Keith Lusher 08.20.24
It’s a regular mind-set for many bass anglers: huge water means huge bass. However right here in Southeast Louisiana, discovering deep water will be difficult. Take, as an illustration, the Honey Island Swamp. The swamp spans over 20 miles, and though it’s giant, the typical depth is barely about 5 toes. For that reason, fishing contained in the swamp isn’t a good suggestion should you’re trying to catch huge bass.
So after I made a visit to attempt 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 your entire week. Happily, there’s quick access to the swamp, with quite a few trails that stretch from Interstate 10 into the swamp. As I walked again to the world the place I often set my nets, I observed that the river was very excessive, inflicting the swamp to be deeper than regular. The water was shifting as effectively, making it unsuitable for crawfishing. Positive, I might have set just a few 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 disenchanted; nonetheless, 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 toes of water utilizing a selfmade rig that has at all times labored for me—a purple worm with a gold elbow spinning blade snapped on. It’s light-weight, weedless, and works effectively in murky circumstances.
As I waded within the shallows, I made casts to completely different constructions 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 have 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 toes deep when the river is low, so I knew it will be about 7 toes deep on at the present time. This was my probability to focus on deeper water and hopefully entice a type of notorious “swamp donkeys” to chunk. “Swamp donkey” is a time period that event bass anglers use for fish pulled out of the swamp. They often vary from 4 to 7 kilos and will be awfully enjoyable to catch, given all of the construction that advantages the fish in the course of 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 bushes, and began casting. My first two casts landed within the shallow water on the aspect of the channel; nonetheless, 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 best.
I reared again, set the hook, and braced myself for a combat because the bass made a leap upon hookset. Happily, there have been no bushes or brush in my method, 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 a licensed swamp donkey—the largest bass I had ever caught within the swamp. Whereas the expertise was memorable, I discovered a invaluable lesson: you will discover huge bass within the swamp should you fish the trenasses!
