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Chris Ginn Creative Outdoors

“Louisiana Hunting and Fishing Articles and Photography”

February 3, 2010 Mississippi Sportsman February 2010

  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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February 3, 2010 Louisiana Sportsman January 2010

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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February 3, 2010 North Carolina Sportsman January 2010

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

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January 3, 2010 Calcasieu Lake Trout Bite Slow – Redfish Save the Day

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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December 27, 2009 Washington Parish Deer Move With Rising Barometric Pressure

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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December 18, 2009 Louisiana Sportsman December 2009

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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November 24, 2009 Speckled Trout Biting in Dead-End Canals around Lake Mechant

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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November 21, 2009 Lake Amedee out of Reggio to be First Feature in 2010 Louisiana Sportsman Saltwater Series

Captain Charlie Thomason with Bayou Charters unhooks a speckled trout he caught on a MirrOlure Catch 5

I worked on a January story for Louisiana Sportsman with Captain Charlie Thomason and Bayou Charters today. This story will be the first in a 12-month series of exciting features that will provide all the information anglers need to know to be successful on the water.

Each story highlights one major lake or bay that is broken down into 10 specific fishing areas complete with GPS coordinates, photos of outstanding geographical features of each area, and expert information about how to fish each spot.

The Lake Amedee area to be featured in the January 2010 issue of Louisiana Sportsman

Thomason and I fished Lake Amedee and the surrounding area including Bayou Batola, Cochon Bay and Tanasia Lagoon. Each of Thomason’s selected spots will be prominently marked on a map, and specific details on where to launch and how to get there will be included.

We found the bite strong in several of our spots, but we couldn’t stay on any one spot too long because we had so many to hit. We caught most of our trout on a new bait Thomason has been throwing called a Marsh Works 4-inch Bayou Thumper.

This is a brand new bait that was exciting to fish. Rather than the cocahoe tails that most saltwater soft plastics feature, the Marsh Works Bayou Thumper has more of a square paddle tail that vibrates and flutters with the subtlest pulls.

Thomason also landed a couple nice trout on his favorite lure, a MirrOlure Catch 5. Rather than twitch the fire out of this hard plastic suspending lure, he steadily and slowly reels it strait back with just a few pauses for a twitch or two.

Look for the Lake Amedee installment of my 2010 Saltwater Series in the January issue of Louisiana Sportsman Magazine.

Looking up Bayou Batola to Lake Amedee

We caught most of our speckled trout on a 4-inch Marsh Works Bayou Thumper

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November 8, 2009 Louisiana Sportsman November 2009

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Two of my November stories fell victim to some odd timing by Mother Nature. A feature about catching trout in the low and green Mississippi River at Venice has to contend with uncharacteristic high and muddy water. A feature about catching bass at D’Arbonne Lake may help anglers later this month, but the lake was actually closed for a while because of high water. Sometimes Murphy just have to have his way.

  1. Freezer Burn – Sure November’s temperature can be chilly, but the action at these four Venice spots is smoking hot.

  2. Lazy Anglers – This month on Lake D’Arbonne it pays to have a week work ethic.

  3. Public Intoxication – Looking for ducks on WMAs? You won’t be disappointed if opening morning finds you on one of these.

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November 8, 2009 Mississippi Sportsman November 2009

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Mississippi is doing some great things with its public Wildlife Management Areas. I talked to MDWFP Waterfowl Program Coordinator Ed Penny to find out what sets Mahannah, Malmaison and Howard Miller apart.

  1. Where The Ducks Are – Don’t have a pricy lease? Who cares? Visit these public areas, and you’ll put some birds on your straps.

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