water, I can't believe I've not used this fly in many years. After a great day on the coast Saturday, the one disappointment coming home was not having cast a seaducer. So Sunday after the Saints game I tripped over to the ponds at Waddill with an red/white 'ducer on the end of my 6-weight line. First cast: tossed it up along a weedline and it cast oh so well for a feathery fly. The fluoro leader sunk it down just to the right depth and as it came within pickup distance, a nice bass darted out from the weedline, snatched it in his jaws, and ran back into the weeds. I was a little too slow to stop him and he got off in all the salad. I fished another 15 minutes and got one follow, then the custodian said it was time to close (they changed closing on Sunday from 6pm to 5pm). Must tie more 'ducers!
Catch	Waddill
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Rockefeller redfish	13 October 2008
Sorry Dennis, but I feel obliged to do it! Sunday morning Dennis and I made a run to Rockefeller. Got there in spite of the condition of the highway which, from the old Intracoastal Canal bridge to Grand Chenier, was life-threatening! No shoulder with a three-foot drop-off at the edge of the pavement! Anyway, we survived and after quickly boxing our limits of gorgeous reds, smashed barbs and released 14 more! "Pete's Purple Fly" (Or Dennis's rendition thereof), of course. Looks like if we can survive the drives there, Rockefeller will be hot this fall and winter. Just drive carefully!!! Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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Rockefeller Re-opens	10 October 2008
Got word this afternoon that most of the refuge has been re-opened. The Joseph Harbor repairs have been completed, and the Rollover launch will re-open tomorrow. I know it's a bit early for us fly fishing folks to be hitting the canals there, but it's good to know that they are an option. And the shrimp should be getting thick at the wiers after the next norther!
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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Kisatchie Bayou	08 October 2008
Made two hits on Kisatchie Bayou during the past ten days. The first was with Roger Stouff and Scott Presley of Jena. Got 15 spots and several perch-types among us, but only one spot was decent. Went north again for my annual October trip last Monday and with a funky weather forecast, so I decided I'd better get some while I could. Ended up with eight, including a 13-incher and a 14 incher, again on size 6 poppers. Then the storms came, bright high pressure set in, and I came home without trying again. The creek was low and quite clear but running nicely. So I got an autumn double-dose of hills, rocks, dirt roads and flowing water. And spots! Hope it's enough to last me to next spring! Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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The Weather ...	06 October 2008
was absolutely gorgeous Friday at the FAA gate when I ran into Catch. The sky was absolutely clear with a gentle to no breeze. The first 30 minutes it was a trout or a grab every cast but I decided to give the reds a try with conditions so nice and headed east in the bay. The water was a little off color but the aggressiveness of the reds offset this. I hooked 8 and landed 6 on LaFleurs Charlie by 11:00 then decided to try for some specks at the TPH on intermediate line. The bite there was very slow and after a couple of hours I called it a day. Catch, I saw you on the roadside. I don't know if this was before or after you discovered car trouble. I didn't realize anything was amiss but I am very glad you found help. I had battery trouble a few months ago at Bason's and the old gentleman who lives right there (and owns it I think) was also very kind. He not only gave me a jump but followed me to his house to tighten a cable. I stopped again at Tiffany's on the way home and got fresh 16-20 shrimp at $3.50 a pound. He is located just south of Golden meadow when you get back on the 2 lane and was also affected by the storm. They were without power for 20 days and took a financial hit as well but are back at it. Lots of good people down there with big hearts.
JeffM	Fourchon
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A Good Samaritan	05 October 2008
Quite an interesting trip Thursday night and Friday that started with a visit to the Caminada fishing bridge and ended with an act of kindness. Before I get to the real story of this trip, a few particulars. The Caminada fishing bridge is open. It was destroyed by Katrina and rebuilt and reopened this summer. Despite the destruction to Grand Isle, the pier is intact... even all the lights were working. Muddy water, not many specks, but loads of 10-inch sand trout. Get a weighted clouser - 1/36 oz to the bottom then strip up. They hit on the first few strips. After 3am, moved to Fourchon lights where I found bigger sand trout, mostly 11 to 13 inches. At dawn, met Jeff M across the FAA Gate and we had instant success on small specks. Moved to Dolphin Bay and Lake Laurier and found a few larger specks to 16 inches, but mostly good-sized sand trout. And one Redzilla sitting in open water that I snagged in the tail thinking I had another trout. The beast pulled my yak around for about 10 minutes before the hook pulled free. About 2pm, I pulled out, loaded the yak on top and headed north. Stopped just north of Leeville to check Bayou Lafourche out, and yes, the specks are already in the bayou! When I went back into the Highlander, it wouldn't start. Not even a sound. Checked everything - fuses, battery connection, yada, yada, nothing worked wouldn't start. Mr. Bobby of Bobby Lynns Marina offered to jumpstart my vehicle. That didn't work, so he offered to take me into Golden Meadow where I could buy a new battery. He even went so far as to take out the old battery and put in the new one. The new battery worked indeed. I offered Bobby some gas money, he refused, and being a good Christian, asked that I donate it to church or a charity instead. Anywho, we talked quite a bit during this time, I learned a lot about this man and his wife and the struggles all the folks who live on the bayou are having to deal with in the aftermath of Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike, all those bad girls and boys. If you have an opportunity to fish around Leeville - and right now the fishing is unbelievably good - then consider staying at Bobby Lynn's.
Catch	Grand Isle
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Only thing worse than the stock market	01 October 2008
right now is fishing in some of the local ponds. Even my neighborhood lake, which usually has great bass fishing this time of year. Fish are just laying up along the weeds as if in a coma. Master Jake and I have been out the last three afternoons before sunset. Yesterday we hit another pond, and I landed one small bass. Another fisherman asked me, "What's your secret?" Told him I was chumming caffeine. It can only get better from here.
Catch	BR
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Trash Fish Slam...almost	28 September 2008
Launched out of Port Fourchon on Friday morning. The nearshore rigs were seemingly devoid of life. I slowly worked my way further offshore hitting every rig and satellite for a couple of casts. I finally found a couple of small rigs with hard tails stacked up on the surface. While not much of a fight, they were fun to catch and couldn't resist a gummy minnow placed close to the rig. The sounder showed fish stacked up on the up current side. So, I sent a large fly down on a sinking line. After three straight hookups and breakoffs, I finally got a solid hookup, a nice runoff and after several laps around the boat, I landed a nice 15-20 lb king. After a quick pic and release, and as I'm cleaning up the boat, I look up to see a pod of false albacore busting on top 20 yards off the side of the boat. I chased pods for the next hour or so getting a couple of follows but no hookups. So, I ended up short of a trash fish slam.
Another Jeaux	GOM, Port Fourchon
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Catch's bass	22 September 2008
Honorable Sir. I commend you on your recent catch. However, had you attended the AFR's "Inches Tournament" on Saturday last, you might have done a tad bit better than "a bass". As an example, lil ole me got ten to 17 inches that morning. No, I wasn't "top gun", since I disqualified myself before the competition began. However, I am proud to say that in my disqualified state, I kicked some serious butt! Shame that you weren't there to contest it. XOX Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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Caught a real, live bass	20 September 2008
I know a lot of folks are catching bass and bream right now. But rather than use a dipnet and scoop them up as they come up for their last and final gulp of air, I decided to take a different approach and use a lure - specifically, a fly - to entice a healthy bass to eat it. First, you need to fish a lake that doesn't have rotting fish. Lake Dickson here in Shreveport qualifies. Second, use a fly the fish will eat. Only got to fish for a couple hours early this morning, but an olive beadhead fluff butt seemed to get more action than a popper or a glass minnow despite lots of surface activity.
Catch	Shreveport
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Looking better	18 September 2008
Starting to see quite a few reds in the shallows around Lake Charles and lots of shrimp. No signs of a big fish kill. I got a report from Fourchon today and hear there's a lot of reds in the marsh. Most can be seen off side of the road. Can't wait to get after them!!
Capt Devin Palomino	Lake Charles,LA
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Made it down to Fourchon	06 September 2008
Went down to Fourchon to help clean up my buddy's camp Wed. The area had about 3-4ft of surge with a lot of mud and debris. The beach in Grand Isle is now on the road and the only way to get there is by atv or by air. The marsh looks great and October fishing should be on fire.
Capt Devin Palomino	Fourchon
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The Basin - After Gus	05 September 2008
Chip and I made a run north of Flat Lake this AM to survey and random sample the area. Found lots of willows down - and lots still standing, and with plenty of leaves on them. There were some places that had black stinking water - and some places with very good water. And there was evidence of at least a minor fish kill - gogs and bluegills from what we could see. There was also good evidence of very lively fish, most notably some gorgeous sac-a-lait! I got four to 1-9 on flies and Chip got eight or ten more on jigs, and we released several small ones, three bass, and a healthy goggle-eye. So, it doesn't look really terrible, but it may be too soon yet to know. We'll see - keep your fingers crossed! Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Cade, La.
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Making lemonade out of a hurricane	05 September 2008
We evacuated due to the threat of Gustav and decided to head to Heber Springs. They were generating Monday afternoon but I did manage to catch a couple of trout off of the boat house in front of our cabin swinging a clouser. Tuesday morning they weren't generating so I waded out across from my cabin and fished for a little while. I caught 9 trout but quit early because my waders were leaking and I was freezing. Wednesday, with my backup, non leaky waders on I spent 2 more hours fishing the hole across from my cabin and landed 22 trout up to 15 inches. By Wednesday afternoon hte water had gotten muddy from rain runoff, and they generated all day Thursday so that was the end of my fishing. We had a nice time in Heber, it's a great little town.
Ron Begnaud	Little Red River
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<'))))><	01 September 2008
Folks, news from the Cade Coopers' backyard at 0840 9-1-08 indicates that fishing in Lake Martin won't be too good today. Maybe tomorrow - or not! Just thought I'd pass that along. Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Cade, La
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Urban Angling with… well Catch already used Amigos… how about The Three Stooges!	25 August 2008
Jack Dial, Dave McDougal and I made the trek to New Orleans last Friday to fish City Park Lakes and Bayou St. John. We caught many Rios and a few bass to boot! Later Jack took us to a great little deli on St. Charles Ave where we enjoyed an awesome roast beef po-boy and washed it down with a good old Barq’s Root Beer. Then, a trip to Uptown Angler where we did a little shopping with Alec Griffin. Dang near a perfect day!
Larry Offner	New Orleans
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PAC	19 August 2008
Fished Point aux Chenes on sunday. there was alot of action in the morning. caught 4 reds and a flounder(2 reds on spoon, 2 and a flounder on a chatter bait). Should have caught more, but i had a few moments of uncoordination. water was high in the morning and was higher when we left
LSUFlyFishing
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Boondocks Angling of Two (Almost) Old Farts	11 August 2008
Dennis and I ran all over Rockefeller Sunday, burned over nine gallons in his 25 Merc, saw over 32 alligators, and boxed one minature flounder. We ain't proud, but we're fishing! Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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Urban Angling with the Three Amigos	10 August 2008
Larry Offner, Kyle Moppert, and myself spent the day fishing the numerous waterways in and around New Orleans City Park, including the park lagoons, golf course lakes and Bayou St. John. We "Three Amigos" started with high hopes, but the rios made us look like the Three Stooges instead. We caught a decent number of fish, even a couple dozen "keeper size", and a lot of small bass to boot, but not nearly the numbers we had been catching. No, they haven't been harvested out. They are MEGA-BEAUCOUP rios around. In fact, one small lake we probably had a couple dozen come to the fly every cast. And that's about all that would happen... they'd come to the fly, follow it and swim away. Or if they did bite, they nibbled. Most of the time I felt like I was fishing sacalait, the bite was so subtle. Very frustrating for a species that supposedly eats first, asks whats for dinner later. The sun and the heat also took a toll on our casting prowess: we left many of our flies in the trees. Despite these setbacks, we had a really good time fishing together, not to mention excellent po-boys for lunch. We plan to go back when it's a bit cooler and the rios have an apetite.
Catch	New Orleans
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Site casting for Rios... Huh?	08 August 2008
I loved the Orvis Superfine 1 wt. so much that I purchased from Alec at Uptown Angler that I decided to purchase a Superfine 3 wt. (Pete! You're right the 1 wt. is a toy... but I love it!) Anywho, I went to Bayou St. John on my way home and gave the 3 wt. a test spin. The Rios were everywhere in the shallow clear water along the bank. I caught a butt load of them in the 45 minutes I was there. The largest was 8" long. Urban angling? Ditch fishing? Who cares… it’s a hoot!
Uncle "L"	Bayou St. John
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Specks in the Surf	30 July 2008
Got a phone call from Jack Dial this a.m. from down on Grand Isle. Jack says Marc Pinsel brought in 10 big trout from the surf yesterday afternoon/evening when some heavy overcast moved in. Water was like glass and visibility was good - perfect speck-in-the-surf conditions.
