Checking in from Louisiana

Got here mid morning on Saturday after 16 hours of driving. After resting a bit we took a drive to buy fishing license and check out boat launches. Decided to fish Cheniere on Sunday. This is 3,600 acres of flooded cyprus trees. We were on the water at 8 am and started out flipping jigs around the cyprus roots. No luck. Next was worms and bobbers. No luck. We then decided to explore and got a little turned around but managed to find an open area known as Pucketts lake. No luck. More exploring through trees close enough together that we had to work to find a way through. About 5:30 we made it back to the launch and decided to finish the day fishing that area. We found some bluegills willing to bite and ended up with 4 keepers. Monday we decided on Caney Lake, a 5,000 acre impoundment near Chatham. The day started slow fishing around sunken brush piles and stake beds in 26 fow. Marked lots of fish but no takers. Next was slow drifting with 1/16th oz jigs and Mr Crappie tubes in black/pink. Also jigs tipped with shinners. Bingo! First fish was a 10 1/2" bluegill. Wasn't real fast action but did manage to catch some crappie and bass and ended the day with 8 keepers in the box. Warm, sunny and calm winds, perfect day to be on the water. We are working on getting pics added. I'll add more as the week goes on.

I like the part about Warm and sunny!! do have a good time:cheers2

You picked a good time to get out of here, we got hit with another boatload of snow & Winter storm warnings.

Thanks for the update! If you haven't already, put a shout out on the LA board and see if anybody can give you a tip or two on any of those lakes.

Take care good luck fishing.

Three more days of fishing in. Man, this is hard work! Fished D'Arbonne Tuesday and Thursday and managed to box about 15 nice crappie. Biggest were pushing 14". Also caught some bar fish( yellow bass I think ) and some guber goo ( drum ). They have unique names for fish down here. Crappie are white perch. Tough fishing conditions, wind, scattered rain and higher than normal water didn't help so we feel good about our catch. Wednesday we went on a wild goose chase based on a rumor and ended up wasting an entire day but got to see some beautiful scenery. Mostly fishing shiner minnows under a slip bobber 14-20 feet deep but have caught some on jigs. Another half day fishing on Friday then having a fish fry in the evening. Heading home on Saturday and am hoping most of the snow is gone by then. Will post some pics at the end of the trip.

Congrats on the fish. Always a bit tougher fishing new water. Sounds like you did pretty fair tho. Be safe travelling back.

Getting away from this snow would be worth the drive! I keep reassuring Dar our turn is coming. Have a save trip.

Have you had the pleasure (or displeasure in my case) to see snakes?

Good report!

Just got back to Michigan, what a surprise! Guess I need to jump on the quad in the morning and plow snow. Yesterday I was threatening to take my shirt off in the boat. Still cold at night in La. so no snake sightings. Wasn't so much worried about seeing them, just didn't think the boat was big enough for me and a snake. Jeff would have been on his own. Ended the week with 12 pounds of fillets for the fish fry. Also boiled 30 pounds of crawfish and 8 pounds of shrimp. Quite the feast! Fished a lot, learned a lot and saw lots of great scenery. Missed the good bite by a couple of weeks but still caught fish. All in all a good trip. Next up, Detroit River walleye and perch.

Welcome home...brrrrr!

Not one from La. got this on the Grand River last summer. Trying to figure out how to add a pic.Attachment 231304

Looks like you nailed it on both counts! I have a couple honey holes this way on the Grand myself.

Jeff with a couple we caught. Biggest is just shy of 14"Attachment 231380

One of the lakes we fished. Think this is Black Bayou.Attachment 231381

Jimmy (ready2fish) and I fished Lake Washington down in Sippy in the trees that looked just about the same. Big snakes in there too.

nice fish!!!!!!!!,
one of these years I am going to make it down there to fish those cypress........

If you look hard enough on the Detroit river... You will find me. I practically live there for a little over a month!

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Originally Posted by steelguy

nice fish!!!!!!!!,
one of these years I am going to make it down there to fish those cypress........

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Let me know. I'm ready for a long road trip.

Toughest part is which of the 10,000,000 trees holds the fish! I would love to fish Washington some time. Only a couple of hours from where I stay so just maybe....

Spartannation, glad you visited our fair state. The lake at D'arbonne got a little high after you passed through.Lots of flooding.They saw 24 inches of rain in Farmerville in 3 days. Then Toledo bend jumped 2 feet in 1 day.(that is 121 trillion gallons to raise it 2 feet) They dumped it by opening all the dam gates wide open for a few days.This was 207,000 cubic ft of water passing per second. More than twice what Niagra Falls drops. This made the Sabine river rise all the way to the gulf. It rose so high that Interstate 10 at the Tex/La line has been closed for a few days and will be for a few more. We can hardly get out of the state with so many roads flooded. About 8 to 10 thousand homes and businesses flooded.
There is great fishing in our state, but like every where ,better some years than others. Probably gonna be messed up for a while. I live in south La. and fish in the Atchafalaya spillway. It has been bad because of high water several years in a row. But the Mississippi river crested today in Baton Rouge and is predicted to fall hard for the next 3 weeks. That will start the fishing in early April. Hopefully by mid april I will be posting pictures of more normal catches. Sorry it was not great, but come on back. We love company in this state. Danny

Thanks Danny. We didn't catch great numbers but got a couple of good ones. From what we could see nobody was catching much while we were there. As for us coming back, I'm sure we'll be coming down for years to come. my son is co-owner of a surveying company in Farmerville and is getting serious with a West Monroe girl. Two reasons he won't be moving back to Michigan. I was looking for CDC decals on boats but didn't see any. I was hoping to run into some members while we were down but the Toledo Bend outing and Crappie Masters were at the same time. I'll post on the La. forum next time I head down, pbly Thanksgiving.

I'll be watching for you. And tell that boy, he can not turn that girl into a yankee, but we will take him in as a cajun wannabe. And they call crappie, sac au lait in south La. and specks in Florida.

Should have come to Toledo Bend, we had a blast. The big fish was caught in my boat, but neither fishervet or I remembered which one of us caught it. So we donated the $85 to the raffle for the senior center. Some of the guys up there know about the raffle thing. Don , y'all still got us beat. We raised $590 this year. Better by far over last years $275. But Y'all can beat that for sure.

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Originally Posted by "D"

Should have come to Toledo Bend, we had a blast. The big fish was caught in my boat, but neither fishervet or I remembered which one of us caught it. So we donated the $85 to the raffle for the senior center. Some of the guys up there know about the raffle thing. Don , y'all still got us beat. We raised $590 this year. Better by far over last years $275. But Y'all can beat that for sure.

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You need to take Danny up on that Spartan, from all I've heard Toledo Bend is a wonderful destination, and you'd have a top notch guide to boot!

I think we are doing a raffle again this spring Danny. I'm not facilitating the camp this time, but if we do one we gonna try to best last year for sure.

Hope all works out for you and Jigflinger to make it up...we could use some southern spice in the mix. [emoji12]

Maybe the water will have receded enough by then and they can actually get out of the state :yikes