Fly fishing is a sport all unto its own.
There’s a skill set, if for no other reason than it takes practice to develop the ability of presenting a near-weightless offering to a target, fishes ranging in size and weight from ounces to hundreds of pounds.
There’s an art to it, too, a dedication of using a painter’s pallet of feathers, thread, hooks and all sorts of other material to fashion a lure attractive enough to entice a fish to believe it’s something it wants to eat.
So, it’s this angling spirit that Red Stick Fly Fishers members showcase their special love of this sport to the public.
Red Stick Day comes every year, on the second Saturday in March. RSFF has settled into the Waddill Wildlife Education Center on North Flanney Road in Baton Rouge — that day comes up at the end of this week.
If you want to expose a youngster to the exceptional experience and take a first step into this angling adventure, then this is the place and Saturday is the time.
Experienced fly guys and gals are ready to teach casting techniques and what tackle is needed. There are a dozen, sometimes more, folks tying flies and handing out paddles for kayak and canoe excursions around Waddill’s ponds.
There are no fees unless you want to have lunch. Hours run 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Toledo journey
It’s late winter and there always seems to be a migration of sorts of south Louisiana bass fishermen taking the hours-long trek to Toledo Bend for a shot at largemouths.
Take last weekend: Louisiana’s B.A.S.S. Nation welcomed nearly 200 hopefuls to its first of two 2025 qualifying tournaments.
Matt Nobile was one of them, and after two days on The Bend, he stood tallest in the Boater Division. His 10-bass limit weighed out at 35.17 pounds, more than five pounds better than second-place finisher Doug McClung’s 29.56.
“The fish were holding in deep bends and creek channels in 40-60 feet of water,” Nobile said.
The trick, he said, was to find the just-right depth in the kind of deep water seldom found in south Louisiana.
“The fish were holding on the top of the (flooded) timberline about 10-12 feet down,” Nobile said, adding he’d found that pattern on a practice day but said there was a problem.
“Wind. Wind on the first day kept me from getting to those spots. I didn’t have a fish until after 1 o’clock when the wind laid down. There was little wind on the second day and I caught maybe 40 keepers (14 inches or longer) that day,” he said.
“I had to cover a lot of water and was using a quarter-ounce jighead with a some type of little minnow for a tail. That was the trick.”
All of his 10 weighable fish weighedbetween 3 and 5 pounds, and the tournament’s big bass tipped the scales at 8.41 pounds for Duane Pittman. All three are Ascension Area Anglers club members.
Joseph Martin, from the Westside Bassmasters, took first in the Co-Angler Division (three-bass daily limit) with a six-bass haul weighing 13.63 pounds. St. Mary Bassmasters’ Scott Vice had that division’s big bass, a 4.87-pounder.
Last call
The deadline for public comment on proposed 2025-2026 hunting seasons is this week, and that issue tops the agenda for Thursday’s Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting in Baton Rouge.
Beyond the meeting, public comment will be accepted through 4 p.m. Friday. Mail written comments to: Jeffrey Duguay, Wildlife Division, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA, 70898-9000 or to his email: jduguay@wlf.la.gov.
Other top agenda items include a review of last year’s recreational red snapper season, a recent anglers’ survey and the possible setting of this year’s season dates and creel limits; expanding black bear hunts; changes in bass regulations on Bussey Brake; and, a report on the federal plan to set a recreational/possession limit on wahoo.
The meeting will stream on a Zoom webinar.
