Cool Day at Louie

Attachment 491376Attachment 491377Forecast for 15-20% chance of rain. Cloudy, not as hot. Good day to go fishing!!
Decided to go to Louie. Ramp is narrow, but concrete. Short boat ride to landing if weather man is wrong.
Put in at Bills around 10 AM. Tried three different sunken trees. Only baby crappie. I guess my secret spots aren’t so secret! Tried shallow, tried deep, same results. Tried some small submerged bushes and tops and caught a really nice crappie. Worked some ledges and caught a lot of little ones, and four more good ones. It started getting cloudy, then rainy. Weather radar lied!! I put my rain jacket on, but got wet. At least it wasn’t hot!!

That storm passed, and I caught some more. Then the radar showed one headed right at me. Made it to landing about five minutes after it started. Got soaked in spite of my rain coat.

Released all the fish. I’m at quota for fish per month!! Fun day! It was worth getting wet, for it to be not so durn hot!!

Silver 1/16 oz jig with red/silver flashabou, and yellow feather.

Good job. Nice report and pics. Thanks for sharing

Nice catches! Congrats

Nice catches! Looks like a darn good day on the water. I use to hunt in Sicily Island as a kid with my dad and always wondered how the fishing was at Louie.

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Originally Posted by jdk426

Nice catches! Looks like a darn good day on the water. I use to hunt in Sicily Island as a kid with my dad and always wondered how the fishing was at Louie.

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Louie is my most dependable spot. It has a ton of submerged timber, a huge amount of shoreline, and stays at least somewhat muddy all year. The downsides are. like most of the water ways around here, the fish contain mercury in low, but toxic levels, two of the three ramps require precision and a little luck to safely launch, and the best landing (near Harrisonburg), is a long shallow run from the rest of the water way.
Bill’s Landing, just south of Sicily Island, is concrete, steep and narrow. It’s fine, but you better pay close attention when backing down. Bayou Louie Rocks landing is wide, but the concrete is broken and there was rebar sticking out of it, the last time the water was down. The landing near Harrisonburg is wide and in good shape. There is a lake connected to the bayou that has some deep water in it. I haven’t fished that part much as it is the farthest from my house.

I have boated from one end to the other, but the channel in the lower part is narrow and fairly shallow. Also, there are several “oxbows “ that have submerged trees and stumps throughout the entire length, so caution is necessary until you learn it.

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Originally Posted by escout

Louie is my most dependable spot. It has a ton of submerged timber, a huge amount of shoreline, and stays at least somewhat muddy all year. The downsides are. like most of the water ways around here, the fish contain mercury in low, but toxic levels, two of the three ramps require precision and a little luck to safely launch, and the best landing (near Harrisonburg), is a long shallow run from the rest of the water way.
Bill’s Landing, just south of Sicily Island, is concrete, steep and narrow. It’s fine, but you better pay close attention when backing down. Bayou Louie Rocks landing is wide, but the concrete is broken and there was rebar sticking out of it, the last time the water was down. The landing near Harrisonburg is wide and in good shape. There is a lake connected to the bayou that has some deep water in it. I haven’t fished that part much as it is the farthest from my house.

I have boated from one end to the other, but the channel in the lower part is narrow and fairly shallow. Also, there are several “oxbows “ that have submerged trees and stumps throughout the entire length, so caution is necessary until you learn it.

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Thanks for the launching areas. That is part of the reason i never fished it in the past was because i couldnt find much on it!. How far of a run is it through the water from Harrisonburg launch to Sicily Island? I still cant find the launch information but pulling it up on the map i believe i found them. The narrow one almost looks like part of someones driveway or it may be a store right there hard to tell from aerial view.

Probably about 20 miles from launch near the dam (near Harrisonburg) to Sicily Island. I have never gone the entire way in one trip. I did about 2/3 of it once. From the launch at Harrisonburg, there is a deep lake about a half mile upstream (east?) I haven’t fished it since I got Livescope, but I bet I could find some fish there. There is a lot of submerged wood all over it, so the key is finding something that isn’t visible. That would get much less fishing pressure.
Skippa Chippa did well pulling crank baits back when he fished it. I miss him!

Louie is kind of like a narrow Larto.

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The red dots are approximately where the landings are.

Nice fish there escout! Thanks for sharing.