Thread: Anyone fished here? How did you do?

Do a search for member name "jig rig". I think he usually fishes some of those.

Adam

Fished the Diversion Canal long long time ago. Located off La. 28, north of Larto. Caught the heck out of spoonbill cats, before they were illegal to catch. Other than that, many many many gar. No decent keeper fish. Thing I hated about that spot was the damn snakes. If you caught a fish and brought it in, by the time you got it off the hook, you were looking at 3-6 snakes, depending on where you were standing on the rocks. They never were aggressive, seemed to be used to people walking around them. They would slink back into the rocks as you walked by, then slip back out after you passed. Gave me the creeps. Never went back.

Been fishing those places my whole life. Cut teeth on Blood River, Natalbany, and Tickfaw. Katrina and Gustav DEVASTATED them. After the storms I was actually standing there LOOKING at literally THOUSANDS of dead crappie and bass. They floated in the river system for WEEKS dying. After 5 years, it is starting to come back. The numbers are there for sure. Caught over 70 fish on Tickfaw last Saturday. 9 keepers. Threw back an ice chest full of 8" to 9" fish, I know dang well someone woulda kept. But the numbers of BIG fish are just not there yet. Takes about 8 to 10 years after a storm like that. I know that now.
Sure, you can get lucky and catch 3 or 4 nice fish over a pound, maybe a 2 lber, but do that two weekends in a row and I'll literally kiss ur you know what.
If we can keep these guys from keepn everything that bites their hook for another year or two, those rivers will be right back where they were pre Katrina, barring future storms of course!

I've been driving 25 minutes to launch and haven't used a half a tank of gas in 4 weeks (90 merc on 19' bass tracker which does pretty well on gas). I've been fishing there for about 11 years strictly for white perch. It takes some learning and it can be very tough. Also it's been non productive since 2005 until this year. It is also very sensitive to rain, wind and tides. Near drought conditions and fall weather are ideal for the bite. Right now I have no room in the freezer for regular groceries. I've been bringing home no less than 15 per trip since late September with a few trips over 25 and one trip produced 36. Most trips are by my lonesome with my wife and a grandkid or two with me on a couple. I really can't seem to do anything else right now, plus I stay too late as well. I know I've thrown back almost as many as I've kept. I keep 8" or better, but I know I've been tossing 8"ers back regularly lately.
Henderson is good too and susceptible to the same wind, high water/low water conditions. Fish structure with some depth to it. I'd say mostly limbs and treetops and stuff you see with polarized glasses with a jiggin pole and tube jig by tight lining. Two pounders can be had in either area, but 1-1 1/2 lbs is not uncommon. I'd say that the majority of keepers for me fall in the 3/4 range
I'll try to post some pics when I can get them on photobucket.
DB.

Just a small sampling. I cant' take pictures of 'em all!

sac-O-billy - thoes look good to me! We put in one Monday at Port Vincent by Fred's. Went up river mostly, then down to where the Diversin Canal starts (I think).Is the fishing good in the Diversion Canal, crappie & Catfish?

Originally Posted by Gator Bait

sac-O-billy - thoes look good to me! We put in one Monday at Port Vincent by Fred's. Went up river mostly, then down to where the Diversin Canal starts (I think).Is the fishing good in the Diversion Canal, crappie & Catfish?

The area you were in, and even a little past the diversion, is good fishing. I wouldn't fish the diversion (too much traffic and not enough structure), but the Petite Amite, off of the diversion can be good. There are also many spots south of French Settlement on the Amite.
Good Luck!

I think, in THIS TIME of rebuilding the TOTALLY DEVASTATED population from Katrina, the biggest problem is keeping those "border line" fish. Those 8-10" fish that we are catching right now on the Tickfaw, Blood, and Natalbany are the age group that will make SOLID keepers next year, 10" and up. Not ALL of those fish are going to make it though. A portion will die of sickness, being eaten, other natural causes as usual, but then if we are keeping ice chests full of them TOO, then that time frame just doubles, or worse.

I have studied these things, and more importantly fished here my whole life. This river is in HORRIBLE condition as far as fish numbers IN THE KEEPER RANGE. Prior to Katrina, you wouldnt even think of keeping an 8" fish. There was no need to. 1lb or better made up the BULK of the days catch with 2lbers being more than common, MORE than common. The ONLY thing that is going to get us back to that QUICKER is time. Let them grow up a little. The more border line age class you keep (and let me preface this, IN THIS REBUILDING STAGE) the longer we are going to have sub par fishing.

I understand that they are prolific and we MUST keep some in order for them to balance out. But I can tell you that right now, you can fill up a truck bed with 6-8" fish. That's NOT a good thing. Five years from now, (barring we dont have ANOTHER storm) if you wanna keep 8" fish, it won't be as big a deal. There will be plenty of upper age class fish then and you may even be doing a service to keep the smaller ones. Right now, i think it does more harm than good. (again, AT THIS STAGE)

Just my 2 cents. We all have to make our own conservation / moral/ ethical decisions.

BTW, The fish coming out from under that dock with the big flower pot on it, is about dry. Out of the HUNDREDS I have caught there in the last couple months, 10 might have been real keepers. The rest are babies. Continuing to POUND them can't be good. Thats all I m saying.