Thread: Fishing Without Boat Near Baton Rouge? (for a beginner fisher(wo)man)

Hey Amber,

You can fish at the LSU lakes. You can catch fish at a lot of the ponds in BREC parks. North Sherwood park, the one by the zoo.Try waddill wildlife refuge Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries the bass might be on the bed. You can site cast to them.

A cut and paste from LA Sportsman Magazine

Of course, the Mississippi River is a popular spot for catching catfish, and there are some areas along the river available for public access and use.

“False River is another popular area, although most of it is on private property. There is an area on the north side next to the public boat launch in New Roads that bank fishermen can utilize.

“Bayou Plaquemine located near Plaquemine is another good spot that non-boaters often use. It’s about 20 minutes south of Baton Rouge, there are some new public fishing piers there now and fishing for blue catfish, especially, is generally good.

“If anglers want to spend a little money on fish to bring home, fishermen trying the Holden Catfish Ponds at Holden are about guaranteed to catch plenty of catfish. It’s a commercial operation, and anglers are charged for the fish they want to bring home.”

HTH
Jig Rig

first, welcome to cdc. this is just the place to get all youir questions answered. as far as fishing locations, i can't help ya. but i can give ya some info on baits to use. jigs are a staple for crappie. tube jigs are my favorite, but the shad type jigs are a close second. as far as jig heads, i exclusively use sickle hooks. i will attached some pics of my favorite combinations.

shiners (minnows) are the best year around bait if yoiu wanna go with live bait. they can be fished under a slip cork, or tight lined. if you are gonna use shinersmuch, invest in a decent bucket or box that has an aerator with it. they will live much much longer with this.

i also would recommend getting a jig pole. wally world has some good base models. BnM makes a good jig pole. a 9 or 10 footer is a good starter rod. put a little spinning reel on it with about 8-10 pound high vis gold stren line and you'll be ready.

check out my favorite jig combo's

doc

this is my favorite of all time










this is my boat. if yoiu ever see me on the water, be sure to say hello!!!!!

Thank you so much for the replies!! I have a couple of lures that look like those ones, docwaldo, so good to know that they are good to use! My tackle box is tiny compared to that, but I figure right now I don't really know what I'm doing and the better I get, the more I'll add.

The LSU lakes! Of course! Those were mentioned to me a while ago and I never bothered paying attention because I had no interest in fishing at that point. I want to fish the Mississippi and the Amite river (we passed it on our way to BassPro and I saw people fishing.) I'm so excited now!

So far what I've been doing to prepare is reading everything I can find about species of fish, how to fish, how to clean them, the rules and regulations book I got with my license etc. I also have been practicing casting in my yard with a practice hook/lure thing. It's basically just a weight with no hook. Even caught myself a dachshund the other day when my puppy decided to chase it haha.

Originally Posted by Amber

Even caught myself a dachshund the other day when my puppy decided to chase it haha.

good stuff
If you're just learning, use a cork. Even if you're not just learning...at this time of year...use a cork. small jig with a nibble under a small cork, shallow water with wood structure and/or grass...really can't beat it for sacs on beds, unless you gotta have the "thump". No need for long casts, get within 8ft w/o too much distubance and a light pitch will do you just right once you figure out your depth. Good luckssss.

Adam

Amber, Welcome to the site. I don't know about any of the places around Baton Rouge but we have a few members that are from that area that will help you out on different places.. If I am not mistaken I think you can do some bank fishing over in the Basin and that shouldn't be but a half hour or so to the west of BR... The tube jigs that Doc posted are some good baits. a few colors that I have good success with that he doesn't have showing are, blue/white with a blue jighead, black/orange with an orange jighead, and black/red with a red jighead. If you are gonna be casting a jig with a float, I would recomend a 1/16 oz or smaller jighead so that you can use a smaller cork/float/bobber.
For kitty's, chicken liver works well, just don't stay on the hook very good. For bass, spinners work well and plastic worms.. My favorite worm is a Zoom trick worms in a watermelon or watermelon/red color. I fish them weightless, cast them near the lily pads, grass lines or structure and let it sink, then give it a little twitch and take up a round or two of line on the reel and let it sink again. It's a pretty effective method for me and my boys... Sacalait, bank fishing, I would cast a small jig with a small float at or near structure, let it set for a few seconds, then twitch it towards you a few inches and let it set for a few seconds again, and repeat... Watch the float closely, when it goes under, jerk fast or if the float seams to lay down, jerk. alot of times they will pick up on the jig and cause the float to lay over.

If a regular boat is too much investment (I know the feeling) consider a kayak. I've fished out of paddlecraft my whole life and got into kayaks several years ago. I prefer it to fishing from a motor boat most times. Your range is limited relative to a boat, but you can put it into any water you can easily walk to. You can get set up with a nice boat and the necessary accessories (life jacket, paddle, anchor, etc) for $500-$1000. You will do better by picking up a used boat. Try Craig's list for those or the buy/sell forums at bckfc.org. Sometimes you can pick up a fully rigged and ready setup there on the cheap. The folks there can answer any questions you would have about kayaks.

Yeah, my husband was telling me about the jerking on the line thing last weekend but I kept messing it up, I think I was jerking it way too hard (haha) 'cause the lure would come flying out of the water and land on the grass. We're going fishing tomorrow evening and I bought some chicken blood, chum lines, and 25lb string. I think the string that's on my rod now is 10lb.

And about the boat thing, I would love to have a canoe or a kayak. I used to canoe in Canada (where I'm from) down the thousand islands. A boat isn't out of the question, my husband just said I'm new to this and if I end up losing interest then it's a big loss. I really don't think I'll lose interest though, I haven't been this excited about doing something as a hobby, not even horseback riding.

I have 20 nightcrawlers that we bought and I went out looking for worms in the yard today and got some grubs too. I also have the chicken innards that I saved, some are hanging to dry outside right now and some are in the fridge which I'm going to make bait out of. I have some fish-shaped sponges which I will also dip in the blood and freeze tonight as well as all of my lures. I really hope I catch something tomorrow and sunday, even if I have to throw it back!

Sometimes when riding around you will see john-boats in people's yards without a trailer or motor. Usually they are in long grass and the people that own them forgot about them even being there.
Stop and ask if they want to get rid of it. That is how I got my pull-over boat and then I got a trolling motor on clearance at Wal-mart. The boat leaked a little but I got one of the aluminum repair kits and tool care of that.
I seem to remember some of the guys your way posting that they fished some rice irrigation canals. Maybe find some of these and ask the land owner for permission to fish.