Joe Kahler
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Dog Days Bream	28 July 2008
It has been a high water year and the bream catch has been good into the heat of July so Randy and I wanted to get in at least one more good trip to the clear water canals near Bay Alcide. Reports in the paper had some good reports from Lake Verret area so we were excited. We were on the fishing hole by 9:30 AM and found the water and bank on our selected canal immediately to our liking. Rigging up with our favorite jitterbees under vosi we started off with some pretty good luck with some nice 6 to 7 inch dark colored males. I used a chartreuse color and Randy the typical black and chartreuse. The catch gradually got better with some real nice 8 inch bream showing up. Like specks, bream also have a second spawning peak and we definately found breeding bream. Most of those we kept were nice males but I cleaned one nice 6 inch female heavy with eggs. We ended up keeping 22 bream out of 40 plus caught and one catfish. So you might keep a look out for spawning bream for a little while longer despite the heat. A lot of fun even in the dog days. On the bird front I kept looking for some Ivory Bill woodpeckers but had to do with a lot of noisy Pilieateds instead but I will keep looking.
Dugan	Out of Bayou Corne
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Quick trips to the Bathtub	20 July 2008
Spent the extended weekend in Sulphur for the State Long Course Swimming Championships. Brought the yak and flytackle along just in case Cokie and her Crawfish Aquatics teammates had some free time between competition on Friday and Saturday. The only free time ended up being between 1pm and 3:30pm each day, probably the worst time to fish in late summer. With such a short window of opportunity, that meant fishing Lake Prien, sometimes referred to by local anglers as "The Bathtub" because it's not nearly as productive as Big Lake (except in the fall, but that's our little secret, ok?) On Friday, a thunderstorm kept me in port, and ended up fishing off the bank around the big boat launch. Lots of bank fishing area there now, but the fish were uncooperative. One rat red, and three ladyfish. On Saturday, I was able to launch the Caper. Boat traffic was heavy, mostly jet skis and pleasure boats, yet I did quite well for a 2-hour trip in the heat of the day... a 17" red, four keeper-size specks, and a couple dozen ladyfish. All on a clouser 30" under a vosi.
Catch	Lake Charles
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Lake Charles Reds	14 July 2008
Give 'em hell, Ron! Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade. la
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Not to beat a dead horse...but	14 July 2008
Another great day in the marsh. Saturday 7/12 Capt. Devin Palomino and I got out in the marsh. We landed 30 redfish and one black drum, lost about another dozen redfish in the thick grass. Tails and backs everywhere. After catching about a dozen on spoon flies, we decided to make it interesting and started throwing poppers. Nothing finer than shallow water reds on top.
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Marsh
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Amazing Year Continues	06 July 2008
My buddy Maj. Wylie Huffman is about to be transfered from Fort Polk to Levinworth Kansas. Thursday me and the family drove up to his house for a feast of quail. While up there Wylie and I conspired for a little fishing action on Friday so that he could catch "one more" redfish before moving to the fishless flatlands. We made a long run into the marsh Friday morning and got into an area of ponds and flats that were created by hurricane Rita. Redfish were everywhere, backs, tails, blowups and more. The grass was so thick that all we could fish were spoons, we boated 13 reds, had 19 on, I lost 4 in a row because I had been experimenting with some changes to my spoon flies and succeeded only in creating a "fishless" fly. we could have caught many more but we weren't fishing very hard, we were spending a lot of time goofing around with a video camera and slr.. It was a great send off for Wylie, and produced some good groceries for a blackened redfish feast on Saturday. Tight Lines, Ron
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Estuary
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The Sheepshead Whisperer	05 July 2008
Thursday Master Jake and I took "The Red Sticker" to Basons, launching just after sunrise. Our trusty Guide 147 proved it's name appropriate: within minutes two reds were landed on a perch float popper Jake worked inside the grass. After a few blowups and misses, Jake switched to coma spoon and landed three more reds, two drum, one sheepshead, one flounder, one trout and a couple gar, all released except the drum and flounder. (Being a drum or flounder is an automatic death sentence) Then the Master turned his full attention to the sheep which are THICK in this marsh right now. Seven sheep were hooked up on the coma spoon, must be a record? After pushpoling him all morning, Dad finally got his shot. Managed no sheep but did catch one speck and one red. What a speck was doing in inches of water I haven't a clue. The Master's dominance of the Goats Heads continues to amaze me.
Catch	Galliano
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Gulf Specks	02 July 2008
Finally! We've been killing 'em both along the beach (Minor killing at Tee Butte) and offshore (Major killing!), but conditions have been either too windy, too much current, or too muddy to fly fish. Today in the Eugene Island 60's Dr. Metz and I were finally able to pass a fly across 'em. Total was I think 48 with over half on fly. Sinking lines and weighted flies (And not only purple ones!) did the trick. Fish ranged from 15 to 20 inches and probably averaged over 18. And yeah, I confess, the good Doctor waxed me (Maybe there's a better word to use there, but you should get the point!)! Life is still good - hope it remains so. Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Cade, La.
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Schooltime	01 July 2008
I decided to splurge on a tank of gas and headed down to Fourchon early Friday morning to catch what looked like a early window of opportunity according to the hour by hour chart on weather.com. Well they were right about the sunny-partly cloudy but were off a little on the wind. (Even if you use the X2 formula) The water was also very high and off color and I soon realized this day would probably be better off chasing specks. I ended up catching a couple dozen here and there along with a few white trout and catfish (Cats love the clouser-vosi combo) but only a few keepers. I ended up seeing no redfish but this is where the story begins. Early on I was poling along the bank of a large lake beginning to realize this was going to be fruitless when I saw a nice redfish wake heading towards me. I cast my fly over and sure enough he grabbed it and I raised up on him. Well most feel that summer is vacation time but this guy took me to school. He charged right at me faster than I could strip in the 30-40 feet of line so from the start, advantage him. When the red got close to my kayak and I almost got to see him, he woke up and abruptly did a 180 zipping off line and then backing just before I could establish line control. The reel handle popped my hand a few times leaving a bad bruise or two as I was trying to palm the reel to get a better drag on him. My gelspun backing is also similar colored to the fly line so as I was feeling for it I ended up with line burns and assorted cuts. The fish continued in a beeline hugging the shore for about 100yds. I finetuned my drag and was starting to feel in control when he went on another furious run whipping off another 50 yds in a flash, and once again my hand was in the wrong place. The red never veered an inch off course, about 150 yards. I felt that sudden release of tension and knew that class was over and I had not passed. My loop to loop connection between the tippet and leader had broken. I have caught many many reds on a fly but right now I can't remember a single one, but I will never forget this one-which I never saw and the one that got away.
JeffM	Fourchon
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First Okhissa experience	30 June 2008
After a fine late Saturday afternoon trip to BREC Sherwood Lake wetted my apetite for freshwater fishing, I switched plans and tackle for Sunday's trip. Rather than head to the coast, I went north to Lake Concordia. Four hours on the water produced a grand total of 6 keeper bream. The worst summer trip I've made to this lake. Pulled out and went across to Old River Vidalia. This oxbow is connected to the river, and right now the water is nice green clear, but still very high. There are monster bream to be had when the water's right. Didn't get a chance to find out, as a storm came on just minutes after putting in my yak. Since the day was still early, decided to detour my trip home through Bude, MS and give Okhissa a look-see. Picked up a $10 one-day license at Fenn's just south of the lake entrance, where I also got a lake map. The north launch near the dam is where the skiing area is and very deep. The south launch is in an idle zone, and in a shallow bay. "Shallow" being relative term... in several spots my 25-foot anchor rope couldn't make bottom! Having read Glen Davis (Blindhog) blog on flyfishing Okhissa, I decided to go with on a fairly thin 10-foot leader on my floating line, and a 1/124 jighead olive fluff butt to get deep. First hour or so, caught a lot of small bass but few bream. Switched to a commie rod and plastic worm for bass and caught a couple nice bass. Then I hooked into a couple more that broke my tackle! Better bring the A-stuff for these fish. Occasionally I'd get a love tap on my worm, indication of a bream. But about 5pm, the love taps were coming every cast, so I switched back to the fly rod and the fluff butt. For the next couple hours, those famed Okhissa bream did all they could to put a permanent bend in my 5-weight rod. Kept a dozen, including two 10 inches, and released the rest. Looking forward to another trip in the fall!
Catch	Vidalia, Bude
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Gore Economics	25 June 2008
Yesterday afternoon spent $0.00 on gas, traveled 0.2 miles to the neighborhood lake on bicycle. Caught 2 small bass. That equates to $0 per fish. Brought back mud on my sandals... at least my footprint contained no carbon. Al Gore would've been pleased, even if my wife wasn't. Fishing in the lake has been tough, it's overrun with hydrilla. Water clear as a bathtub. Plenty of small bass and bream, but they look at your flies and laugh.
Catch	BR
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Economics 51	21 June 2008
100.14 miles today, $195 worth of gas, four specks, and one red. Think it's time to try Lake Martin again - it's cheaper! Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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A day late?	18 June 2008
Finally got my Father's Day trip to Grand Isle yesterday, about three days after planned, and from what I gathered, about one day after the specks were running good in the surf. Arrived just before sunrise to a wonderful flat sea. Immediately connected on one 18" trout and two throwbacks using a chartreuse Perch Float Popper. But once the sun came up, the action died. Moved to a couple more spots, using a variety of flies and still only managed two more throwbacks. By 10am, still no action, and I was about the only one left. So left for the marsh and launched the yak near Lake Laurier. Once again, the tide was unusually high and the wind wasn't helping (the 5-10 forecast turned out to be more like 15-20). Maybe the full moon, but very little speck action, no diving birds, nothing. Fished until 3pm and only managed a 7.5 pound red, two rats, and half-dozen 13" specks. On the plus side... got to hear the end of the LSU-Rice game and another dramatic comeback finish for the Tigers.
Catch	Grand Isle
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Low Water	17 June 2008
On the way into the island on Friday the 13th, my wife dropped me off along the side of the side with kayak and fly rod in hand. I wasn't sure she was coming back, but didn't much care as after a full week of putting up with the world, it was time for a little R&R. Low tide was about an hour away and I had to wade through the muck to get the boat to float. I did manage to land one red about 17", spotted one more as well as a couple of sheepshead but could not get in position for a shot. The rest of the weekend was a washout with only a little obligatory comie fishing with the inlaws to report. Even there the specks ran numberous, but small.
Chad Abell	Grand Isle
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Better dark than bright	16 June 2008
My nephew and I fished Fathers Day afternoon at my sister-in-laws pond. We had been doing well late on bass and bream with chartreuse popping bugs, but not yesterday. They'd just stare it down. Switched to dark green frog poppers and black foam spiders and our "luck" greatly improved. Looks like summer patterns are well established.
Catch	BR
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Caspiana	09 June 2008
I went to Lake Caspiana off the Red River Sunday after church for 2 1/2 hours between 2:30p.m. and 5:00p.m. with my 8 year old. I wanted to try some of the flies he and I tied. I did not get any hits on a black and yellow jitter bee, greenie weenie, or an orange foam spider my son made. I tied on a store bought popper and got hits from tiny fish, but could not catch them. It was very hot! The highlight was when my son picked up a bright green grass snake that was trying to cross the lake. We took pics and let the snake go.
Brad Wren	Shreveport
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Caught and Ate	02 June 2008
This past weekend was the Red Stick club's annual Spring Catch-and-Eat marsh trip (not to be confused with the club's Fall Catch-and-Eat, or the two Fish-and-Fry freshwater outings, or their Grand Isle Feastathon). There has never been a C&E where the participants went hungry and this was no exception. Minus a few exceptions, Saturday fishing was tough. Still, more than enough specks, reds, drum, sheepshead, sand trout, and flounder were caught to feed the masses. Also, those who went on Friday did very well, much better than on Saturday. Count me in that bunch. On Friday, fished west side of Lake Laurier. Flocks of birds all over the place, so were the trout. Landed loads of 11-inch fish and 15 keepers up to 18 inches, mostly on a tan/white shrimp pattern or chartreuse clouser under a large vosi. A 27-inch red that gave me a sleigh ride and a 15-inch red were also caught and released using a Coma Spoon. Three other reds were "quick released" after they swam into heavy grass. Saturday took the canoe back to Laurier, this time with John Landry. John did well early on specks using a Cooper-style perch-float popper. Later he switched to a white ultra-clouser that imitated the multitudes of shrimp in the water. Same locations hot on Friday yielded few or no specks this day. We only found one school of birds in the lake, but it kept John busy as they'd hit both the vosi and the dropper clouser as soon as the cast hit the water. Sunday I headed home early - no marsh fishing - but did make a detour to New Orleans and did some fishing for Rio Grande Perch. The Rios seem to be getting bigger in the City Park lagoons, mostly 6-7 inches using jitterbees and tussel bugs. Caught one 9-inch fish in Bayou St John and broke off on one that might've been 2 pounds on a LSU Fluff Butt (yellow tail, purple ice chenille body). All Rios were safely released.
Catch	SE LA
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The Alligator Indication	28 May 2008
This AM Roger Stouff and I hit Lake Martin and never had a strike! Not even from a bream! Incidentally, the alligators were lying on the logs, not swimming around like all decent self-respective alligators should be. Anyway, a correlation arose - alligators lying on logs are sort of like cows lying down in the fields. Bad dookie for fishing! Think about it. Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Cade, La.
