Featured photo by Glynn Harris
In sitting and thinking of what I love so much about living in Louisiana, high on my list is the distinct season changes we have here. One of my daughters lived in Hawaii for a few years and although I enjoyed wearing tee shirt, shorts and flip-flops when visiting there in January, I’d soon tire of Hawaii’s perpetual summer.
I have friends in New England who live for summer – all three weeks of it. They’re encased in ice and snow and sub-zero temperatures much of the year, and I’d hate living like that.
Louisiana has it all. Every ten years or so, we get to see snow falling and on those rare occasions when it covers the ground, the whole area briefly takes leave of its sanity as we romp and play and make leaf-flecked snowmen. Schools dismiss and overpasses close as old guys slip-slide their Fords and Chevys into ditches and power poles.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are our summers. Folks not native to our part of the country suffocate in the humidity which comes close to matching the triple digit temperatures. We who live here, though, know how to deal with it; we sit under air conditioning, sip iced tea and keep our eyes on the calendar, knowing that the refreshing chill of October is not that far away.
Springtime in Louisiana, though, is a special reward all its own. Granted, it’s a roller coaster ride for much of the season. We’re lulled by the azaleas and dogwoods and tender green grass into thinking spring is here to stay. Then the weatherman throws us a sucker punch and sends a spring cold snap. We fret over the peaches – will they be able to withstand a frost so late in the year? When will these storms and winds ever stop?
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But they do and we get to enjoy a sweet special few weeks when we can sit on the porch late afternoons without a wrap or air conditioning. For the angler, this is an ideal time to be on the water somewhere nearby to fish in comfort with the knowledge there’ll be a fish fry tonight.
What’s your pleasure? Are you interested in catching bass? What about crappie? Do bluegills and chinquapins tickle your fancy? How about a good mess of freshly caught catfish? This time of year in our neck of the woods, you can do it all.
Bass fishermen who missed out on the spring spawn where big sway-bellied bass deposited their eggs often in water barely deep enough to cover their dorsal fins know where the fish are headed after leaving the shallows. They’ll be fishing deep water points at daybreak and watching for schools of shad to dimple the surface, knowing that bass could be exploding on the hapless school at any moment.
Crappie fishermen will be looking around submerged brush in deep water for their quarry. Innovative anglers outfit their boats with multiple poles, each set at different depths and offering a shiner or jig of a different color and/or weight.
Catfishermen armed with no more than a little bucket of worms and a big bucket to sit on will be lining the shores along Lake D’Arbonne knowing that this lake’s teeming population of eating-sized channel catfish are there for the taking.
It is the bream fishermen, however, who knows this time of year was made for him. Bluegills and chinquapins are on the beds on every lake and pond across our area and while they’re as fun to catch as they are tasty on the dinner table, they’re also one of the easiest to catch. Toss a cricket or red wiggler into a bream bed along the shore and it’s a pitch ‘til you win proposition.
It’s springtime in Louisiana. Go for it….before the next storm blows through.
In sitting and thinking of what I love so much about living in Louisiana, high on my list is the distinct season changes we have here. One of my daughters lived in Hawaii for a few years and although I enjoyed wearing tee shirt, shorts and flip-flops when visiting there in January, I’d soon tire of Hawaii’s perpetual summer.
I have friends in New England who live for summer – all three weeks of it. They’re encased in ice and snow and sub-zero temperatures much of the year, and I’d hate living like that.
Louisiana has it all. Every ten years or so, we get to see snow falling and on those rare occasions when it covers the ground, the whole area briefly takes leave of its sanity as we romp and play and make leaf-flecked snowmen. Schools dismiss and overpasses close as old guys slip-slide their Fords and Chevys into ditches and power poles.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are our summers. Folks not native to our part of the country suffocate in the humidity which comes close to matching the triple digit temperatures. We who live here, though, know how to deal with it; we sit under air conditioning, sip iced tea and keep our eyes on the calendar, knowing that the refreshing chill of October is not that far away.
Springtime in Louisiana, though, is a special reward all its own. Granted, it’s a roller coaster ride for much of the season. We’re lulled by the azaleas and dogwoods and tender green grass into thinking spring is here to stay. Then the weatherman throws us a sucker punch and sends a spring cold snap. We fret over the peaches – will they be able to withstand a frost so late in the year? When will these storms and winds ever stop?
But they do and we get to enjoy a sweet special few weeks when we can sit on the porch late afternoons without a wrap or air conditioning. For the angler, this is an ideal time to be on the water somewhere nearby to fish in comfort with the knowledge there’ll be a fish fry tonight.
What’s your pleasure? Are you interested in catching bass? What about crappie? Do bluegills and chinquapins tickle your fancy? How about a good mess of freshly caught catfish? This time of year in our neck of the woods, you can do it all.
Bass fishermen who missed out on the spring spawn where big sway-bellied bass deposited their eggs often in water barely deep enough to cover their dorsal fins know where the fish are headed after leaving the shallows. They’ll be fishing deep water points at daybreak and watching for schools of shad to dimple the surface, knowing that bass could be exploding on the hapless school at any moment.
Crappie fishermen will be looking around submerged brush in deep water for their quarry. Innovative anglers outfit their boats with multiple poles, each set at different depths and offering a shiner or jig of a different color and/or weight.
Catfishermen armed with no more than a little bucket of worms and a big bucket to sit on will be lining the shores along Lake D’Arbonne knowing that this lake’s teeming population of eating-sized channel catfish are there for the taking.
It is the bream fishermen, however, who knows this time of year was made for him. Bluegills and chinquapins are on the beds on every lake and pond across our area and while they’re as fun to catch as they are tasty on the dinner table, they’re also one of the easiest to catch. Toss a cricket or red wiggler into a bream bed along the shore and it’s a pitch ‘til you win proposition.
It’s springtime in Louisiana. Go for it….before the next storm blows through.