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Trying to find Swamp Donkeys within the Honey Island Swamp
It’s an ordinary mind-set for many bass anglers: large water means large bass. However right here in Southeast Louisiana, discovering deep water could be difficult. Take, for example, the Honey Island Swamp. The swamp spans over 20 miles, and though it’s giant, the common depth is barely about 5 ft. For that reason, fishing contained in the swamp isn’t a good suggestion in case you’re trying to catch large bass.
So once I made a visit to try to catch some late-season crawfish, I hesitated to convey alongside my fishing pole. On the final minute, I made a decision to convey it, and I’m positive glad I did.
My day began early as a result of I needed to beat the August warmth, which has been topping out at 99 levels the whole week. Thankfully, there’s quick access to the swamp, with quite a few trails that stretch from Interstate 10 into the swamp. As I walked again to the realm the place I normally set my nets, I seen that the river was very excessive, inflicting the swamp to be deeper than regular. The water was transferring as properly, making it unsuitable for crawfishing. Certain, I may have set a couple of nets out, however I didn’t suppose it might be well worth the effort to solely catch a handful of crawfish. I’ve to confess that I used to be a bit disillusioned; nonetheless, I remembered that I had introduced alongside my Shimano Intenza spinning rod paired with my Miravel spinning reel. I walked again to my truck, picked up the crawfish nets, and exchanged them for my fishing setup.
As I walked by the swamp, I made casts in 2-3 ft of water utilizing a do-it-yourself rig that has at all times labored for me—a purple worm with a gold elbow spinning blade snapped on. It’s light-weight, weedless, and works properly in murky situations.
As I waded within the shallows, I made casts to completely different constructions that I believed would maintain fish. I used to be capable of choose up two small bass that weighed a few pound every. These had been typical for swamp bass, because the shallow water tends to carry smaller fish. I then remembered a deep trenasse (a small ditch by the marsh or swamp) that crawfishermen use to entry the swamp from the principle river. When the East Pearl River is low and the water drains from the swamp, this small creek is the one factor that holds water. It runs about 4 ft deep when the river is low, so I knew it might be about 7 ft deep on this present day. This was my probability to focus on deeper water and hopefully entice a type of notorious “swamp donkeys” to chunk. “Swamp donkey” is a time period that event bass anglers use for fish pulled out of the swamp. They normally vary from 4 to 7 kilos and could be awfully enjoyable to catch, given all of the construction that advantages the fish in the course of the combat.
As I approached the trenasse, I noticed a wake being pushed from the shallow water into the deep water of the trenasse. It appeared that I had spooked a bass that was within the shallows, and it swam into the safer, deep water. I needed that fish! I positioned myself alongside the trenasse, which is marked by ribbons tied to cypress timber, and began casting. My first two casts landed within the shallow water on the aspect of the channel; nonetheless, my third solid landed within the deep trenasse, and it solely took two turns of the reel deal with earlier than my line got here to a cease and moved to the best.
I reared again, set the hook, and braced myself for a combat because the bass made a bounce upon hookset. Thankfully, there have been no timber or brush in my means, and I used to be capable of reel within the bass in beneath 15 seconds. I backed up onto a piece of land, and when it got here close to, I charged it and lipped the large bass. It was an authorized swamp donkey—the largest bass I had ever caught within the swamp. Whereas the expertise was memorable, I discovered a precious lesson: you will discover large bass within the swamp in case you fish the trenasses!
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