Keith Lusher 08.20.24
It’s a normal mind-set for many bass anglers: massive water means massive bass. However right here in Southeast Louisiana, discovering deep water might be difficult. Take, for example, the Honey Island Swamp. The swamp spans over 20 miles, and though it’s massive, the common depth is barely about 5 ft. Because of this, fishing contained in the swamp isn’t a good suggestion for those who’re trying to catch massive bass.
So once I made a visit to try to catch some late-season crawfish, I hesitated to deliver alongside my fishing pole. On the final minute, I made a decision to deliver it, and I’m certain glad I did.
My day began early as a result of I needed to beat the August warmth, which has been topping out at 99 levels the complete week. Fortuitously, there’s easy accessibility to the swamp, with quite a few trails that stretch from Interstate 10 into the swamp. As I walked again to the realm the place I often set my nets, I seen that the river was very excessive, inflicting the swamp to be deeper than regular. The water was shifting as properly, making it unsuitable for crawfishing. Certain, I may have set a number of nets out, however I didn’t assume it will be well worth the effort to solely catch a handful of crawfish. I’ve to confess that I used to be a bit upset; nevertheless, I remembered that I had introduced alongside my Shimano Intenza spinning rod paired with my Miravel spinning reel. I walked again to my truck, picked up the crawfish nets, and exchanged them for my fishing setup.
As I walked by way of the swamp, I made casts in 2-3 ft of water utilizing a home made rig that has all the time labored for me—a purple worm with a gold elbow spinning blade snapped on. It’s light-weight, weedless, and works properly in murky circumstances.
As I waded within the shallows, I made casts to totally different buildings that I believed would maintain fish. I used to be in a position to decide up two small bass that weighed a few pound every. These had been typical for swamp bass, because the shallow water tends to carry smaller fish. I then remembered a deep trenasse (a small ditch by way of the marsh or swamp) that crawfishermen use to entry the swamp from the principle river. When the East Pearl River is low and the water drains from the swamp, this small creek is the one factor that holds water. It runs about 4 ft deep when the river is low, so I knew it will be about 7 ft deep on this present day. This was my probability to focus on deeper water and hopefully entice a type of notorious “swamp donkeys” to chew. “Swamp donkey” is a time period that match bass anglers use for fish pulled out of the swamp. They often vary from 4 to 7 kilos and might be awfully enjoyable to catch, given all of the construction that advantages the fish through the combat.
As I approached the trenasse, I noticed a wake being pushed from the shallow water into the deep water of the trenasse. It appeared that I had spooked a bass that was within the shallows, and it swam into the safer, deep water. I needed that fish! I positioned myself alongside the trenasse, which is marked by ribbons tied to cypress timber, and began casting. My first two casts landed within the shallow water on the facet of the channel; nevertheless, my third solid landed within the deep trenasse, and it solely took two turns of the reel deal with earlier than my line got here to a cease and moved to the appropriate.
I reared again, set the hook, and braced myself for a combat because the bass made a bounce upon hookset. Fortuitously, there have been no timber or brush in my means, and I used to be in a position to reel within the bass in underneath 15 seconds. I backed up onto a bit of land, and when it got here close to, I charged it and lipped the large bass. It was an authorized swamp donkey—the most important bass I had ever caught within the swamp. Whereas the expertise was memorable, I realized a useful lesson: you will discover massive bass within the swamp for those who fish the trenasses!
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