Deer Hunting with Major League Baseball’s David Dellucci

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Chris Ginn

I got a little tied up with deadlines last month to the point I never got to report in on a hunting trip I took with David Dellucci, his family and Captain Eric Dumas. Dellucci, a former Ole’ Miss Rebel and Baton Rouge native played most recently for the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays , and two years ago he purchased some prime deer hunting property that he is managing to produce big, mature bucks.

Dellucci and his nephew Calvin worked with me to gather some story information and images for some future stories. Whether we were playing baseball naming games in the box stand – I snuck in Phil Niekro – hunting in the rain, eating a boudin breakfast or skinning deer in the shed, Dellucci and his family were wonderful hosts.

Dellucci’s main emphasis on his property is to keep his deer as comfortable as possible. Their comfort level was obvious after an 8-point walked out just moments after Calvin made a shot. One of the ways he accomplishes this is to keep unnatural noises to a minimum throughout the year. He only uses electric carts in the interior of his property, he asks visiting hunters to take a bow and rifle with them so they can shoot does with bows and save the rifles for the long-range trophy buck shots.

Dellucci, who takes a lot of good-natured ribbing for his ruthless rules and requirements, also has some solid advice for turning a new property into a big buck paradise. One of his most stringent management methods is to shoot mature deer rather than using a point restriction. Mature deer, regardless of their horns, are the true trophies, and old deer with good genetics will generally score very high.

Look for the full stories to run in Louisiana Sportsman during the 2010 Louisiana deer season.

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Sulphur Mine and Muscle Bay Next Two Saltwater Series

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Chris Ginn

Louisiana speckled trout anglers know that March is one of the most difficult months to fish because of relentless winds and the beginning of the trout movement back toward the outer lakes and bays. For that reason, I selected two areas to feature in the March issue of Louisiana Sportsman where anglers can find biting fish despite the biting conditions.

The Sulphur Mine in Lafourche Parish near Cut Off is the first and Muscle Bay in the Biloxi Marsh north of Shell Beach is the other. Captain T-Man Cheramie showed me around the Sulphur Mine, and Captain Frank Moore with Fishing With The King showed me the finer points of fishing Muscle Bay.

Both spots have unique characteristics that make them great choices for March fishing. As a bonus, both areas also offer some great redfish action mixed right in with the trout. Make sure to pick up a copy of the March issue to learn where and how to fish these spots.

Captain T-Man Cheramie (above) says the Sulphur Mine (below) doesn’t fish like it did five years ago. He has had to adjust to changing conditions, and other anglers must do the same.

The Sulphur Mine offers lots of productive places to fish in March that are out of the wind. Without having to cross a large area of open water, anglers can quickly find a lee shoreline stacked with trout and redfish.

Captain Frank Moore (above) has been fishing the marshes around Shell Beach for 50 years, and he knows that most of the trout in the Biloxi Marsh move through Muscle Bay (below) as they transition toward Breton Sound.

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Louisiana Sportsman February 2010

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Chris Ginn

The second of my 2010 Saltwater Series came out in the February issue of Louisiana Sportsman, and it has created quite a stir from some locals around Calcasieu Lake that feel some of their secret spots have been exposed for all to fish. What that means to me as a writer is that piece was right on the money and will be a helpful resource for any angler that visits the lake. Make sure to pick up your copy today.

  1. Cover Shot

  2. Saltwater Series - Calcasieu Lake – Whether you’re a Big Lake newbie or a salty old veteran, these 10 spots will put some lunkers in your box.

  3. It Takes Two - This time of year, wise speckled-trout anglers double their pleasure to double their fun.

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Mississippi Sportsman February 2010

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Chris Ginn

  1. Cover Shot

  2. Crappie in your Creel - Winter is prime time to fish the current-breaking holes on Ross Barnett.

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Louisiana Sportsman January 2010

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Chris Ginn

My 2010 Saltwater Series of stories breaking down some of Louisiana’s favorite lakes, bayous and bays into 10 spots complete with reference images, GPS coordinates and expert analysis on how to fish each spot by local guides started this month. From what I’ve been told, the Lake Amedee installment was well received.

  1. Saltwater Series – Lake Amedee – Fish these ten spots on an average January day, and you might strain your back lifting the ice chest out of your boat.

  2. Once A Spike, Always A Spike? – Should you shoot that big cowhorn that just walked into your food plot, or will you be stuffing your future into your freezer?

  3. Above It All – Think deer hunting’s hard for you? Well, it’s definitely a whole lot harder for 16-year-old Ben Fontenot, but that hasn’t stopped him from whacking some brutes.

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North Carolina Sportsman January 2010

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Chris Ginn

I was fortunate to have one of my images chosen for the January issue of North Carolina Sportsman.

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Calcasieu Lake Trout Bite Slow – Redfish Save the Day

Posted on January 3, 2010 by Chris Ginn

After an earlier attempt of getting this trip in two weeks ago – we had to cancel on the water because my son started throwing up – I was finally able to get in a Calcasieu Lake trip with Captain Nick Poe with Big Lake Guide Service today. The trout bite was painfully slow. Nick said he wasn’t sure what the problem is, but very few anglers are catching trout at Calcasieu right now. Another contact told me he burned 100 gallons of gas to catch four trout on his last couple of trips.

Fortunately, Nick knew we could fall back on the redfish bite, and that’s exactly what we did. While throwing a Corky and hoping to catch a bit trout, Nick and I got our hopes up for the first few seconds after a violent strike. Dang thing wound up being a redfish, but at least it was a fish.

