For those who work outside, there are days in July when each breath seems to hold less air than the last, your eyes are blinded by sweat, and your body won’t keep the water you drink any longer than if you just poured it over your head.

  

But as the legendary angler Barry Brechtel would say, “Here’s the good news”.

There is a golden moment most July days, when those who love to fish can get on the water and catch a box of fish along with a phenomenal sunrise, without breaking a sweat.

This time of year, speckled trout and redfish are probably more cooperative than any other. Coastal fishing is accessible for just about everyone. From the bank, a small boat or the latest and greatest in Bay Boat technology.

  

The sun comes up early in July, with the real heat setting in just before noon. An angler leaving the dock at the break of dawn can get five or six hours of fishing done before the afternoon stifling, “is something burning”, take your breath away heat,...

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I wasn’t born in a boat, but it was one of the few moments in my life I didn’t spend in one. My father defined enthusiasm for hunting and fishing and started dragging me along right away. I have never gotten a straight answer on whether he took me because he wanted to, or if my Mom left him no other option.

  

Regardless, every Friday, we would pack up and head to Lee’s Launch on Highway 90 for a weekend at the Roseau Club. A 100+ year old “camp” that we loved and shared with friends and the resident critters of Rabbit Island. It was here I caught my first fish, shot my first duck, and had my first boat and motor all before the ripe old age of 7.

 

 At the time, my best friend Roger Lightfoot and I would fish in that 16 foot flat with a 7.5 horsepower motor all day long. The rule was to always stay in sight of the camp. Our eyes must have been much better than theirs as we seemed to always be in trouble for venturing too far away. We worked feverishly to out fish the “old men”...

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Louisiana summers don¹t let the cold season come easily. Winter fights its way into our state like a chain-smoker pedaling a one-speed bike up a steep hill. However, when the time comes for our return to the summer season, we generally experience something completely different.

Bounce would be a better term for our Spring season. We bounce from temperatures in the low 40s to the mid 80s. Barometric pressures are never steady, and a clear sky in the morning rarely guarantees it won’t rain by lunch. The careful observer might say, “Yes but what about the winds? Aren’t the winds constantly blowing in the spring?” Sure, the wind speed stays in the teens as we head into summer. However, choosing which direction they will come from can be like finding that certain something you put in a “safe” place so you won’t lose it.

For the avid angler, we bounce off walls with “spring” fever. We, who love the rod and reel, know that in April the fish are feeling Mother Nature’s urgings to breed and feed. We know the baitfish and shrimp that migrate to warm offshore waters in the winter are returning to the coast and bringing some fat fish behind them. We know the smaller Speckled Trout and Redfish that winter in the marsh for safety are now bravely traveling into open water to meet the incoming shrimp.  We know all of these things would mean great fishing, if the weather would just stay consistent for a few days, but it doesn’t. It bounces from one extreme to another.

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