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Freshwater

Swamp Music

December 9, 2021
Adventure, Exploring, Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Kayak Fishing, Kayaking, Outdoors, Warmwater
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In late April I checked on the fish down in the Maurepas Swamp. I was hoping to run into some sacalait or maybe a choupique on the fly. I think I was a bit late in the year for any sacalait action and unfortunately I didn’t come across any choupique either, but I had decent action on the local sunfish. It wasn’t as hot as the last time I was down there, but I was happy to have fished it this year while the irises were in bloom and prior to Hurricane Ida’s arrival.

Redear sunfish
Bluegill
Largemouth bass
Warmouth (Goggle-eye)

It was a nice little mixed bag, which tends to happen in the swamp, and a nice day on the water before a front rolled through. That’s what forced me off the water, the rain moved in and it stormed a good bit as I was loading the kayak.

Bayou Fountain in January

December 7, 2021
Adventure, Exploring, Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Kayak Fishing, Kayaking, Outdoors, Tournaments, Warmwater
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I spent a weekend fly fishing Bayou Fountain way back in January looking for a largemouth bass upgrade for last year’s Massey’s/BCKFC CPR kayak tourney(it actually ran through February of this year). The fishing was dreadfully slow, but I was able to land a largemouth that was incrementally longer than my previous one. This proved to be very crucial when it was all said and done as I ended up tying Chuck Miller in points, but I held the tiebreak for overall length which gave me the win.

This was the first trip in what would become a fun year in fly fishing for me. I’ve covered some trips from the year in posts already, but I’ll continue to detail it here soon. I’ve caught more species this year than any in the past and it has been a blast tracking them down.

Hitting the river to beat the heat

August 24, 2021
Exploring, Fish, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Outdoors, Scouting, Wade Fishing, Warmwater
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This is THE hottest time of year to be fishing in South Louisiana. If you’ve got to get out to fish, now is the time to go wade one of our sandy rivers. There will be plenty of spotted bass and longear sunfish waiting to hit your topwater fly, they are the perfect fly rod fish. Just bring plenty of fluids and shoes that will handle gravel/sand. Heat stroke is no joke and being in the water will help regulate your body temp. The last time I got out on one of my favorite local rivers was back in June, but the info should still be pertinent.

I don’t take wade trips often enough, but I always really enjoy when I do, this day was no different. I had not caught any spotted bass this year prior to this trip so they were the target species. Everything else was lagniappe. I started off by throwing a hopper/dropper and it was pretty darn effective on the sunfish. The longear were very active. Bluegill were in the mix too, but not nearly as numerous as the longear.

In a shallow run I got a chance to notch another species for the year when the school of blacktail shiners attacked my dropper fly. This is a shiner species that gets big enough that you don’t have to result to microfishing to hook one. As long as your dropper is not too big you’ll eventually run into one on a sandy river. They are very common in our Florida parish streams.

It took me a while (and a fly change) before I brought a spotted bass to hand, but eventually I found a willing participant. I slowly fished my way back to the truck making sure to keep my eyes peeled for anything interesting while walking the gravel bars. Sure enough I came across a really nice banded agate. The last few times I’ve gone wade fishing in this river I’ve been rewarded with one or two. Just something else that makes this place special.

I picked up another spot and a really colored up longear before I called it a day. I had only spent a few hours on the water, but it was a productive trip and time well spent. Give a river trip a shot if you want to fly fish in the summer down here and don’t want to die of heat exhaustion. I can attest it will certainly make you feel like a kid again the moment you step into the water and you’ll be smiling the whole drive home.