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Lake Concordia & Lake St. John	28 May 2008
I fished Lake Concordia and Lake St. John with my best bud Junebug13 this past weekend. The lakes are both located near Ferriday, LA. We caught some nice stump knocker bluegill and a few catfish on the fly. We used chartreuse/black, red/black and olive/black Jitterbees fished under a strike indicator. We caught a great deal of our catfish and bluegill with the red/back Jitterbee. Although I always carry red/black Jitterbees in my fly box, this is probably the first time I fished that color combination. My hat’s off to Randy Leonpacker, creator of the pattern. Randy told me that red/black is his favorite color combination and now I think it’s mine too! Link to some photos: http://www.warmfly.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=991.0
Larry Offner	Ferriday, LA
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High Water Fishing	26 May 2008
Put in at the first bridge and went to the duck ponds to the south. The tide was forecast to be around -.1 to +.1 ft at first light. Instead, it was closer to 1.0 ft and raising. Never saw a tail all day. Caught several 6 to 8 pounders (per the Boga), and two rat reds. I fished in the lee of the bank and could see underwater movement on the glassy surface. Not quite like sight casting to tailing reds, but still productive. Good practice for the RSFF Catch and Eat next weekend.
Mike LaFleur	Highway 1
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Bass on at Bassons'	24 May 2008
Had the great pleasure of canoe guiding Master Jake today in the marshes behind Basson' Marina. Fishing with Jake is never dull. For instance, around sunrise, he was catching small bass... yes, largemouth bass... on buzz baits (commie rod) and pencil poppers (fly rod). After that the fishing digressed to those stupid ol' redfish. The heavy grass made for interesting situations after the fish was hooked. At best, the reds just got off. At worst, they broke off swimming away with my prized pencil poppers and Coma Spoons. The inventory is now nearly bare... the tying desk will be busy! But a few reds were landed, including two "tournament fish". Also caught: several undersized black drum, a couple dozen undersized trout, and several goats. The Master would spot the goats in the grass, then teased them with a Coma Spoon. Biggest goat was a monster... 6 1/4 pounds on the Gripper! BTW... where was those 5 knot winds, Mr. Weatherman?
Catch Cormier	Galliano
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Lake Martin	22 May 2008
Damn, guys, three in a row. Whazzup - no one else fishing?Lake Martin gave up one if its little jewels this morning - 20 1/2 inches and weighing 4-1. Hit a yellow popper on top of a sunken log along the lake's east bank. Two other smaller ones were on the same pattern. The bite was over at seven.I was told Wildlife and Fisheries sprayed the lake yesterday - didn't seem to hurt the fishing any. At least, not yet.Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Cade, La.
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News Flash!	19 May 2008
By the way, check out the excellent pic of two excellent fly fishermen and an excellent cobia in the June issue of Louisiana Game and Fish.Excellent!Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la
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Indian Creek Reservoir	19 May 2008
Decided to look at some new surroundings this morning. Conditions began great - cloudy, foggy, and coolish. Nothing like a little help on your first trip to a new spot. Began with a big popper - and caught a little bluegill with it! Then a very nice (If there is such a thing) choupique showed some tentative interest, and I eventually coerced it to eat. Neat stuff! But I didn't get the hook stuck, and shortly the beast gave me back my popper. After that only a few "gobbules" and one tiny bass.That's a pretty lake, but I couldn't find the pattern this AM - little flies, big flies, and sinking flies. Maybe I need to speculate it a few more times. It's good canoe water! Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Cade, la.
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C. Bickham Dickson	12 May 2008
I went to Bickham Sunday evening with my two little boys. Caught 2 little sunfish, had a hit from something bigger. I was using a chatreuse and black jitter bee. We were fishing by a pipe with running water. Had a good time.
Brad Wren	Shreveport
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Levee Rebuild	07 May 2008
I made campground reservations at GISP for a Boy Scout trip this weekend. Yesterday I got notified by the park service that the Corps of Engineers will start pumping sand back onto the beach at GISP and using other heavy equipment there starting around May 7th and running 24/7 for about 45 days. "For the duration of the project there will be no beach access, possibly no fishing and there will be noise throughout the day and night."I don't know to what extent the beach outside the park will be impacted as well. I presume they will start at the park and move down the island. While this is a PITA at this time, it will result in the return of beach camping at the park and better coastal protection for that end of the island.
Colin McCormick	Grand Isle State Park
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The weathermen get a reprieve	05 May 2008
It's a conspiracy! The forecasters at the National Weather Service, Intellicast Windcast, WAFB-TV, etc. are out to torture us flyrodders. Why else would they ALL predicted 5 knots or less for this morning on the coast. Noahvale and I deprived ourselves of much-needed sleep to get to Lake Laurier as early as possible. Visions of reds and specks busting topwater flies danced in our heads. Instead we found the wind howling 15 to 20. The scumbuckets get to live another day, because (1) at least no gnats and (2) by noon it calmed down considerably, enabling us to use our yaks to chase schools of specks under birds. A lot of throwbacks trout, a fair number of keepers, a nice drum, a nice red, one HUGE speck missed by NV, and a visit from the Lake Laurier Loon.
Catch	Grand Isle
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lake martin bream	03 May 2008
Hey folks - I ate some fair-sized Lake Martin bluegills last night that had only been scaled, gutted, and headed, and found them to be awfully pungent. I suggest that similar-sized fish that have been taken from this lake should be filleted and skinned before eating, at least for a while.Bon apetite.Pete
pete cooper, jr.	cade, la.
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Brief synopsis of RSFF Concordia trip	28 April 2008
Not one of our best Concordia weekends... bream were tight to cover and very picky eaters. A black/chartreuse jitterbee or tussel bug under a VOSI got pecked on rather than swallowed, even by the stumpknockers. Still, enough fish caught overall to feed the masses that attended. Personally, I found my stretch of water that produced so well on three previous trips to be extremely tough.. only 7 keepers on Friday afternoon. Kudos to Dirk Burton for sharing his "secrets" that helped me (and others) double our success on Saturday. Even with slow fishing, it was a great weekend. Cloudy but no rain and cool on Saturday, lots of comradery and an opportunity to see new flies, some interesting kayak/canoe rigging, and delve into good food!
Catch	Ferriday
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A Grande Day at NO City Park	21 April 2008
Rio Grande, that is. Nothing like the ice chests of cichlids they caught a couple weeks back. Maybe most of the big ones have been removed? But still caught a whole lot of 5-inch fish, some larger including two "Brainiacs", a dozen nice bream, and even five bass! Most of the action came late in the afternoon, either on black/chartreuse jitterbee or olive fluff butt. Fished some of the ponds south of 610, and a very small stretch of Bayou St. John. Nice weather, and the sounds of a live jazz band in the vicinty made for an enjoyable afternoon of fishing.
Catch	Geaux Hornets!
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These Are The Good Old Days	21 April 2008
Saturday Major Wylie Huffman came down from Fort Polk and we hit the marsh. Started the morning on redfish schooling under birds in about 18 inches of clear water in a large marsh lake. The fish were cruising over the widgeon grass chasing shrimp and slurping off the surface like brown trout during a midge hatch. We took the opportunity to catch some on top with Dahlburg Divers. Nothings more exciting than taking redfish on top with a fly rod. After putting a number of fish in the boat, the schools started to kind of break up, so we pushed into some adjoining broken marsh. While we were only a few hundred yards from where we caught the schooling fish, it was an entirely different kind of fishing, casting to singles and doubles cruising banks. The fish even looked different. The ones we caught schooling were very bright because the water they were in was clear, just a few hundred yards away in the back marsh, the water was more stained and the fish more pale. Every pothole and trail had fish in it, every spot we checked was loaded. We fished until about 1:30pm and ended the day with 29 redfish hooked and 25 boated.
Ron Begnaud	Lake Charles - Calcasieu Estuary
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Kisatchie Bayou	17 April 2008
Three days this week on Kisatchie Bayou yielded 26 spots, out of which 8 were respectable. Keith Cascio fished with me Tuesday and got seven more. No effort was longer than three hours - today was 1 1/2 hours. Size 6 poppers accounted for all the fish, most of which were taken around the Rec Area. The cool, clear, running water was SOOOOO good! Fish are apparently spawning, so don't be greedy, but if you can, go! The forest, the creek, and the bass are at their best.Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Cade, La
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Concordia not there yet!	14 April 2008
Got a late start on Saturday, but headed to Concordia anyway. Arrived at noon and fished until 4:30pm. Maybe it was the high pressure and strong west winds, but couldn't find any beds. Just like last time, the gobbules were down 6 to 10 feet. Managed about three dozen, kept 18 over 7 1/2" up to 9". About a third on vosi/ black/chartreuse jitterbee, a third on 1/80 jighead olive fluff butt, a third on commie jig. A group staying at the Lodge were cleaning 37 catfish. Could only managed one cat myself and it broke off right at the yak.
Catch	Vidalia
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Gills!	08 April 2008
I put my kayak in a neighborhood pond late yesterday afternoon. The pond is full of small bass. I could see the bass chasing the smaller bream that I could as I pulled them in. Some of the ones I caught have signs of bass attacks. I caught a couple of the bass, all small. I kept these bream, probably caught another two dozen throwbacks. After I pulled my kayak up right at dark, I tossed the foam spider along the bank where I had caught several bass on previous trips and caught the three largest bream of the day, one right after the other.Picture here: http://lafishing.blogspot.com
Noahvale	Baton Rouge, LA
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Grass and Reds at Bason's	06 April 2008
Fished Bason's this a.m. What a beautiful day! Something tells me there won't be many more cool ones like this. Grass is strong in the usual places, and the Reds are milling about looking for crabs, just as the normally do this time of year. The place looks like a big bowl of court bouillon! Another week or so, and the peak of the spring season at Bason's should be upon us.
Joe Kahler	Baton Rouge
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Tough day on the water yesterday.	06 April 2008
Made my final trip yesterday before the new arival on my son. Myself and partner Ricky Turner fished the marsh just to the south west of Lake Mechant. The wind and crazy falling tide yesterday was hard to do what we wanted to do. We managed to have a really good day catching 5 reds, 1 speck and 2 flounders which I will be putting in my application to be placed into the state books if approved. We saw alot of fish but they were on the spooky side. We did hook up a few more times but they managed to get away on what I call a signature catch and release but not with a tag, instead it was with our flies. All in all we had a blast and the fish are very plentiful in the DuLarge area. Can't wait till we get into the summer to get hooked up with the 12lb. to 15lb. reds that just scream off the line and get into the backing. Untill next time keep Chasing The Tails.Stephen M. Robert
Stephen M. Robert	Bayou DuLarge
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Concordia Tempation	04 April 2008
Randy and I got tempeted by Lake Concordia last Saturday for an early bream run. Following in a previous report from Catch, we gave the lake our full attention like it was regular bream time. Randy had already warmed things up having been at Concordia for two days with family and mostly runing yo yos for catfish and cane pole fishing for bream with grandsons. He had almost two dozen nice channels up to 5 pounds in the box. Our bream trip took us to the upper end of the lake from Lakeview Lodge as far as we could get into the trees before the grass clogged the trolling motor. We hit typical late March weather, rainy and cool for late morning and early afternoon followed by warm and sunny in mid afternoon. We found some slab size bull bream both redear and bluegill beginning to gather along the shoreline and put 10 nice ones to 10 inches in the box. I finished the catching, all on jitterbees under vosi including the one I tied the week before, with a nice 3 pound channel cat. When the sun came out strong, contrary to normal convention, the bite stoped! So the big bream are beginning to wake from their winter nap and are stirring along the shoreline but not bedding yet at least at Concordia. But by Red Stick time on the lake, April 25-27 it should be just right.Dugan
Dugan Sabins	Lake Concordia
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L.M. One More Time	03 April 2008
The bigger bluegills are becoming more active, as are the gogs and a few bass. Tried for bass early and caught some filleting-sized 'gills and gogs, then scaled down a bit to enhance the 'gill potential and caught a really nice bass - and no 'gills! I hate that lake!But it's got some nice fish in it, and they are biting. East bank in the big cypresses. Size 6 poppers (Miss Prissy) will give you the best chance for a mixed catch.Since the weather Saturday is supposed to be a bit crappie, go to the AFR conclave!Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Cade, dammit, not Broussard, La.!
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Lake Martin Again	28 March 2008
Hope I'm not beginning to sound like a broken record. Remember what those were? Anyway, I caught a ton of mini-bluegills this AM along with four really nice ones - filleting-sized - on a size 10 yellow sponge spider. Also had a small redear and similar-sized warmouth - my first from that lake. All fish were taken while rising to bugs, and it lasted from sunrise to around eleven when the wind picked up. They'd probably take a size 10 Adams better, if you are so inclined. I'm not. Whatever, look for the rings and cast to the ones with the most commotion. Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Cuts along old Hwy 51	24 March 2008
I fished the cuts along old Hwy 51 on my way to visit uptown Angler last Thursday. I caught a 13" bass on a Mickey Finn I had just tied the night before. I was shocked that I got any hits at all on the 51 corridor, especially after all the rain. It just goes to show... LUCK COUNTS!
Larry Offner	Hwy 51
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Basson's Friday	24 March 2008
Got caught on #310 in a back-up caused by a BAD accident Friday a.m., but launched at Basson's at sun-up despite the 30 minute wait. Within an hour had three reds to hand - one undersized; two GOOD sized. Came around the corner on one frequently visited little cove, and had to pick which tail I would cast to first. Strong fish with lots of fight in them, they did NOT want to come quietly. By 9:30, it was over. Bright blue sky and increasing wind scattered the feeders. Saw a couple more as I explored the area, but they weren't actively feeding. Water was off color (probably from all the wind we've been having); grass was growing, but not yet breaking the surface as it normally does at Spring prime. When I opened up my catch, stomachs were full of little crabs and grass. Apparently they were taking a little salad with the main course.
