Besides having the best Cajun food in the world, South Louisiana
can also boast of having some of the world’s best fishing. It’s
truly an angler’s paradise where the options are numerous from
offshore, inshore, nearshore, marsh, and freshwater fishing is all
within a short drive. Anglers can experience world class fishing
at its finest or limit out on the abundant tasty game fish to take
home to cook. Anglers can bring their own boats or contact a local
fishing guide. One renowned fishing guide that takes out charter
trips in both offshore, the bays, and marshes is Captain Cuda Scheer
who works out of Sportsman’s Paradise.
It’s an early morning for Captain Cuda (phone# (985)876-0425)
as we pull up to the Sportsman’s Paradise Restaurant and Motel
with our lights on since its still dark out. The Sportsman’s
Paradise is located in Chauvin, Louisiana in the Terrebonne Parish.
Today, I have two other anglers going out with me in hopes of catching
a bull redfish in skinny water. As we arrive the weather doesn’t
seem to want to make up its mind; nevertheless, we jump in the boat
and head off with Captain Cuda towards some of the lakes and ponds
around the marshes. As we motor out of the marina down the canal, you
can see forever with no mountains or hills around. The terrain in South
Louisiana is definitely flat compared to Northwest Arkansas.
Maybe
the biggest problem about fishing down in Terrebonne parish or other
surrounding parishes (www.VisitLouisianaCoast.com)
is what to fish for and where. Anglers have a choice of fishing in
brackish water, deep sea, coastal, inland, or the numerous swamps. “I
do both offshore, bay, and marsh trips that stay closer in. The
offshore angler is fishing for big fish. Size is more important than
numbers; of course it does take longer to reel in a hundred pound tuna
then a 16-inch speckled trout. For anglers that want to fish
close and target game fish in shallow water the options are plentiful
depending on the season,” Captain Cuda continued, “when
offshore fishing the target specie is normally yellow fin or black
fin tuna, cobia, red snapper, lemonfish, grouper, dolphin, and king
mackerel; when we are fishing the bays and marshes its red fish, speckled
trout, white trout, sheepshead, sharks, rays, and black drums.” Captain
Cuda supplies all the tackle, bait, gas, and boat. All an angler needs
to bring is their sun screen, cameras, rain gear, food, and drinks.
The
two most popular inshore fish that people come down South Louisiana
to catch is red fish and speckled trout. Both red fish and speckled
trout can easily be caught on live bait or artificial lures. When in
the mood both will readily attack your lure on every cast. “When
fishing for red fish, I like my clients to fish with spoons and spinnerbaits
usually; at times, I will use dead shrimp to catch the reds. For speckled
trout, I usually have my clients fish artificial lures 90-percent of
the time. One of the most effective ways is a double rig where there
is two lures on one line. On that rig sometimes an angler will double
up on one pole,” said Captain Cuda. One reason that anglers like
fishing for red fish and speckled trout is the liberal fishing limits
on both of them; in addition to tasting great. “One thing I should
address is some of the concerns that anglers and people have since
the BP oil spill that happened over a year ago. The fish, crabs, crawfish,
oysters, shrimp, and other seafood are all safe to eat; in fact our
seafood is tested rigorously on a regular basis to make sure,” said
Captain Cuda.
There are numerous fish camps, motels, and hotels in the Terrebonne
Parish and surrounding parishes. Most anglers fishing with Captain
Cuda with stay at Sportsman’s Paradise Restaurant and Motel (phone#
(985)594-2414). They have 13 motel rooms and 4 spacious trailers for
larger groups of anglers. For more information on lodging, swamp tours,
state & national parks festivals, fishing rodeos, and fishing
tournaments go to www.VisitLouisanaCoast.com.
After a day of fishing in the South Louisiana, an angler can take advantage
of the best Cajun cuisine in the world. The region has numerous diners,
restaurants, and seafood houses that serve everything from crab cakes,
crawfish bread, broiled seafood, catfish, oysters, alligator, and so
much more.
The choice is yours. Do you want to go offshore fishing for big fish
or go fishing in the bays and marshes for powerful red fish or aggressive
speckled trout? Don’t forget that there are also swamps that
you can fish. There is just so many different species to fish for and
catch in South Louisiana, it’s a great problem to have and makes
it an angler’s paradise.
Brad
Wiegmann is a full time fishing guide on Beaver lake and
Lake SWEPCO in Northwest Arkansas. Brad guides for Largemouth,
Spotted, Smallmouth, Stripers and White Bass. He is also a free-lance
writer who's weekly column "Speaking of Fishing" appears
weekly in several local newspapers. You may also see him doing
seminars, working outdoor shows or featured in outdoor magazines such
as BASSMASTER Magazine, Outdoor life and Arkansas Sportsman. He
also fishes the FLW Tour, Stren and local open tournaments. He
is currently on the Pro staff, promotional staff and guide programs
of numerous tackle manufactures, lure companies, and fishing related
companies. You can contact him at (479) 756-5279, at bwiegmann@cox.net or
visit his website at www.bradwiegmann.com for
more information.
