Fly Guy
On the bright Side
March - The mere mention of the word is enough
to invoke a shiver and scowl from most south Louisiana
anglers. Thought of along the same line as dentists
and the DMV, the spring transition can be a very trying
time to be a saltwater angler. Our minds are telling us
it’s spring, time to dust off the boats, rods, and short
sleeves; meanwhile, the water and the weather are
telling us to wait a few weeks more. Speckled trout
have escaped the wintering grounds, where they are
such easy targets, and fanned out into open water,
making finding them consistently a tall task. Redfish
yet in invade the interior marsh, most of which is the
color of coffee anyway. If that is not enough doom and
Bass Tips:
On warmer days, post-spawn bass will begin
to attack the hordes of growing shad occupying our local waterways. You cannot go
wrong with crank baits in open water or with
soft plastics fished around cover. I love fishing small baitfish, creature baits, and jigs
around cypress trees or overhangs this time
of year. Fishing smaller lures will give you
the ability to catch any and all species. It isn’t
uncommon to find all bass on one tree and
all panfish on the next, or a mix of both.
While you’re doing this, keep an eye out,
away from the bank, for bass running shad
on the surface. If you run across this, any
crank bait, soft plastic baitfish, or even buzz
bait will do the trick.
For colder days, go back to the wintertime
style of dead sticking worms or slow rolling
spinnerbaits in deeper water for larger fish.
Three must-have lures:
1/8oz or 1/4oz buzz bait
Culprit 7.5” red shad worms
Shallow diving crank baits
Three must-have flies:
Floating foam spiders
White fluffbutts
Dave’s Hoppers
21
March 2016 www.marshandbayou.com
by Capt. Tristan Daire
Old Towne Fly Shop
(985) 630 3892
gloom for you,
the shift in the
predominate winds back to SSE entails a few
weeks of incessant blowing and the high
water they bring. What a mess this has become already!
On the bright side, even the most
staunch saltwater anglers cannot resist something pulling on the line and lucky for us, we
have just the thing. While the saltwater transition means finding and catching fish will be
difficult for a time, the freshwater transition
makes for easy days. Bass, crappie, catfish,
and panfish have all just spent the last four
months bedded down in deep water and are
now just looking for a reason to wind up on
the end of your line. We’ll have post-spawn
bass looking to regenerate and get their
strength back, crappie and panfish coming
out of the winter depths to maul insects, even
the lowly catfish will be on the prowl in the
muddy waters pouring through south
Louisiana rivers and bayous. The ability to
used wooded areas along our rivers and bayous to hide from rising winds usually make
the temperature and being outside beautiful.
Bring some light spinning gear and your 35wt fly rods with you and do a little of both,
this may be the best time of year to work the
kinks out of your fly fishing.
This is one of my favorite times of the
year to just go fishing and catch whatever is
biting. It’s also a great time to pick up the fly
rods and give them a chance, easy fishing
coupled with nice weather makes it a great
time to be outside.
Olde Towne Fly Shop & Outfitters has
everything you need to make your spring
freshwater fishing a success. For those of you
looking to get out with no boat, look no further than our rental kayaks complete with
rental fly-fishing gear.
Till next time,
Good fishing; and smile, April is right around
the corner!