Joe Kahler
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Concordia first trip	23 March 2008
Went to Concordia yesterday. Didn't figure on doing much, two weeks ago they had snowflakes in Vidalia. Expected to see some residual ice on top of 400-foot Mount Dolorosa while driving up Hwy 61. Didn't see any, so figured it was now warm enough to catch bream. Did catch a couple dozen, mostly 6.5-8.5 inches, three keeper yellow bass, one nice catfish. Fish were deep - 6-10 feet so most caught on commie jig. But the catfish hit jitterbee under a vosi. Give it another two weeks and should be prime time.
Catch	Vidalia
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Lake Martin	22 March 2008
Didn't realize Friday was a holiday and part of spring break hereabouts, and found around 50 boats on Lake Martin. Still, there were lots of bugs hatching and a blanket of dead ones on the water, and a few bluegills, etc., were rising to them between the passings of the boat-wakes. They should be doing well on the "calmer" days now. Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Good afternoon at the pond	21 March 2008
Took my older boy fishing yesterday afternoon, he caught 2 bass and a few bream on poppers, I caught one bass on woolybugger. We spotted a lot of bass guarding beds, none big, likely males.
Catch
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No mo' Mo torna-doe!	15 March 2008
Jeff Brown, Bill Brown and myself - survivors of the "Generation Off/On/Off" RSFF March Brown trip - had a great time today fishing to lots of rising trout. For about 3 hours, obscene numbers of trout fell for either a parachute adams, a Smidge or AW Emerger. Watching the trout rise to a dry is one of the great thrills in life. Almost as thrilling as my journey to Hope Friday evening. I decided to fish around Shreveport yesterday, for reasons to be revealed later. (Incidently, did very well on bass and hand-sized bream at Ford Park). While driving north from Cypress Bayou Rec Area, the sky was clear, but when I reached Plain Dealing, ominous clouds appeared ahead. Within minutes, I was driving thru a hailstorm, high winds, and fingers of lightning. When I got to Hope, it appeared the worst was over. I checked into the motel, turned on the TV, and the Shreveport stations were tracking multiple tornados. I went to shower, and just as I got out, the sirens went off. I threw on some clothes and peaked out the window and the wind was "cyclonic". I ducked under the bed and waited until I heard some folks in the parking lot outside talking. The discussion was about the "funnel cloud". Didn't stick around to hear details, this is one thing I'd rather know nothing about!
Catch
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lake martin	10 March 2008
For sure my news cannot beat Jim Thompson's 9-pound bass, but nice-sized sac-a-lait on poppers are worth mentioning! The bite started around mid-day - just about the time I was getting rather tired. The fish were in the cypresses in two to three feet of clear water, and they ate a short sparkly-white size 4 popper like bass. Loved it! So much so, in fact, that I'll be headed back after the upcoming weather settles, and nuts to the redfish! Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Weekend Redfish	10 March 2008
This past weekend Devin Palamino and I fished with some gentlemen from Montana, Colorado and Texas. Saturday morning we were greeted with chilly temperatures, windy conditions and very muddy water. Because of the wind and water conditions sight fishing was pretty much out, but our guest still managed decent days blind casting in about 16 inches of water. Later in the afternoon, after the water had dropped out considerably, the wind layed down and we were able to do some sight fishing, casting to wakes, tales and backs.Sunday morning it wasn't quite as cool or windy, but the water was still muddy and was a good bit higher. It was blind casting again, but the redfish were really in a mood to eat. We found the fish early and staked out, over 40 redfish were boated on fly in my boat without ever moving. We experemented and really proved the theory of dark flies for dark water. Good sized black flies with a little bulk to them were by far most productive, mostly weighted seaduecers tied in black and red. Spoons were fairly effective too, but the black flies had the edge. Other colors and patterns didn't come close. I wonder what it's going to be like when it warms up a little and the fishing gets good.
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Estuary
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This weekend	03 March 2008
Honey-dos and other at-home activities kept my fishing close to base (again). But situation improving... four bass late Friday at the neighborhood pond on a black fluff butt, loads of bream at Sherwood Lake late Saturday on popping bugs, and three bass late yesterday at Waddill on spoon fly. The bass are not on the beds yet, but "looking".
Catch
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Rockefeller	25 February 2008
The winter bite in the Deep Lake canals at Rockefeller seems to be over, with only two keepable reds and six rats showing up yesterday. We did get three nice flounder and one good speck, too, but something rather surprising also responded to one of the player's offerings. And all I'll say about it is that a particular state record held by our beloved webmaster for over a decade was in real jeopardy!Wonder where it came from - wish it had stayed there!Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Saturday afternoon	25 February 2008
After taking Cokie to the Bass Pro store in Gonzales Saturday afternoon (even she was impressed), we ventured out to the BREC ponds to see if any rainbeaux trout were left. One angler had 4, another 3, but all the hits I got were bream knocking my strike indicator. Okay... switched to one of Ron Braud's size 10 green/white popping bugs and caught the heck out of 'em! Mostly small, 4-5 inches, but a half-dozen 6-inch plus fish really put a bend in the 2-weight. Bream season... are we there yet?
Catch	BREC Sherwood
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lake martin	15 February 2008
One nice bass (17 inches) this AM on a flashy purple sinking something. Fish was in about three feet of water. Only strike - and the jig-n-pig flippers and sac-a-lait jiggers weren't doing much either. Water is quite high but clear - maybe in a week or so.Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Pesky Pelicans	11 February 2008
Headed south early Friday morning to Fourchon for some redfishing, but as soon as I stepped out of my car , the stiff breeze changed my mind and I returned to the telephone pole hole. The fishing was very slow but steady using intermediate line and a clouser. Gentle bites on a slow retrieve resulted in a few nice sized trout. About 2:00 pm the switch turned on and it was non-stop action for over an hour. I was using a 14 inch limit - I would prefer yo use Mike LeFleur's 16 inch limit but I would have to become a vegetarian :) and ended keeping a dozen with 1 18 and a 16. As the bite was slowing a bit and little ones began to bite, a pelican plopped down about 10 feet away and started paddling up to my kayak. About that time I hooked a little 8 incher and thought it would be cute to let him have it. There is a fine line between cute and stupid and I soon realized that line had been crossed. I tossed the fish to him right alongside me and he caught it with no problem. I made another cast and noticed him swimming around and then, as nice as you please, he hopped onto the front of my kayak-3 feet in front of where I was standing. I immediately did my best dog whisperer imitation by pointing at the pelican and hissing at him. He opened up his bill and growled back.Their bills are a lot more impressive close up. It is not the little rounded duck bill with a pouch that you think of, but is suprisingly sharp and pointed and big. In fact the whole bird is big. I nudged him with my rod tip but he didn't budge so I used the butt end in his breast and shoved him over the side. His buddy had swam over in the meantime and on my next cast was paying a little too much attention to my fly. ( I have hooked the odd seagull before and while its neat for about 5 seconds it becomes a major ordeal) Meantime the original pelican had been flanking me and jumped onto the back of my kayak a scant 2 feet away. I could have reaced over and slapped him but I didn't, instead pushing him off again. Even with my paddle I couldn't shoo them away so I anchored up and went to the other side. Luckily they didn't follow. It was time to leave and the important lesson I had learned was DO NOT FEED THE PELICANS!
JeffM	TPH
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Gnats and Reds Biting	11 February 2008
Made the suicide run to Grand Isle area Saturday a.m. with Kurt Loup and Mike LaFleur. Water murky and low - very little wind. Caught the biggest red I've taken on a fly (so far) - 9-1/4 lbs. on Mike's boga, as well as another good eating size red. Kurt and Mike did well on Reds too. Specks were few and under sized, so they all lived to fight another day.
Joe Kahler	Baton Rouge
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Same song, same dance	10 February 2008
Guys, I am almost beginning to feel guilty - ALMOST! Dennis and I got at least 18 reds (Kept 9 because of a miscount) and three fine flounder yesterday, again in the Deep Lake canals in the Rockefeller refuge. Purple was again the color, deep and slow. Notably, all the conventional-minded anglers we chatted with said the fish weren't biting. Man, just think what might happen if they ever started to!Still a bit smug.Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Rockefeller
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Neaux Rainbeaux	28 January 2008
Yesterday afternoon went to Sherwood BREC pond. Such a mild, sunny day for a change, didn't matter if I caught fish or not. Just nice to stand in the sun and cast a fly line. Tried a hares ear under a tiny strike indicator and caught a few bream, but no trout. Only saw 3 caught among couple dozen fishermen present. Water temperature was down 10 degrees from two weeks ago! When it warms up, the trout will bite flies again.
Catch	Baton Rouge
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rockefeller	28 January 2008
Please refer to reports of 1-6 and 1-12, then apply data to 1-27.Hell yeah I'm smug!Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Big Specks Eat Toads	13 January 2008
Got on the water shortly after first light Saturday morning. It was 38 degrees with a little east wind. I wanted to see if I could find a big speck on fly, so I headed to one of my favorite winter speck flats...Winter fishing for big specks is slow business, lots of cast for few bites, but when you get the bite they are usually good. I started working a purple and black 1/0 toad fly in about 2 1/2 feet of clear water. After about a dozen cast..WHAM, a hard hit, then I felt a shaking head and those short but quick burst of speed that say "nice speck". Got her to the boat, she was just over 5 pounds and 24 inches long. I'll keep at it through this winter, I still want to get one over 7 pounds on fly.Tight Lines,Ron
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Lake
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TPH	13 January 2008
On Dec. 31, Joe Kahler and I went down to the TPH. We put in just after 6:30 AM. I caught specks, all good keepers, until sun rise, about 7:00. I went back down yeaterday, but got there a little earlier, and put in at 6:10. The fishing was great, all the way to 7:45. Kept 8 specks, 2 1/2 to 3 pounds each. From 7:45 to 10:30, I must have caught another two dozen, all keepers but less than 16 inches, which is my cutoff point (I like big filets). It has been a few years since I last fished the Snake Pit, so I went down there to see if the trails around it were OK. Had to do it during daylight, because the best winter fishing means you get there in the dark. They were a little muddy in spots but still OK. I brought my rod with me , not really expecting anything this late in the day, and cast out at about 11:30 AM. To my surprise, I hooked into a nice speck. Since I had no stringer with me and I knew I wanted to keep the fish, I hiked back to the car. The Bogga said just over 4 pounds. Not a bad day on Hwy 1.
Mike LaFleur	Hwy 1
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Rockefeller Again	12 January 2008
This morning Dennis and I bundled up and headed for Rockefeller again, arriving at Joseph Harbor just before sunrise. Hit the same canals we fished last Saturday early on for only three fish - very nice ones, though, then nothing until ten-thirtyish. Then, as the tide began to rise, they went nuts! Ended up with limits and released seven, only one of which was short. Dennis also released the day's biggest, estimated at 11 or so. Also got four flounders and a nice speck. They were still deep, but today chartreuse was better than purple - or maybe they just started biting after I changed flies. Whatever, it was glorious - and there are some fish left, just in case some of you want to try 'em.Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Rockefeller	06 January 2008
Saturday, Dennis Vidrine and I found some clear water in the backs of the canals near the Deep Lake production facility at Rockefeller. Caught about 15 reds - most marginal but kept five nice ones - and four very nice specks. Purple or chartreuse worked - deep and slow on sink-tip or sinking lines. We would have caught more - I would have, anyway - but I got terribly distracted from time to time watching all the geese and roseatte spoonbills around us! And I must include the fact that Dennis caught the day's first fish at the launch-site in Joseph Harbor! Eat your hearts out, you rainbeaux trout fishermen!Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Broussard, La
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We were them!	05 January 2008
Mickey, those other flyrodders were Master Jake and myself. Jake tore them up on a prince nymph under vosi, caught 9 trout and 3 bream to my 2 trout. Yesterday afternoon I went back alone and caught 2 trout and fought, and lost, a nice bass. This afternoon I went back and met up with James Schexnaider and his dad early, they did well in the morning, James caught a 17" rainbow and a 2 1/2 pound bass! He was using a gray fluff butt. Later Mike LaFleur came by and we each caught a couple of trout, then just before dark Gary Peterson showed up and we fished together "the evening hatch" which happened to be my strike indicator. Landed and released 9 trout on beadhead hare's ear, biggest was 15 inches, but the smallest fish 8 inches were the most fun, jumping several times.
Catch	North Sherwood
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Louisiana Trout	05 January 2008
Made it to North Sherwood park yesterday morning.Trout were fast and furious early. Copper John under a strike indicator. Sun broke about 9:30 and they quit. Saw another couple of fishermen there, don't know how they did.
Mickey	Baton Rouge
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Rainbeaux trout	31 December 2007
After fishing yesterday afternoon for a couple hours and only having one rainbeaux trout bite - and it got off - went back late this afternoon and tried a prince nymph 30" under a strike indicator. Noahvale told me he'd gotten good hits on the Prince, and his advise paid off. Caught and released nine. Trout were small but still loads of fun on a 4-weight.
