Scout'nStripers
Senior Member
It's times like these that I'm reminded of my first fishing trip shortly after moving to southern Louisiana from San Diego. It was mid July, mid afternoon and the temperature along the Mississippi had to be 100 degrees with 100% humidity. This was the early nineties so we didn't have the internet for a resource of information but I had read plenty of articles about Louisiana and fishing the marsh around the area I was living. I set out on my first fishing trip and pulled into a small bait and tackle store just off Hwy 23 near Empire, La. My intent was to fish the marsh opposite the river side of Hwy 23 and I needed some bait. I'll never forget what the old man said when I asked about getting some bait and a little fishing information this particular afternoon. He was sitting on an old rocker at the store entrance with an old box fan blowing across the porch at him when I walked up. He looked at me for a few seconds, cocked his head to the side and asked "Boy is you crazy? Ain't nobody fishing in this heat". That's kinda the way I've been feeling these days on Lanier. I walk out the back door on my way to the dock and I'm immediately smacked in the face with heat, humidity and fogged glasses. By the time I get to the dock I've got sweat building and it's usually about then I ask myself if I'm crazy like the old man suggested back in Louisiana. I usually push on and hit the lake. Recently it's been a 3 tactic deal for me. I'm fishing brush on humps and long points in the creek and out on the main lake, starting early in the morning and back in by lunch. My first tactic is making long cast with my popper across the tops of the brush, points and long flats and sometimes I can get a few fish to come up out of the brush and hit it. It's getting harder and harder to call them up into the warmer topwater right now but if they are going to come up it's usually within the first 5-10 casts. If that doesn't work I'm breaking out the spybait and running that around and over the brush. I'm using a 10 count on the spybait drop before a slow retrieve. My third tactic right now is the drop shot around and into the brush. I'm using Lanier Baits fruity worms and Robo worms on the drop shot right now and it's probably the best tactic for numbers. Right now there is a shortage of 4-5 pound spots in the areas I'm fishing but I'm sure their doing fine chilling somewhere in that deep timber and structure. Here's a video I made last week casting over brush and points with the popper.
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