L_S_2015_04_

250 Louisiana Sportsman^ | April 2015

water) or red/blue/chartreuse.

For bass, which ought to turn on this time of

year, go to the willow mounds along the Texas

Canal, Lake Bigeux, Lake Toytoy or the Butte

La Rose Canal.

Fish with 3/8-ounce watermelon/red jig-n-pigs

if the water’s fairly clear or black/blue if the

water is stained. Also try soft plastics, espe-

cially Senkos.

Bream-fishing success will be slow until

the water warms. But some probably can be

caught on worms and tube jigs or hair jigs in

Butte La Rose Canal and areas in the Phillips

Canal.

Chicot Lake

Just when action on bass and white perch

really started heating up, another major cold

front socked Ville Platte and nearby Chicot

Lake.

“They were catching white perch and bass

for a couple days before that,” Ike Launey

said March 5, while it was sleeting outside

Industrial Supply and Sports, where the all-

around outdoorsman works as a sales associ-

ate.

It was the second cold front in as many

weeks, and this one had dumped snow and

sleet on Toledo Bend. That bitter cold was

expected to slow success at Chicot Lake.

But, Launey the weather had to rebound.

“It’ll get good again,” he said. “It’ll warm

up. But maybe (the cold spells) will push the

spawn back a little bit.”

He expected bassin’ success to be fair to

good, with some spawning action regardless

of the weather. He advised anglers to fish with

soft plastics such as Senkos, craw worms and

trick worms in black/red, watermelon/red

or watermelon/blue; Brush Hogs in the same

color combinations; and 3/8-ounce chartreuse/

white spinnerbaits. Go to 3- to 4-foot depths in

and around The Branch and Ski Lake area.

For white perch, which should be biting well,

fish with 1/32- or 1/48-ounce tube jigs and hair

jigs about 1 ½ to 2 ½ feet deep. Top colors usu-

ally are red/chartreuse and brown/orange for

tube jigs and blue/white, green/chartreuse or

black/chartreuse hair jigs.

Target water depths 4- to 5-feet deep in The

Branch and Ski Lake areas, concentrating in

and around grass beds and around cypress

trees and tupelo gum trees.

Miller’s Lake

Here, too, bass fishing had improved by leaps

and bounds before the powerful cold front

blew through Southncentral Louisiana the

first week of March.

But Miller’s Lake bassin’ and white perch suc-

cess ought to be back to normal, which is fair

to good, by late March and April.

That’s the word from Ike Launey, a sales asso-

ciate at Industrial Supply and Sports in Ville

Platte.

Fish for bass with watermelon/red or water-

melon/blue Senkos and Flukes, or black/red or

watermelon/red Brush Hogs around trees in

the midlake area or buttonwood willows and

brushy areas on the east side. Also try water-

melon red/pearl or black/red Stanley Ribbits

in and around any underwater vegetation.

White perch fishing should be at least fair.

Those panfish might be done spawning,

Launey said. Tie on 1/32- or 1/48-ounce tube jigs

and hair jigs and fish about 1 ½ to 2 ½ feet

deep. Red/chartreuse and brown/orange are

popular colors for tube jigs and blue/white,

green/chartreuse or black/chartreuse are best

colors for hair jigs. ■

Southcentral

fishing forecast continued

Black’s Outdoor &

Marine, LLC

1423 NW Evangeline

Thruway

Lafayette, LA 70501

337-233-4272

Duvic’s, Inc.

3650 Westbank

Expressway

Harvey, LA 70058

504-341-1654

Emmett’s Marine

354 Dale Trail NE

Brookhaven, MS 39601

(601) 833-2277

EK’s Marine Service

120 Cryer Street

West Monroe, LA 71291

318-361-9634

Lake Area Marine, Inc.

3909 Hwy. 90 East

Lake Charles, LA 70615

337-433-7019

Red River Marine

621 N. Third

Alexandria, LA 71301

318-487-1274

Southern Outdoors &

Marine of Houma

2268 Grand Caillou Rd.

Houma, LA 70363

985-872-9128

are available at

these local dealers.

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Southwest

This bull red was caught by Ashley Johnson, 16,

on a Carolina rigged cocahoe in Lake Raccourci

near Northwest Island while fishing with her

parents Morris and Monique and younger

brother Austin.