Capt. Bobby Warren admires an impressive Louisiana redfish caught along a stretch of roseau cane. Roseau cane is angler-friendly and fish-friendly, providing pockets of clear, calm water. Photo by Pete Cooper Jr.

When you get right down to it, most anglers of both the freshwater and the saltwater persuasions don't especially care for aquatic vegetation. However, one particular form of such flora provides an excellent opportunity for coastal fishermen, especially those who have redfish on their minds.

The weed -- or "reed" -- is roseau cane, a versatile plant that can grow to heights of 10 feet and cover acres of damp terrain and water ranging in salinity from fresh to brackish in depths of up to 4 feet. Almost as important as the role it plays in coastal erosion control, roseau cane provides three very important benefits for our state's anglers: First, it creates habitat for numerous prey species. Surface-oriented minnows find shelter and nourishment within the thicker stands of reeds, while shrimp, crabs and other bottom-dwellers make a good living within the plants' complex root systems -- at least, until a hungry redfish arrives.

While there are areas along our coast where roseau is the predominant emergent vegetation, much of it is found in scattered and rather small stands within other grasses such as spartina and three-cornered grass. When the latter are found along the edge of a large pond or small bay, any stand of cane should be a focal point for anglers.

Roseau cane's utility to anglers was reinforced recently on a summer trip to Cote Blanche Bay with my wife's boss, Charles Manuel of Broussard. Along the south side of Marone Point we found some clear, shallow water teeming with small pogies, but the only reds we caught were holding to the small stands of cane that extended onto those flats.

The second tactical role roseau plays in saltwater fishing is that it filters the water. In areas like the Mississippi and Atchafalaya deltas that are beset for most of the year with rather grungy water, thick canebrakes can create pockets of unbelievable clarity. Sight-fishing within them is often possible.

More often, though, that clarity simply allows for better overall fishing. Some of those "pockets" will become clear and provide the same great action for weeks on end during the late summer and early fall -- but usually only on the falling tide.

I once encountered a sweet spot like that just south of the mouth of Raphael Pass in the Delta National Wildlife Refuge. Hit it on a slack or rising tide and you were wasting your time, but the fishing at this spot could be phenomenal on a falling tide.

Years ago, I ventured to this spot with a former editor of Louisiana Game & Fish and a writer from the Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association. We arrived at my spot to find a swath of water the color of weak tea flowing easily out of the mouth of a small cut in a "corner" of the canes. There, with the Gulf of Mexico at our backs and a wall of roseau before us, we amassed a fine catch of reds. We also boated some of the nicest bass you could imagine for that part of the state -- an added bonus to fishing the fresher areas where roseau cane is found.

The third benefit of roseau cane is that it can serve as a fine windbreak, creating a protected shoreline along the small passes, coulees and ponds that are found within the larger brakes. Smaller "stands" like those I mentioned along the edge of Marone Point also serve to shelter upwind shorelines. That simply makes for easier, more efficient fishing.