Catch	BREC Sherwood Pond, Baton Rouge
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A Christmas Gift for Gerard	28 December 2007
On Christmas day, Master Jake promised freshly-caught speckled trout for his uncle Gerard's family. Reports from the coast had been few and less-than-stellar, so I told everyone not to get their hopes up. Yesterday we launched at Golden Meadow around 7:30 and for the next four hours I mostly paddled while the Master brought loads of trout to the canoe, using either commie cork/beetle or the fly fishing equivalent, the vosi/clouser. The vast number of trout were dinks, but there were enough keepers, even some of good size, to throw 19 in the box. Around noon, with skies clear and water calm, it was time to play catch-and-release redfish. There was very little surface activity, and no bait moving, so Jake stood while I paddled slowly. We found a couple dozen reds, even some drum and sheeps, in open water. Time and again, he'd spot-cast his spoon fly, I'd watch as the water erupted and line went zipping in a new direction. It was like watching Peyton Manning dissect a defense. We made it home plenty early enough to bring Gerard his box of fish and enjoy Texas beating up on Arizona State.
Catch	Golden Meadow
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Pre-Christmas Stress Reduction	20 December 2007
Fished Black Bayou from the bank late this afternoon. Landed several small bream on size 12 blk/chrt fluff butt under vosi. Switched to size 10 bead head fluff butt (no vosi), same color, and landed 3 better fish. The last three were two decent bream and a fat sacalait.
William	Black Bayou, Ascension Parish
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Sunday trip	10 December 2007
Stopped below Golden Meadow and fished bank of Bayou Lafourche with commie tackle (fly casting not advisable due to traffic on Highway 1). Specks still in the bayou, a few keepers picked up. Moved south past Fourchon and the traffic. Some bank fishing the Oklahoma Pit and a few more specks. Moved to the TPH and launched the yak. Fished until 12noon using intermiediate line and LSU Clouser, and left them biting. Plenty small ones, a few keepers. Three other boats in there, all four different types of paddlecraft: my yak, a pirogue, Danny Wray in his "personal flats skiff" this you've got to see! and Mike Hess in his super-rigged canoe. There was a bateau that put in on the Laurier side that barely got back to the road because there was NO water left where they launched!
Catch	Leeville, Fourchon
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Mud Lake	07 December 2007
Ideal conditions this AM but with only a few fish working a secret bank in Mud lake out of Theriot. Got reasonable casts at two fish, one a bit over 17, the other just past 11. That's pounds, not inches - weighed, photographed, and released. The infamous purple fly got 'em. Made my day! Catch the low tide, because once it begins rising, that's all she wrote!Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Not quite the Delta but getting better!
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Sunday fishing	05 December 2007
The original plan was to go to the coast Sunday, but we arrived back in town late Saturday night and then I had to watch ESPN for 4 hours. So Sunday ended up being a sleep late day with fishing on the around-town waters, mainly Waddill and North Sherwood Lake. They haven't stocked the rainbeaux trout in NSL yet, but a few gobbules were caught on a green/white size 12 popper. Waddill turned out to be much better. The West Pond was full of bass, including one pod of about a dozen fish all 2-3 pounds. Those fish wouldn't eat, but five others did. The bream didn't cooperate much although I did land one big chunk. Just for kicks, fished the catfish pond for small green sunfish using a jitterbee/vosi. Caught a gazillion. The way the wind was blowing fishing ponds was probably the better call.
Catch	Home of the SEC Football Champions
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Okhissa Lake	23 November 2007
I checked out Okhissa yesterday. It is a very deep lake. It drops to 20 feet deep very close to the shorelines. The cold front had the fish holding in deep water. A sink tip line would have been beneficial. And about 20 mph less wind! I gave up on the flies and caught several bass on crank baits right by the south boat launch.It's not too big for puddle craft. As Arnold said "I'll be back"! Hopefully I will terminate plenty of bass next time..Lots of pictures: http://lafishing.blogspot.com
noahvale	Baton Rouge
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Finally... an afternoon at the pond	21 November 2007
Other than the Catch-n-Eat, haven't had ANY time for fishing this month, not even at the neighborhood pond. What a treat to get an hour in late yesterday afternoon. The hydrilla is finally retreating back and exposing some decent bream and lots of small bass. Warm weather has them in feeding mode.. a size 12 olive beadhead fluff butt kept my 3-weight TFO busy!
Catch	BR
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Catch-n-Eat report... according to ESPN	12 November 2007
"Hello, this is Chris Berman with Tom Jackson and welcome to ESPN's Fly Fishing Primetime, a wrapup of some of the great action this past weekend. First, the Red Stick Fly Fishers Catch-and-Eat was down along Highway 1. Tom, what Tom Brady is to football, this guy Catch Cormier is to fly fishing for speckled trout". "Chris, you're so right... his consistency, knowing when and where to make the calls. Friday at sunrise he passes up Golden Meadow, even though there were few boats there, and heads down to Lake Laurier knowing it'll have a moving tide early." "Yes, but Tom, let's not forget he stopped on his way down, fished Bayou Lafourche north of Leeville, picked up lots of small specks with a few keepers, and did likewise along all four pits between Fourchon and Grand Isle. By the time he launched his yak, he already had seven specks in the box. What an advantage to be ahead early in the game. When he did launch, he just kept moving, even though the birds were not diving, even though there were lots of small trout to be had, but kept searching... looking for the open receiver, oops, wrong sport... I meant looking for the good fish." "Yes, Chris, he did. And he found a good school of 14-inch trout at that location. His strategy was to work a size 2 chartreuse clouser 2 feet under a vosi. This softened up the trout's defense, and he was able to score a bunch of keepers." "But Tom, the best came in the second half... I mean Saturday morning. Flat calm, low tide... ideal conditions for spotting reds, and they just seemed to be everywhere! Again, making the right call... Catch, Joe Kahler, and Mike LaFleur went over the top, topwater that is, and what we see is an offensive explosion... the reds being offensive and exploding on those poppers!" "Yes, Chris, and again, when the reds finally managed to slow down on poppers, we see Catch, Mike and Joe come at them with the other weapons in their arsenal.. the LaFleur Charlies, the Coma Spoons, and so on. This was the worst butt kicking I've seen this year, outside what Kansas did to Nebraska. Chris, I think the fly rodders are going to continue to dominate for the rest of this season." "Yes, Tom, provided the winds are down and other conditions are right, I think the reds and specks are in deep trouble. That's it for now, join us next week for another edition of Fly Fishing Primetime."
Catch	Highway 1
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lake martin	10 November 2007
The November hatch on Lake Martin is in full swing. Don't know what the bugs are, but medium-sized bluegills, some skillet-sized sac-a-lait, a few fair bass, and even a nice redear are (Were!) appreciating them. I'd assume they are midges of some type, but the fish jump all over a size 10 yellow sponge spider - even the sac-a-lait! Target the shaded areas within the cypresses in around two feet of water. You'll see the fish rising. Ignore the singles and concentrate on the gangs! And try not to interfere with the duck hunters.Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Be afraid, be very afraid... if you're a popper	28 October 2007
With my personal event calendar filled for the weekend, I took Friday off to celebrate my annual Halloween Marsh Trip. The ol' calendar on the wall says now's the time the specks start hitting topwater, and with a low wind forecast, was anxiously looking forward to tricking a bunch of nice specks with treats of pencil poppers. Anticipation was high for an epic trip as I headed south in the wee hours with the Redsticker II on top. Well, it turned out to be an epic trip alright, just not for specks. Cormier's Law of Fall Marsh Fishing Climatology says after a cold front, fish reds, after Gulf return flow, fish trout. Well it was after a big cold front, all the water in the marsh was gone, and again one of Cormier's Laws proven to the extreme. Reds 20 to 25 inches were everywhere. Pods cruising shores, even cruising open water, individual reds all over backing in the ponds. Even Stevie Wonder could've sightcast and caught fish. (And folks wonder why my motorboat no longer sees the marsh). Several brave Foil Poppers and Pete's Poppers were persistently mauled in combat on this day. My advise to a popper is to stay out of the marsh right now.
Catch	Fourchon
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Saturday report	22 October 2007
My first trip in several weeks. Wind was down inside around sunrise but I ventured further south due to the traffic at the Golden Meadow launch. Past Leeville, the wind picked up quite a bit, and when I launched the yak near Laurier, it was already a solid 15 knots. The wind and high tide made redfish tough, and dirty water, probably from the winds all week, forced me to go to socialist tackle (lures). I found specks pretty much everywhere, from real shallow water to deep water, but not concentrated anywhere. I'd let the wind drift me a stretch of open water, paddle back into the wind, and drift fish another stretch. Probably spent more time paddling than fishing, but it paid off. Mostly 11 to 13 inch specks, kept 14, biggest one 19 inches. Lots of white trout, kept 6 of those 10-12 inches. Kept my record of consecutive trips catching reds alive when on the way back, stopped at the TPH Hole and caught and released a 16-inch rat using a Rio intermediate line and clouser.
Catch	Fourchon
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Creeks and bass	09 October 2007
Hey Guys! Just got back from a few days visiting Mom in Shreveport and fishing Dorcheat and Kisatchie Bayou with Keith. Dorcheat - northeast of Cotton Valley - was tough, and the final tally for an afternoon float in fine connditions was lions 8, Christians 4, and the lions weren't very big! The little gar, though, kept the rods bent.This AM we got to the forest road bridge over Kisatchie early and got two fine spots with me putting an excellent long-distance release on another very good one. Then off to the rec area for several others, including the day's best - about 14 inches and released (I was feeling magnanimous{?} about then.), though we did keep a few for skillet material. The creek is in lovely condition, though the road folks are trying to repair the road to the bridge so that they can later rebuild the bridge. Good luck! Anyway, if you ain't fishing creeks yet, you're late!Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Back Down from Higher Places
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Nice Days in Sabine Refuge	04 October 2007
Fished a couple of differnt area's in Sabine Refuge Sunday and Tuesday. The marsh really looks good and seems like Rita may have had a rejuvinating effect. On Sunday I fished with Major Wiley Huffman, a lot of 18-21 inch reds were around, bright bronze in the clear water. We caught 7, and saw a couple of true hogs but didn't get a shot off at them.Tuesday afternoon Danny Williams and I fished another area of marsh. The water was quite high, but clear enough to see fish even though they weren't showing above the water. We fished for about 3 hours, hooked 9 and landed 7 with the biggest being about 8 pounds. Lots of fish were around, and again the marsh looks great. Wegion grass is coming in nicely.Tight Lines,Ron
Ron Begnaud	Lake Charles
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Magnolia marsh	03 October 2007
Tried puddling my T140 around Magnolia for the first time yesterday. Found 2 reds and a nice sheephead in the first pond I tried. Paddled up to another set of ponds and the reds literally were jumping out of the water after minnows in the submerged grass. For about 45 minutes they hit on every cast and I landed five more reds without moving. Had a redzilla get so caught in the grass I had to let him tow me around some so I could land him. Coppertone spoons ruled the day.LDWF patroling so have all the stuff they want to see.Ron.
Ron C.	Destrehan
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Upset Saturday	30 September 2007
Saturday wasn't just a bad day for top ten football teams. Unable to join my compadres at Toledo Bend this weekend, I opted for a one-day jaunt to take on the hard-charging Gobbules of Lake Concordia State. I arrived heavily favored to pack a stringer, but three hours into the game, I only had one small fish. Memories of last fall's trip to Concordia and St John, where the best catches were counted on one hand, came to mind. In an attempt to make a comeback, I pulled out at halftime (11:30) and headed back south, this time on Highway 15 and by Three Rivers. Here I found the river water clear and small bass and even a goo happy to bite my olive fluff butt. Made one more stop on the way back, at Morrison's on False River. I saw quite a few bream, decent size, but unwilling to eat anything. While passing a woolybugger in front of one gobbule, a nice bass (3 lbs?) suddenly appeared and snatched it. After a good fight, he had enough - found a piling and broke me off. This time the fish won. We'll watch tape and plan our strategy for next week's opponent, North Arkansas Trout, and hope we can execute better.
Catch	Ferriday to New Roads
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Running of the bulls	28 September 2007
We went to GI today. Put the yaks in a Elmers and headed to the beach on the Caminada Pass side. Water was a bit dirty and got no action on flies. I caught some big mullet with a cast net and filleted up some for bait. We but them on the bottom just off the beach and got slammed by bull reds. Hogy caught a 28" red right away and a few minutes later I hooked up a huge one. My little Shimano spinning reel gave up on me just as I was seeing the fish good, the drag locked and I lost it. It looked to be about 3 ft. long. On the way back we caught 4 more big reds and Hogy up a piece of the mullet on the bottom and caught a 25" speck! Not a bad day at all...
noahvale	Grand Isle
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Labor Day Smorgasborg	25 September 2007
Fished out of Venice Mon-Thurs. Caught a few nice reds, lots of ladyfish, blue runner, a couple specks, flounder, and some huge jacks.First try on the jacks yielded one broken leader and one broken fly rod. Came back Thurs for revenge and landed a 12# in 35 minutes and a 28# in 1 hour and 35 minutes. Wow! What a battle!Reds and specks were a little tough thanks to 1.9' tidal range. I'm not used to fishing in that much tide, and most of my spots were worthless.LSU deciever worked on the reds that would eat, and poppers and big streamers worked on the jacks.Fun trip. Glad to see Vencie recovering.
