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Fishing Reports
West LA update
May 24, 2004
Posted by Catch Cormier
Baton Rouge, LA
Email: catch@laflyfish.com
Current Report
Torrential rains in southern
parishes the first two weeks
of May have rendered waters
unfishable, much less for fly
fishing. Exception is in the
spillway areas, where major
river levels have more impact
than local rains. As the Red
and Mississippi river
continue to fall slowly,
action on crappie and
bluegill has picked up in the
last week in Deer Park Lake,
Henderson, and upper Pidgeon.
Allow another week or so for
Belle River and Old River.
Runoff has also impacted
Calcasieu Lake, where spotted
seatrout have moved to the
lower reaches of the system,
where salinity is highest.
However, reds are still
active in the upper estuary
areas, mostly in ponds,
taking flies like the Shwimp,
Ron's Redchaser, and spoon
flies.
Toledo Bend bass have
overcome the post spawn
blues, and are hanging off
dropoffs in 5-10 feet of
water around San Miguel and
San Patricio. There's still
some good bluegill action in
San Patricio on popping bugs
along the grass mats. Most of
the bass are being taken on
Sqwirm Worms, ie, worms made
from silli-legs.
Whereas most of SoLA and
CenLA received up to 15"
rain, most of NoLA has been
normal for the month (3"). So
the water in Bistineau,
Claiborne, Darbonne, and
Caney remains fairly clear.
Again, bass seem to be
active, and it appears
the "bull" bream season is
over. During day, the bream
are biting cap spiders in 5
feet of water. Around sunset,
they're rising to poppers.
This pattern will likely
continue until September.
Specks were tearing up in the
Barataria-Terrebonne system
the week before shrimp season
started. Since then, stirred
up water and 10-15 knot winds
have hampered fly rod action,
although some good catches
are coming in on live bait.
The fish are just having hard
time seeing the flies, my
guess. Back in the ponds, the
reds are as usual hitting
anything that flashes or
wobbles. However, if water is
a bit murky, try an orange
Apte tarpon fly. It's been
hot for this situation the
last 3 summers. Drum and
sheepshead are also starting
to pick up, and these will
bite small flies, like tiny
crab or shrimp patterns, but
with a little bit of action
to them (adding a tuff of
marabou helps).
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