Photo by Larry Walsingham

Louisiana is not widely hailed for its striped bass fishing. Neighboring Texas and the East Coast get the lion's share of media for their excellent lineside fisheries. However, Louisiana waters have produced some truly big striped bass over the years, including a 47.5-pound state record caught on Toledo Bend that would turn heads anywhere. The state also boasts a healthy hybrid striper fishery that's both wide-ranging and quite prolific.

Let's take a look at the top areas for these hard-fighting species and review methods for catching them.

TOLEDO BEND
We might as well start with the biggest and best -- which is exactly what Toledo Bend represents among Louisiana's striper fisheries.

Last year, according to officials with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, more than 80,000 stripers were stocked at "T-Bend," thus continuing a rich tradition of keeping the population here healthy. Coupled with stocking efforts by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which shares jurisdiction over this massive reservoir, the striper fishery at Toledo Bend is in fine shape.

Owing to extremely low water levels, last year's fishing pressure was light. At one point, the lake was nearly 12 feet low; it was on average 8 feet low throughout most of 2006.

"A lot of the areas anglers fish for stripers looked a whole lot different last year, due to low water levels," said guide Roger Bacon. "Running on parts of the lake was dangerous and most of the boat ramps were closed." He added that the low levels (if they rise back to normal levels) should equal good fishing this year, as low pressure indicates that more fish survived into 2007.

Anglers looking for surface schooling action, which can be hot in early summer, should get up early, as much of the best action is right at dawn. There is also good fishing late in the evenings just before dusk.

The areas around Louisiana Island and Texas Island are excellent choices. The big fish like to gather in that area and feed on the gizzard shad that stack up there.

I prefer chuggers for these hardcore fish, but some of the locals prefer big walking plugs like the Super Spook and Top Dog. Popular colors are bone and a white model with a striper head that's locally called the "striper-headed woodpecker" pattern.