Art from Shreveport	Venice, LA
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GI trip Tues/Wed 18,19	20 September 2007
Went to GI cut expecting the high tide in wee hours to put redfish on the big flat. High winds, gusts to 20 muddied the water and made sight casting nearly impossible, both days. Water in the cut, at daybreak with East winds was fairly clear but water in the marsh turned dirty from the wind and outgoing water turned dirty. Seemed to be a lot of water in the marsh too, Humberto?? Caught a few specks where current meets the breakers, buddy managed three small flounder and one 16" red 11th hour on Wed.
Glen Davis, Magnolia Fly Fishers	GI
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fly tying material	19 September 2007
Ooo, there are plenty of fine tying feathers flying around a bit west of here. Just having a little trouble gathering them. Hey, that's a fishing report - sort of.pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Marsh Island	12 September 2007
Circumnavigated Marsh Island today to the tune of two reds, two plie, and a discombobulated spine! Seems like after 40-odd years of living at the edge of the Gulf I could forsee the oncoming of a little inconvenience. Not today! And my skinny little butt got roundly kicked! But it wasn't the first time, and I sincerely hope it won't be the last! But I suggest you all wait at least a day or two before you try the coast!Pete
pete cooper, jr.	Surely not in heaven!
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Labor Day Reds!!	10 September 2007
After a couple of unsuccessful trips this summer, I headed to Grand Isle on Labor Day weekend. Low tide was early afternoon. I headed out around 4pm. The water was so low that I had to wade in mud till the boat would float. The struggle was worth the trouble. I was back at the truck by 7pm having landed 8 reds between 19" and 21". There were fish every where and I paddled past 4 more getting back to the truck. I could do that every day for the rest of my life!!
Chad Abell	Grand Isle
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Fall is here!	08 September 2007
Here happens to be in Montana. This morning 43 degrees and sneaux in the mountains. A lot cooler than it has been around here. Hopefully this makes it to Louisiana soon. Trout were quite cooperative yesterday when it was sunny and 78 degrees. But they love this chilly, wet weather so who knows?
Catch	Montana
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Specks	05 September 2007
After a late start Durel and I arrived at Tee Butte (West of the mouth of Southwest Pass of Vermilion Bay)and found water clear and smooth enough to warrant speculating a Dog. Within 10 minutes - working the deeper outside edge of the reef - I had a blow-up and got a 25-inch speck, which I released after measuring it. Shortly thereafter I missed a fish, then got a 21-incher. Durel's only been watching. I then switched over to fly gear and a popper and got another 21-incher and a bit later one around 18 inches. Durel finally generated some action on a Dog but had to pop plastic to catch anything. The bite was over by ten. Not much, but for fish like those, I'll go back and get sunburned again tomorrow! Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Third time not a charm	04 September 2007
Arrived early Monday at Lacombe under mostly clear skies, very little breeze, and calm water. My other 2 trips in August had been disappointing- 3 small specks both times in water that was still somewhat off-color, due mainly to heavy rains. Well the water is still not ideal and the fishing was off as well. Other than a lady fish no specks were forthcoming. I usually see schools of jacks busting the surface but I haven't seen the first one as of yet. Hopefully the rains will stop, the water will clear and the fish will bite. I still enjoy being able to leave the kayak at home a few times and being able to wade.
JeffM	Lacombe
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Labor Day weekend	04 September 2007
Friday, August 31 – I went looking for big fish in Lake Pontchartrain. Found them on the South shore. I’m not sure whether they were jacks or drum. They were easy to spot, but not so easy to catch. They were pretty skittish. I got maybe a half dozen shots but could never get them to take the fly. Monday, Sept. 1 – Took a ride down to Grand Isle arriving a little after sunup. I started in the surf near Caminada Pass. That produced one under sized spec and a few ladyfish. I moved down to Grand Isle State Park which produced three keeper specs and a bunch of smaller specs and ladyfish. One observation from fishing the surf this year: larger flies have been more productive than smaller flies. Three to four inch clousers have out fished smaller versions.
Another Jeaux	NOLA/Grand Isle
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Speckled Trout.	25 August 2007
I got a report around 10:30 this morning that the specks are on fire in front of Elmers Island. A kayak or canoe would be perfect for the job.
Jack Dial	The surf in front of Elmers Island.
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Montana	17 August 2007
Last weekend I took a trip that I’ve wanted to take for a very long time. I went to Montana and fished the Madison River for three days. We fished the upper Madison (starting above the Beartooth Flyfishing Shop), the middle Madison and the Channels section. The upper Madison produced the largest fish for me: 3 brown trout ranging from 19” to 21-1/2”. We fished the upper Madison and what I called the middle Madison from drift boats. We used the drift boat to travel from spot to spot in the Channels section and would wade fish each spot. While nymphs produced larger fish, you just can’t beat the challenge of putting a dry fly in just the right spot with just the right drift to elicit a strike. We stayed at the Madison Valley Ranch in Ennis, MT. I would highly recommend it. First class lodge with first class guides. Oh, and the best part was the temperatures were in the low 40’s each morning!
Another Jeaux	Ennis, MT
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Man It’s Hot out there...	15 August 2007
Went out fishing in Grand Isle last weekend. Caught tons of specks under the lights behind the houses on the backside of the island friday night. I was schooling my buddy who had a spin reel with my pink/white clouser. I felt guilty and gave him try for a while. Mostly pretty small trout, but some where around 15". Next morning we went out to the beach areas between Caminada Pass / Fourchon Beach / and the east tip of Timbalier Island. Lots of spanish and blues on the beach, and every stop we made produced fish. There where lots of birds working all down the coast. And 8 count shrimp running for there lives! Didn’t have the fly rod for the beach run, but the fish where out in force as we caught around 60 trout, a doz smacks, a dozen blues, couple reds and even a two sharks. Done by 10:30am but it was almost 100ºF when we got finished.
Bowfin	Grand Isle
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Cypremort Point	12 August 2007
A friend and I headed to Cypremort Point today for a little paddling. We covered alot of ground, but no fish. I did see a couple of reds, one backing that refused no less than 5 presentations with an epoxy spoon. I really don't understand this place. All looked good, but we couldn't even a look. It has been a long time since I dead scratched, fly rod or not. Anyone who has any information, it would be greatly appreciated.
Chad Abell	Lafayette
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Fly fishing British Columbia	09 August 2007
Fished the Squamish River in Squamish,BC yesterday.Its been awhile since I used a 9 wgt,and used this one all day.Caught around 15 pink salmon,3-5 lbs,lost the same number on LDRs.Had an absolute blast.Beautiful scenery too.Rocky mountains with the high altitude issues.Most of the other drainages are still blown out from snow melt,they got 40 feet of snow pack last winter!If you plan to fish the Squamish or visit Whistler,BC,they are doing alot of road consruction to widen the road on the Sea to Sky highway in prep. for the 2010 Winter Olympics.The weather up here...40-50's for lows,upper 60's-low 70's in the afternoon,occ. light showers to partly cloudy.Sure beats the heat index of 105-110. Tite lines,Paul
Paul Lawler	Blanchard,LA.
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Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo	31 July 2007
I learned a good lesson this weekend. Check which weekend the Tarpon Rodeo is before heading to GI! In over 12 years of going to GI, I can't believe that I have missed this weekend until now. Unfortunately, like any game of Russian Roulette, eventually you get shot in the head! It took me about an hour to get from the bridge to Sureway on Saturday afternoon. While a good time was had by "almost" all, the rain, high morning tides, and high winds kept fishing slow and the whoops and hollers all night long put patience low as well. We did fish Saturday afternoon, but the borrowed canoe with two gravity challenged guys in 20mph wind was a bit rough. We did manage to catch two small reds, a croaker, and one small trout. No keepers, but we did catch enough crabs for supper in the surf with almost no effort at all.
Chad Abell	Lafayette, LA
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Grand Isle Wednesday	29 July 2007
Since I missed out on Grand Isle weekend, Wednesday was a makeup day. A few of the more successful surf anglers that weekend shared their spots and tips, but it didn't seem to help. From first light to 9am, hit three different spots in the surf with only ladyfish to bite. Finally, storms in the Gulf made it a little too rough so I headed to the backside. I put my yak in Caminada pass and immediately started catching 11" trout every cast. That went on for about 40 minutes until another storm ran me off. Lots of trout, but just two 12.5" keepers. Went back to the FAA Hole and launched yak. Tide was still too high for reds, but noticed birds diving all over Dolphin Lake. Shrimp were jumping out the water. Using a clouser under a vosi, caught trout and sailcats for the next two hours. Also caught several sand trout. Most of the specks were small, but managed enough 13" to 15" fish for a "Yak Limit". A yak limit is about 15 specks on a stringer, more than that and you need a motor instead of a paddle.
Catch
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pointe au chien	27 July 2007
Tried fishing the western side of pointe au chien this past tuesday. the tide was out and not any water movement. Alot of grass.Late morning the tide started in . Able to catch a few lady fish, couple of trout and one small red.I had to do this from the side of the road near the bridge on island road.Not a good kayak fishing day.
max mcleod	Breaux bridge
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False River, False Action	23 July 2007
Decided yesterday to sleep late (6am) and test out nearby False River. At one time, this wasn't just my favorite lake, it was also one of the most productive bream waters in the country. In fact, Kevin and I were reminiscing the other night about a couple of mid-summer trips in the good ol' days, when the bluegil would stack up under the piers and pontoon boats by the hundreds. Nothing big, mostly 6" to 7" fish, but enough keepers to put 30 in the box in a couple of hours. In fact, we even had several trips where we left the boat at home and caught that many keepers (or more) just off the seawall. When the grass (hydrilla) disappeared, things went south big time. I've been told by biologists, and even a couple of camp owners that there's still plenty bream... if you fish deep using crickets. Yesterday I tried deep using a 1/80 ounce fluff butt, as well as the jitterbee under vosi. By 1 o'clock, I paddled back to the launch having totaled 5 bream and 1 catfish. I also lost a fairly big bass. I'm totally puzzled ... how can False River have no hydrilla?
Catch	New Roads
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RSFF Grand Isle Outing	19 July 2007
Over 60 flyfishers from several flyfishing clubs in Louisiana and Mississippi converged on Grand Isle for the annual Red Stick Flyfishers summer outing, July 13-15. The weather forcast was good with a 2 foot tidal range and light winds predicted. However, the "spin off" winds from numerous thunderstoms over south Louisiana that weekend changed all that. But despite the challenge from the weather, plenty of specks were caught mostly in the surf. Friday morning Murray Neams and Dan Weber caught a near two man's limit of specks up to 16 inches in a calm surf near the Exxon sign and Grand Isle State Park. Saturday morning was also calm and perfect for fly fishing the surf, so Murray and Dan led a number of flyfishers back to the same spot. More specks, sand trout, channel mullet, small jackfish and loads of ladyfish were caught on a variety of clousers, charlies, poppers and other flies. However, strong south/southeast winds piled 3 foot breakers in surf Sunday morning which put a damper on flyfishing and not many of us ventured out. The redfish caught during the trip were mostly from up Highway 1 especially in the Galliano area marsh. There was more than enough fish for the traditional Saturday night fish fry which also included some jumbo 10-15 white shrimp left over from the shrimp boil Friday night. There will be more on the annual Grand Isle trip in the upcoming RSFF newsletter.
Dugan	Grand Isle
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Albies	17 July 2007
I fished the surf at Grand Isle early Saturday morning. I picked up lots of specks and white trout fishing a clouser. For a while, it was a fish on every cast. The only problem was there were only a few keepers among all the shorts. After the morning bite dropped off, we took the boat out with the intention of looking for mangroves. It was a little sporty as a result of a steady southwest wind. We didn’t find any mangroves, but we did come across several large pods of feeding albies. We chased the pods around for an hour or so, picking up a 6 or 7. After fishing for specks, it was nice to hear my reel sing and see my backing for a change. Most were medium sized, except for one which was roughly 30” long. That fish grabbed the fly right at boat side just as the fly was about to be lifted off the water. I’ll remember that take for while. It looked like some dropped a bowling ball into the water!
Another Jeaux	Grand Isle
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Right place, right time	02 July 2007
I made the decision late Saturday night that I didn’t feel like dealing with the boat but would rather try to avoid the heat by fishing the surf for a couple of hours. I started off mid-island and found birds working inside the rock piles when I walked up. That activity was quickly covered up by some surf guys already in the water and two nearby boats. I didn’t think throwing 40-50 feet of fly line amongst those guys would win me any friends so headed in the opposite direction. Nada. With little bait and no current, I had maybe one strike and that was half hearted. After an hour, I moved until I found bait and current. That didn’t produce anything immediately. I talked to guy who had caught 4 nice specks at first light and some rat reds, but it had turned off by the time I got there. I worked the water for a while and eventually was rewarded for the effort. First a school of ladyfish came through and then a school of specks – mostly 12-13 inches. Right place at the right time, I guess. A chartreuse clouser and a pink shrimp pattern both produced. I caught a pretty little fish that I had never seen before. After a little research, I identified it as a leatherjack. First one for me.
