There’s a unique anticipation that emotionally occurs when an artificial bait sails accurately through the air towards a predetermined target.
Visually the arc of the bait’s travel resembles the soft toss of a baseball that one makes when playing catch with a seven-year-old. In that regard, some things never change.
Watching Sweet Lake Land & Oil Company’s ECO Tour Manager Bobby Jorden make his first cast towards a little trenause that we were fishing, you could feel the anticipation in our boat. Jorden served as ECO Tour guide for my spouse, Christine, and me that morning, and our bass fishing guide that afternoon. And we were fishing the company’s 600-acre restored marsh impoundment that was part of our ECO Tour.
The impoundment is a rain-fed critical wetland habitat where wading birds such as great egrets, snowy egrets, little blue herons, glossy ibis, white ibis and roseate spoonbills nest during the spring and summer months in a rookery in the marsh.
Surrounded by a levee, the impoundment is dotted with numerous islands where vegetation such as flag grass, three corner grasses (water sedge) and roseau cane rises above the landscape. These long grasses protect the marsh and reduce erosion by holding this coastal prairie paradise intact.
Jorden, 25, holds a degree from McNeese State University in Wildlife Management. While attending college, Jorden worked summers for Sweet Lake Land & Oil Company and actually operated an excavator, digging much of the pond we were fishing.
“I was always very passionate about the marsh,” says Jorden. “My favorite place in all of the world growing up was my duck hunting camp down in Little Chenier. And it just kind of translated into being passionate about being outside and really having a strong love for the marsh and wetlands.”
Sweet Lake Land offers bass fishing and ECO Tours in its marsh pond through its Grosse Savanne Lodge located at the end of Big Pasture Road, south of Lake Charles. Guests of the lodge are treated to five star amenities in a relaxed atmosphere.
Jorden’s bait hit the mark, and we watched the water explode beneath his bait seemingly when it touched the surface. The long grass at the edge of the trenause became the target spot for all of us, as well as a canal bank next to it where coon tail and hydrilla, a sub-aquatic vegetation, provided cover for predator fish.
Jorden, my wife and I proceeded to catch marsh bass until we grew tired and decided to go check on the wading birds we’d come to see as part of the ECO Tour we were on.
Jorden said, “We have fresh and brackish water type marshes. We have cypress swamp. We have coastal prairie with native grasslands and some pine forest plantations that we manage.
“Sometimes we take for granted what we have, because we are out here every day. We don’t realize how important they are to other people.”
For decades, Louisiana has been in the fight of its life with coastal land loss. Impoundments, both public and private, have become the norm in the southwest part of the state to protect the region from further damage. Public lands include White Lake Conservation Area, Rockefeller Wildlife Management Area and Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge.
Lacassine NWR refuge is one of the best kept secrets nationally. Lacassine maintains a 16,000-acre freshwater man-made, rain-fed impoundment that is open to the public from March 15 through October 15 each year. Under fished, the impoundment has consistently produced heavy bass with many over 8 pounds, including a 12-pound fish two years ago.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Biologist, George Melancon, who works on the refuge, says, “I can tell you, the Lacassine Pool is a hidden treasure in southwest Louisiana when it comes to catching trophy size bass. Opening day is a festival around here. There are guys who will go out and camp out. They have a big party and stay up all night to be in line so they’ll be the first to launch. It’s really unbelievable.”
Sweet Lake’s impoundment mirrors Lacassine in terms of habitat for flora and fauna. What’s more, also like Lacassine, it is stocked with Florida/Louisiana hybrid bass that are aggressive in nature.
Coastal Louisiana bass tend to live hard and die young due to the harsh habitat they live in.
They compete with redfish, alligators and other predatory fish in a dog-eat-dog environment. Additionally, with the potential for tropical events leading to large fish kills, Louisiana marsh bass tend to be similar in size after new generations are spawned. In such, with fish evenly sized, they congregate on points, in shallow drains, on submerged structure and have a sort of wolf pack mentality when it comes to feeding.
Though the impoundments are easier to control in terms of competition that exists with other predator fish in more open marsh and less prone to fish kills as a result of hurricanes, bass in these enclosed waters are still very aggressive. As a result, anglers who fish these pools should have a good selection of reaction baits in their arsenal.
Crank baits are excellent when trying to achieve a reaction bite from a fish that is already wired aggressive. When selecting the right crank bait for marsh impoundments the bass angler should think shallow, typically 1 to 5 feet.
Since bass in most of these impoundments can be fished year-round, water temperature is a consideration and presentation becomes important. Bass, due to the cooler conditions are less hungry, but it doesn’t mean they won’t bite.
Bass anglers who understand temperature know the presentation can make all the difference in the world. During the fall and winter months, wide bill crank baits that are fished slower will create more wobble. And that wobble, makes the difference during cooler weather where aggressive marsh bass are concerned.
Spinner baits are another bait consideration when it comes to impoundment bass in colder fall and winter conditions. Bass anglers should fish these baits slower, but also make concessions when it comes to the type of leaf attached.
Spinner baits with willow leaves fish faster and have less vibration. Colorado blades have considerably more vibration causing more agitation to bass.
Impoundment anglers, as a rule of thumb, should fish heavier spinner baits in the 3/8 to ½-ounce range when fishing colder waters in the marsh during fall and winter. Moreover, fish them slower and off the bottom.
During the spring and early summer months, bass in marsh ponds are no different than in other regions. Bass are in pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn mode. Under the right conditions it often seems they’ll eat whatever you throw at them.
Sweet Lake Land & Oil Company’s impoundment was designed to create underwater structure that includes small islands with points, washouts between islands and shallow to deep contours. The restored marsh has cypress trees planted, which have excellent sub-surface structure and knees that are conducive for ambushing baitfish and crawfish to feed on.
Anglers coming into the region should keep two east/west roadways in mind, LA 14 and LA 82. Lacassine’s bass pool is located west of Lake Arthur and east of Lake Charles along LA 14. The road signs to the refuge will take anglers to Illinois Plant Road into the 16,000-acre pool.
Rockefeller Refuge is a brackish saltwater fishing marsh, with weirs throughout this impoundment conducive for catch redfish. Rockefeller can be reached by taking LA 82, to the refuge south of Abbeville off of LA 14. There are public boat launches at both public fishing areas.
Anglers interested in bass fishing Sweet Lake’s marsh pond impoundment can expect to catch plenty of 2-1/2 to 4 pound bass. Given time, the bass will eventually produce some real trophies, as currently the marsh is catch and release.
Crappie, also known to Louisianans as white perch and sac-a-lait, can also be caught in the pools of southwest Louisiana. Additionally, red-eared sunfish and big bull-nosed bluegills can be targeted in public ponds.
For information on public bass fishing opportunities along the southwest Louisiana coastal marsh Wildlife Management Areas, anglers can go to the LDWF Website www.wlf.louisiana.gov/.
For information to Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge Bass Pools, go to www.fws.gov/swlarefugecomplex/lacassine/
For information on Grosse Savanne Lodge go to www.grossesavanne.com
Opportunities abound both public and private in the coastal marshes of southwest Louisiana for big bass. All one has to do is look for the impoundments and fish in the long grass.