All you had to do today to see where the fish were biting was run by both weirs on the eastern side of the lake. Five to 10 boats were stacked up in each one, so we passed and came back later in the afternoon. The current was pulling through them pretty hard, and Nick says he doesn’t care where he catches fish… some people think it’s sissified to fish the weirs… so we stuck around a while. Nick picked up some more reds, and that was about the extent of our day.

We did make it around to Nick’s favorite 10 spots for February, though, and these spots will make up the foundation for the second installment in my Saltwater Series in the February issue of Louisiana Sportsman magazine. You can also check out Nick’s technique for catching redfish at the weirs next week at the Louisiana Sportsman web site.

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Washington Parish Deer Move With Rising Barometric Pressure

Posted on December 27, 2009 by Chris Ginn

I wrote a feature for the August 2009 issue of Louisiana Sportsman that was called “Postage Stamp Plots.” This story was a journal of sorts that documented my first year of managing my small tracts of land in Washington Parish for deer hunting.

We have expanded our efforts this year, and we put in two more stand locations to give us a total of four sites. After learning a little bit about what to do last season and a whole lot of what not to do, we are beginning to see a little bit of the fruits of our labor.

I have hunted these spots nine times so far this season. Before our management efforts began, I would say that we might have seen deer on one of those nine hunts. However, this season I have seen deer on six of those nine hunts.

Yeah, I know that might not sound impressive to all you hardcore hunters out there, but you’ve got to realize that this is in less-than-desirable habitat in Washington Parish. I know that there are people in Washington Parish growing some big deer on some desirable tracts of land, but my place isn’t one of them.

Not only are we seeing more deer this year, we are seeing bigger groups of deer. Whereas a single sighting was reason for celebration last season, now we’re seeing two, three and even four at a time.

Although seeing more deer has me excited, what has me even more excited is when I am seeing them. I’ve studied former Louisiana Deer Study Leader Dave Moreland’s articles and research, and I’ve concluded that his theories about deer movement and barometric pressure are dead on.

In a Louisiana Sportsman feature story a couple years ago, Moreland commented that he killed most of his bucks when the barometric pressure was around 30 and rising. With my iPhone AccuWeather app, I’ve kept up with the barometric pressure during ever hunt this year, and guess what I’ve discovered.

Every hunt that I have seen deer, the barometric pressure has been in the lower 30s and rising. For example, on Christmas day, I made an evening hunt. At 3:00, the pressure was 29.98. At 3:30 it was 29.99. And at 4:00 it was 30.00. Two does came into my food plot at 4:20.

Two days before, I made a morning hunt. The barometric pressure remained steady at 30.01 for the duration of the hunt, and I didn’t see any deer.

I know there are a lot of other variables involved in deer movement, but I’m now confident that my chances of seeing deer is good if the barometric pressure is around 30 and rising.

Does that mean I’m sitting home if it’s 29 and steady? Heck no, but I might be more willing to nod off if that’s the case.

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Louisiana Sportsman December 2009

Posted on December 18, 2009 by Chris Ginn

I wound up with two features in the December 2009 issue of Louisiana Sportsman and wrapped up the year with a focus on deer hunting and speckled trout.

  1. Material World – There’s no doubt that you should be throwing hard plastic baits this month on Calcasieu Lake in southwest Louisiana. Monster trout have been biting these lures since Madonna was a material girl, and Captain Jeff Poe knows they’re just as productive today.

  2. Bottom Bucks – Tensas Parish has lots of bottom land surrounded by higher ridges. When the bottoms fill water, it pushes the bucks up onto the high ground. But once the rut starts, they head right back to the bottoms

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Speckled Trout Biting in Dead-End Canals around Lake Mechant

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Chris Ginn

Captain Marty LaCoste helps Jason Powers land a speckled trout at the mouth of Raccourci Bayou in Lake Mechant

The Lake Mechant area out of Bayou DuLarge gave up 75 speckled trout to Captain Marty LaCoste with Absolute Fishing Charters, Jason Powers and me before 8:30 this morning. We were out working on a future feature story in my 2010 Saltwater Series for Louisiana Sportsman, and we didn’t have any shortage of fish to photograph.

LaCoste told me before we left the ramp that we would be fishing some of the dead end canals surrounding Lake Mechant rather than fishing out in the main lake. He had been on a bite in the back of some of these canals that was too good to pass up, and it turned out that we never even had to leave our first stop.

LaCoste, Powers and I caught trout on a few different baits. LaCoste caught all of his on a Tsunami Swimbait in just about ever color he threw. Powers landed several early on a MirrOdine before switching to the Tsunami. And I caught a few on a DOA under a cork before eventually falling in love with the swimbait.

All we were doing was sitting in the middle of a dead-end canal and casting toward the bank. We had to reel our baits extremely slowly to get bit. The faster we reeled the fewer bites we got.

After finishing up our limit, we headed out to Lake Mechant to work on the story. LaCoste pointed out 10 different and specific spots that are great places to fish each November. This feature will run in the November 2010 issue of Louisiana Sportsman, and it will include GPS points, images of outstanding geographical features at each spot and LaCoste’s expert advice for fishing each spot.

Dead end canals around Lake Mechant are holding speckled trout

We found Travis Miller, a former coworker of mine, dead in the water, so LaCoste towed him back in

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