Another Jeaux	Grand Isle
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Wet trip	01 July 2007
Weatherman got it wrong... again! Prediction of light winds and 30% rain called for a coastal trip. Well water was like glass, but almost as soon as the sun came up the thunderheads started popping up. Paddled the yak directly out to a spot where the last two trips have produced solid numbers of specks on popper. This time, light activity. Switched to a straight clouser and managed better numbers, but still marginal size. When I looked over my shoulder at the black mass over most of the sky, only had four keepers. Tried to paddle back to the launch but never made it in time. Tucked into some tall grass and sat for an hour getting soaked (thank God for sit-on-top yaks). After the rain ended, another cloud was massing up, so I headed in and loaded up the yak. With more clouds threatening, resorted to bank fishing and "exploration". Turned out not-so-bad: saw a 7-pound speck that was caught in the surf, hooked, fought, and lost a big red at the TPH, caught two nice flounders in the ditch near Elmers, caught a bass and a few bream at Highway 51 canals (way back). Saw lots of crabs there too.
Catch	Laurier
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Lady Fish	18 June 2007
Took a quick trip on Sunday morning out of the South shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The morning was slow until I spotted some birds working over breaking fish. I spent the next forty-five minutes chasing and catching 18-22" ladyfish. Not what I was looking for, but casting to breaking fish and getting the boat setup for just the right drift is always fun. A pink over white clouser was more effective than a chart. jiggy.
Another Jeaux	Lake Pontchartrain
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Shark Attack!	18 June 2007
Saturday am at first light, paddled the "Red Sticker" out to a point on the northwest end of Lake Laurier. Lake was like glass, and baitfish everywhere busting up. Which only could mean specks underneath. From sunrise to 8am, serious topwater action took place using a foil pencil popper. Mostly throwbacks, but enough 13-14 inchers to put together a nice stringer. About 9am, action was dead. Started cruising the marsh for reds, and while in a quiet pocket of inches-deep water, the yak took a sudden 15 degree turn. I looked back and saw a froth where my fish were, and a big dark fin just behind it. As I pulled in my stringer, the shark came in for a second helping, and I thrust my paddle right into his side, sending him into a spinning frenzy. This is the second time in two trips to Laurier I've encountered a 4-foot shark in the skinny water (perhaps the same fish?). Won't be dangling my legs over the side of my yak again soon!
Catch	Lake Laurier
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RSFF Catch-and-Eat results	04 June 2007
This past weekend was the Red Stick club's Spring Catch-and-Eat marsh fishing trip, with the 20 or so participating members fishing from Galliano south to Grand Isle. Fishing was tough despite a break in the winds on Saturday. Several of us who targeted specks did well on the early morning rising tide or the late afternoon fall. Reds were tough to come by due to so much high water (I could've paddled my yak right off the parking lot of most marinas). Another reason given for lack of a redfish bite was the first few days past the full moon - one of redfish guru Gene Smith's theorems. Still, enough fish were caught by all for a glorious fish fry and shrimp fry ($3.25 for 10/15 count) on Saturday evening at Boudreaux's Condeauxs. As with all these events, there's always an interesting story, and in this case it involved a small shark (3-4 feet long) that I encountered deep in the shallow marsh, that swam right up to my yak. Were it not for a quick jerk of the stringer, there would've been a few less trout for the fry. It also will make me think twice about dangling my feet over the side of my yak!
Catch	Highway 1 corridor
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2 Days on the Lil Mo	01 June 2007
I had the priviledge of fishing the Lil Mo on Tuesday and Wednesday. Started upstream of Hind's Bluff on Tuesday, and found no trout. Moved up to the catch and release area between the riverside park and the dam, and was thoroughly schooled by some wise and wary trout - for a while. Picked up my first rainbow, a thick 13" fish, on one of Jeff Guerin's A&W emergers after at least a dozen refusals from a dozen different fish. I'm pretty sure they were refusing the presentation, not the fly. The A&W turned those fish on a dime.Started day 2 at the catch and release section, but got rained out until about 2:00. Went upstream of River Ridge later and caught another thick +/- 13" rainbow (I think - didn't measure this one) on a size 12 olive wooly bugger fished slow and deep. I also got another dozen or so sunfish and bream.Those rainbows are stong, and both fish leapt out the water and put up terrific fights. I'll post a few things I learned about the area in the General Forum.
William	Little Missouri River - Arkansas
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Recent Fishing	25 May 2007
After the crawfish boil last Friday night at the GCC Expo, aka conclave, Ian Moppert, Roger del Rio and I fished off the seawall behind the Lake Charles Civic Center. The surface of Lake Charles was covered with shad (tiny menhaden) and rat reds everywhere were busting them up. It took me awhile to figure out what worked, but after I did, caught 3 up to 20 inches in just over an hour. On my way back late Sunday, fished Oil Park Lake in Jennings, and caught some very nice bream using a size 12 popper Ron Braud had given me. Used that same popper yesterday afternoon at the neighborhood lake to catch probably 60-70 bream, only about a half-dozen big 'uns. All released. I've been a longtime fan of the Accardo Miss Prissy, but Ron's popper is making a convert.
Catch	off I-10 west
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RSFF May Fly Tying Meeting Canceled	24 May 2007
The monthly Fly Tying Meeting of the Red Stick Fly Fishers has been canceled for this coming Monday, 5/28/07, in observation of Memorial Day. Hope this late notification causes no inconvenience. We'll resume as usual in June.
Joe Kahler	The Office (unfortunately, not fishing)
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A Score is Settled	12 May 2007
Well, I finally settled a score with the fish at Basson's yesterday. After 2 trips down there with NO FISH for one reason or another, yesterday was good. Water was still high, so I followed the levee way back in the marsh, where I knew the water would be skinnier. That's where I found 'em, actively feeding for a change. Landed 7 keeper, and 2 undersized Reds; kept 2 for the fryin' pan and left the rest for you guys. Now that the bad taste of getting skunked twice in a row has been washed out of my mouth, I can fish someplace else. Hmmmm, Lake Charles area next w/e in between conclave activities?
Joe Kahler	Home from Basson's
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High water and gail force winds	07 May 2007
This past weekend a couple of friends of mine and I headed to Grand Isle. The water was very high in the marsh all day which was agrevated by the 30 mph south east wind. We ended up with 3 reds in the 16" to 18" range and about the same number of keeper specs. Had a few dinks in the group, but most of what hit was decent. I would appreciate any tips for high water fishing, it was really a challenge. The fish didn't seem active at any part of the day and were extremely hard to target by sight. Blind casting seemed pretty futile as well. Oh, and hurricane / combat kayak and casting tips would be good as well.
Chad Abell	Grand Isle
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specks	29 April 2007
Hey Guys. Specks (And some big sail-cats) are under birds, both diving and sitting, in Mud Lake, Lake Mechant, and Caillou Lake south of Theriot. Purple worked - should have tried a popper to stay away from the shorts and the sail-cats. Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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My Contribution to Earth Day	23 April 2007
Went Saturday to Lake Concordia. While I had to burn gas to get there (the local station was out of hydrogen fuel), once there my contribution was made. I launched my canoe, and paddled to various spots, thus no use of fossil fuel. Found plenty bluegill and chiquapin aggressively hitting fluff butts (except for the hook and bead, tied with all natural products). Just after noon, paddled back into the deep woods, where I encountered a hissing snake, a snarling alligator, and an owl that flew right over my head. I realize their anger wasn't personally directed at me, but rather a statement to all mankind: they're pissed about global warming! Upon return to the launch, a couple of fossil fuel boats had come in, neither one had done very well... at least compared to me (1 channel cat, 1 white bass, 31 nice bream with 2x that many released). Of course, I realized what their problem was. In addition to burning fossil fuel, they were using hard plastic corks (not biodegradable foam corks), lead split shots (environmental hazard), and crickets (known to the state of California to cause cancer). Secret of my success? Mother Earth helps those who help her!
Catch	Ferriday
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Kisatchie Bayou	19 April 2007
Hey Folks!On the way home from a visit with Mom in Shreveport, I decided to speculate Kisatchie Bayou. Had heard the bridge by the waterfall was washed out - it is. And the last 300 yards of road leading to it from LA 118 will be impassable shortly. But I made it there okay and found the creek just a bit off-color, higher than I have seen it in years, and running briskly. Lovely! Caught one fair spot above the bridge in an eddy. Then headed to the Rec Area where I got 13 in less than two hours. Five of them were good fish, with the largest taping almost 16 inches! Poppers did the trick. And I saw not another soul, neither on the creek, hunting, or camping.I figure there will be about two more weeks of it, but the sooner you go, the better.Bon chance!Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Cokie and Dad's Excellent Adventure	15 April 2007
Spring Break = take a Cormier kid fly fishing. In this case, Cokie being the last in the nest got the honor. Our trip to the Little Mo had another purpose: we also visited Henderson State University in Arkadelphia which is one of several swim programs recruiting Cokie. We headed up Wednesday afternoon with a couple hours stop to fish bream at the Cane River (they're hitting popping bugs). Thursday was absolutely gorgeous day on the Little Mo. We had Hind's Bluff to ourselves early; later Mike Duggan and a couple came by and fished the hole while we worked the upper run with size 14 mayfly duns, parachutes, and Jeff Guerin's AW Emerger. About 2pm, they ran a little water, the river came up 6 inches, and Cokie absolutely hammered trout on dries and emergers until generation at 4pm. On Friday after our visit to HSU, we drove back to the Mo and hit Hind's Bluff again. This time cloud cover had slowed the hatches, but there was still enough bites to keep her rod bent. The trout there are obviously smarter too... while Cokie was using my rough copy of the AW Emerger and catching fish, I was using a woolybugger. Final count: Cokie 19, Dad 0. That's right, not a single trout hit the woolybugger in the run! It was a totally different story on Saturday at Low Water Bridge. We launched the canoe and went up near Pyramid Rock. Using woolybugger under a cork, Cokie played them like bream (they even bit like bream), and despite 46 degrees and 15-20 winds she ended up with a couple dozen. All fish were released unharmed (and now better educated). Best moment of the trip: a rainbow just shy 16" sipped her P-Adams while she was using a 6'6" 3-weight "pink" rod. He ran off 30 feet of line and several spectacular jumps before finally brought to the net!
Catch
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Little Mo trip	02 April 2007
Did my occasional "fish my way up" trip to the Little Mo, starting with Miller's Lake sunrise Friday morn. Managed a few big bream and two monster chiquapins (redears) until wind became gusty about 9am and everything shut down. Next stop was Cane River Lake south of Natchitoches where the bluegill were smaller but plentiful, hitting popping bugs, jitterbees, and olive fluff butts. Stayed in Hope Friday night and drove to the Little Mo about 9am, while the storms passed thru. When I arrived at Low Water Bridge, the sun was breaking out. Dave McDougal and Jack Dial were there, and reported great fishing in the pool. I worked downstream for some dry fly action in the runs. Not as many fish as usual, but enough rises to keep me happy. Saturday afternoon turned out much better. Great action at Hinds Bluff with Dave and Jack using size 14 generic emerger. Late pm did very well at the Park, this time on parachute adams size 12 amid heavy mayfly hatch. Sunday am early hit the catch-and-release area but only 4 fish, then much better action on the emerger at Hinds Bluff. Finished off the trip putting the canoe in at Low Water, then paddling up to Pyramid Rock, and absolutely killed the trout using... you won't believe... a black/chartreuse jitterbee under a vosi!
Catch	Murfreesboro, AR
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MONSTER GILLS	31 March 2007
Fished Lake St. John today (Friday 3/30/07). Holy Crap! HUGE... I mean HUGE Blue Gill! They doubled over the new 2 wt. I used... what else... a chartreuse/black Jitterbee! I measured one gill at 9 3/4". They were all chunks!
Larry Offner	Lake St. John
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Concordia report	26 March 2007
Pete's report of last week hit home with the wife. Tasty fried bream had to be on the menu this week! "Enough of catching-and-releasing bass and rainbow trout - bring home some bream" So in the pre-dawn hours Saturday, I loaded the "Red Sticker" canoe and headed to Lake Concordia. Arrived at Lakeview to find I would be enjoying this day with at least 60 motorboats, all seemingly occupied with Mr. Bucketmouth. (A tournament the weekend before yielded several bass over 7 pounds). Decided to stay on the south end since all the boats were headed north. After a couple of hours I was thinking the lady at the lodge was right - the bream weren't active yet. Only two fish in the box. Then the clouds departed, the sun beamed down, and it was like someone turned on a fish-switch! When I got back to the launch at 3pm, the ice chest contained: 3 white bass, 5 catfish up to 8 pounds, and 21 bluegill between 7.5 and 8.5 inches. Many more bream were released in hopes they'll be around for the next trip. All the catfish and most of the bream came on a size 10 black/yellow jitterbee under a vosi. The rest of the bream and all the white bass were caught on either a 1/100 ounce jig-head olive fluff butt, or size 12 tungsten beadhead olive fluff butt. And oh, yes, we fried fish yesterday evening, and consensus was split on which tasted better, the bream or the catfish.
Catch	Ferriday
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It's Called Fishing, Not Catching	26 March 2007
Went out Sunday morning. It was beautiful. Light winds, to keep the gnats away, and the temp was just right. Fish were everywhere. Unfortunetely, the bar. pressure was about 30.2+. Lock jaw. Plus there was more grass than I have ever seen there. Even if you had a weed guard or bendback, you got grass. Poppers were useless because they were looking down. The fish had their noses down in the grass and could care less about a fly. I even hit them on the tail and they did not budge. Was finally able to get a two reds and a nice trout. A great day for fishing.
mike LaFleur	Golden Meadow
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supper	21 March 2007
Man, those Lake Martin bluegills sure tasted good this evening. Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Bass on the Fly	20 March 2007
I was up in Shreveport this weekend to relax and celebrate St Patricks day. I decided to check out the pond behing my apartment and discovered a bunch of bass on the beds. Started off throwing a small black wooly bugger and was having great success. My first afternoon I ended up landing 11 bass and losing quite a few also. The next afternoon was a little overcast and ended up with 13. On my last afternoon I ended up with 14 bass on poppers and buggers. It was a nice sightfishing tune up!! Capt Devin PalominoLake Charles,LA
Bayoufly	Shreveport
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I chose... wisely!	19 March 2007
This coming weekend is the RSFF club's March Brown trip to the Little Mo, named so because it comes at the peak of that mayfly hatch. For many years, I've fished my way up, hitting some of my favorite bass lakes off I-49/Hwy 71 with very memorable results. When a monkey wrench got thrown into this weekend's plans, rather than abandon any trip, I chose to go this past weekend. Despite the norther that brought strong winds and high barometric pressure. FRIDAY: fished Chicot early until noon. Wind was tough on the canoe, tougher on the bass. Managed 1 on popper, lost 1 on worm, another broke off. Drove thru to Grand Bayou, passing thru Natchitoches. Fished Cane River for an hour, there were hosts of college rowing teams there for spring break workouts, including Nebraska, Baylor, Central Florida, Washington U. The bream are biting good, but I caught mostly small ones, although a lady there had a dozen about 7" size. By the time I hit Grand Bayou, wind was down, and I hit the jackpot on bass. Started with worm (commie rod), but quickly switched to a Jody Titone popper after the 2nd bass, and proceeded to catch 9 more up to 4.25 lbs! SATURDAY: left Shreveport early taking the new I-549 in Arkansas and arrived at the Little Mo in time for the first hatch at Low Water Bridge. About a dozen hit a size 12 ParaAdams in the chutes and runs below the pool. Then caught a couple dozen more in the pool using olive buggers size 12. That evening found a couple runs below Hinds Bluff loaded with rising fish. SUNDAY: From 9am to noon, caught an amazing number of fish - almost every cast at times - at the Wall Hole using either the ParaAdams or my (poor) imitation of Jeff's AW Emerger. Seeing all those trout rise up and suck the fly will haunt my dreams for weeks to come! About noon, a young man (Oklahoma U student) approached and asked if he could share the hole. I told him "Sure, in fact I'm leaving". He mentioned he was new to fly fishing and was having trouble casting and worse, hadn't caught a fish. His equipment was good, but I noticed his leader was 3 feet long, and tippet looked to be 20 pounds! I built him a new leader, gave him a casting lesson, tied on an olive woolybugger, and he proceeded to catch several trout! Despite epic fishing, helping this young man was the highlight of my trip!
Catch	Road to Murfreesboro, AR
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Wanetiri Lake	14 March 2007
I had seen this lake for hire advertised in the paper and after looking up their web site , I thought I would give it a try last Friday. It is stocked with bass and sacalait mostly and still is after my trip as I managed only 4 small sacalait around the bank on a jitterbee. The water felt a little cold, but the lake is pretty and I am sure it will produce if you hit it right. They are doing some work preparing beaches along the bordering Amite River, so in the future it may offer wade fishing there as well. The total cost for a day pass and launching is about $12.00 and may be a viable option when your time is limited as it is only 10 miles down Greenwell Springs Rd from Airline.
JeffM	Wanetiri Lake
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W/E Fishing Trip	12 March 2007
Fished Saturday with Mike LaFleur down in Golden Meadow. Beautiful day - cool, just enough wind, clear water, fairly shallow with an incoming tide, and LOTS of Reds noodlin' 'round in the grass. Boated my limit of Reds, and lost others to the gobs of grass that piled up on my leader as these fish fought for their lives with gusto. Multiple long, fast runs. There were some Loch Ness Monsters back there too (you know the kind where the tail and the hump are in different zip codes), but the biggest I boated was only about 7 lbs. A few Black Drum were caught and released as well. Mike even boated a couple of keeper Specks. Perfect way to start the season.
Joe Kahler	The Office (unfortunately, not fishing)
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Was there anybody at the Sportmen's Show?	10 March 2007
From all the folks out today, both bank and boat, couldn't have been anybody at Lamar-Dixon. Fished near Pat's Bay this morning, Bayou Alabama this afternoon. If you see as many gators as you catch keeper-size fish, it's either a slow day or the gators are plenty. Today was both. Tried sacalait early with fluff butts no luck. Switched to bass with plastic worm and commie rod, and caught a couple small fish, then found one area infested with spawning bass. Landed and released five, lost a couple more. Two were caught on fly rod popper. Tried for bream (Joe Mac said the bream were biting at Pat's Bay) but... well, let's just say the jitterbee has degraded into a better goo bait than bream fly. Bama Bayou was better for bream, but still slow. Talking to some folks there the action was all in the morning. The willow trees still haven't sprouted in these areas, so it's still early.
Catch	Ramah
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Looking for bass... are they looking for me?	07 March 2007
Went after work to City Park Lake. Too many joggers, so reverted to commie tackle (plastic worm). Quite a few green sunfish, some good size, but no bass. Just after sunset, I felt the slow consistent pull characteristic of a bass. Set the hook hard and a decent bass (1 1/2 - 2 lbs) cleared the water and threw the hook. It's early in the season, but they're back.
Catch	City Park Lake BR
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Reds	05 March 2007
I arrived at the public launch at 7:00 Friday morning and knew something must be wrong. There was no one in the parking lot and the weather was pretty good-partly cloudy and mild winds. Another fellow drove up and was wondering the same thing. I soon realized one reason was the speck action was slow. I managed only 2 keepers under a vosi. The redfishing was a different story. After seeing none in the shallows a month ago, this trip they were back in full force along with some sheephead. They were not particularly aggresive to the fly but action was constant. The water felt much warmer and was much higher as well. Conditions improved during the day and actually got too still and quiet by the afternoon. Anyway it is well worth the trip.
JeffM	Golden Meadow
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Bass in the shallows!	05 March 2007
Late Friday it took me 15 minutes to catch 3 bass at the neighborhood pond. This was after Joe Kahler and I watched one at Waddill swallow a bream I'd caught, then put a sweeping bend on his Winnie B2x rod! After 30 seconds tug-of-war, the bream was released (that's one fish glad to see me). Saturday afternoon I saw a couple of bass hooked by attendees at Red Stick Day, including a really nice one that older son Kevin stuck using Jeff Guerin's AW Emerger! Yesterday I went back to Waddill to clean up and rearrange tables and chairs. There were only a couple of folks out, with the wind and the cold, but the bass were still making wakes along the shores. Took my rod out for a few minutes and landed some small bream and one small bass.
Catch	BR ponds
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Lake Martin	22 February 2007
Nothing this morning again in great conditions - EXCEPT for the high water, which is hiding all the stumps - which should be holding all the fish. And if you know of a better excuse that that, I'd love to hear it!Whatever, March 2 is historically F-Day on Lake Martin. We'll soon see if history repaets itself.Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Aromatherapy? A Coma Therapy!	20 February 2007
Nothing more therapeutic than an extended weekend on the Little Mo catching trout on DRIES! Saturday was the Little Mo Fly Fishing Fest and that kept me busy most of the day. Just as well, wind 25 mph and temp 40 degrees. Still managed an hour in at Hind's Bluff where every other cast with a SR71 bugger received a complementary trout. Started late on Sunday... didn't arrive at Low Water Bridge until 11am. Even so, my wading boots were frozen from the night before. A really nice warmup had the march browns a-hatching. Took out my TFO Finesse 3-weight and tied on a size 14 ParaAdams. Quite a few strikes but not many takes and after a dozen were landed I switched back to the bugger and found some big fish in the deep hole 200 yards south of the bridge. On Monday hit the park area after generation ceased about 9am. A bit of delay getting there: the road was blocked due to filming of an episode of "Extreme Home Makeover" (I understand they had a crew of 5000 on hand). Not much action in the C&R area on the ParaAdams, and then Jeff Guerin and Sandy Spurlock showed up and convinced me to join them at the Sycamore Hole. When we hopped out Jeff's vehicle, a pleasant aroma awaited us. Hawthorn trees in bloom, Jeff said. Whatever the tree was, after smelling the flowers a few times, I looked down at my hands and wondered aloud "hey, man, how all those fingers get to be on my hands?" Next thing I'm sitting on the bank, casting to trout eager to hit my dry. Sandy was tearing them up, and when I asked what she was using, Jeff handed me one of his AW Emergers to tie on. WOW! This was the first time I'd fish this fly, but it won't be the last. They really slammed it! About 3pm, Jeff and Sandy dropped me back at the park, and despite rough water from gusty winds, I went at 'em with a dry. Did extremely well in front of the corn chunkers, who were hardly getting bites. Does it get better than that? Looking forward to my next trip and more "Coma Therapy"
Glen, aka Catch, aka Coma Cormier	Murfreesboro, AR
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35MPHgust	18 February 2007
I landed a new job a few weeks back. We work tons of overtime and yesterday I got off a few hours early. I thought I hit Brec park on the way home. There was white caps on the pond. Go figure.
wally	Baton Rouge
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Fish report.... from inside the hotel	13 February 2007
This morning the reds and drum were podding along the north flats, while the baby tarpon were holding along the grass beds. Randy and I waited patiently for them to circle closer, but they never did. Just as well... we couldn't have cast to them anyway. Not just because we didn't bring our flyrods, but because these fish are inside a 1-acre pond located in the middle of the Gaylord Palms resort hotel where we're attending an SAP conference this week. In the words of Randy, "I kept looking for a conference session on fishing for redfish, but there were none. Guess they didn't take FULL advantages of all the amenities the Gaylord had to offer."
Catch	Orlando, FL
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A pleasant surprise	09 February 2007
I've got a bad cold right now, so yesterday my boss sent me home after a half day because he was tired of hearing me cough and wheeze, so I did the only sensible thing and went fishing. I headed to some of my favorite area's of Calcasieu Lake to look for a trophy speck on fly. I didn't find the specks, but while blindcasting a flat about 60 feet off of one of the banks of the lake, I caught a dozen redfish. The two biggest were 6 and 7 pounds, most of the rest were 16 to 20 inches. Not what I went looking for, but I'll take it.
Ron Begnaud	Calcasieu Lake
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lake martin	08 February 2007
Spent the past two mornings fishing for both sac-a-lait and bass in very high and ultra-clear water and never had a sniff. The conventional guys are faring only a little better.Pete
pete cooper, jr.	broussard, la
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Saturday at Sherwood	22 January 2007
Nasty weather, seemed perfect for the rainbeaux trout to bite. Arrived about 11am at Sherwood and met with fellow RSFF member James Schexnaider. He'd caught a couple of bream, but was tying on his killer crappie fly and heading to the secret spot. A little later, two other fly rodders showed up, don't know who they were. A little later, Dirk Burton and Gary Peterson arrived. They'd been over at Oak Villa BREC pond and caught some nice trout, including Dirk's 16-incher. The wind was blowing 20-25 and caused me to lose one big fish (trout, perhaps?). Other than that, five gobbules, all on size 14 prince nymph.
Catch	BREC Sherwood
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Little Mo excursion	16 January 2007
While in Shreveport this weekend with the family, decided to make a one-day diversion on Sunday to the Little Mo. Arrived at Hinds Bluff at 9:30 and found the water as high and muddy as I've ever seen it. Did manage several nice trout on size 12 SR71 woolybugger. Later hit River Ridge, and found the trout holding in the current of numerous little creeks running into the main river. That afternoon, fished at the park, and found the same pattern. Often the trout would hit, without stripping, while the bugger was sweeping down the current. Saw a few trout rising to some midges, fueling my anticipation for a future trip.
Catch	Murfreesboro, AR
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Didn't catch trout but caught back to back Crappie	16 January 2007
I bought some mosquito flys on a size #16 hook and thought I could catch some trout in the rain with my 3wt rod. Went after work around 4:45pm to 5:30pm in the rain right before dark and nailed 8 to 10 inches white crappie back to back nonstop for 20 minutes. All the crappie were the same size mixed in with some small sunfish. I think the mosquito fly stop floating but it did not matter they liked that fly for some reason. Did notice on the side of the pond toward the trees the nats were really bad and they could have been bitting on that. Don't really know but did not see many trout jumping just pesky little crappie aka scaliat.
James	North Sherwood Forest Park Pond
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Rainbeaux Trout	15 January 2007
Got out to the Sherwood Park Pond at first light Friday morning (about 7:00) with my trusty LL 3wt armed with a wooly bugger. Anticipation ran high as trout could be seen flopping about on the surface. It took a few cast but finally landed my first Louisiana rainbow- a 9 incher. I ended up catching 8 by 11:00 including one 11 incher and missed a nice 14 that put up a wonderful aerial fight before getting off in the matted grass by the shore. A fellow fishing next to me casting a spinner cauhgt a monster 17-18 incher that made my jaw drop. Evidently a few big ones got thrown in or perhaps he was a holdover from 15 years ago? Overall it was fun being able to cast from solid ground and getting to meet some nice folks.
JeffM	BREC
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