When the lower Mississippi River make its annual fall, anglers head to Venice, Louisiana, for a real mixed catch.

Written By - Jerry Labella - 05/14/2007

Link to Original Article here

  My old fishing buddy's face had a perplexing look upon it when I told him we had caught a real mixed catch. But when I explained that the fish were both saltwater and freshwater species, all taken from the same spot, the look became more transfixed.

This in itself is not an unusual occurrence in Venice, Louisiana, during the fall season when the Mississippi River begins its annual fall. It is during this time of year the river stage drops below 3 feet, allowing saltwater to move north up the river, bringing with it saltwater species.

Though weather conditions both locally as well as up north have a bearing as to the time the river stages reach their lowest levels, it generally occurs in late September. It will stay clean and low through fall, and then around December it will routinely rise and muddy up again. As this occurs, it gradually pushes the "saltwater wedge" back out into the Gulf of Mexico, taking with it its resident species. 

Nevertheless, upon hearing the report, my old fishing buddy invited himself to my honey hole. And to ward off any consideration to my declining, he volunteered his boat with me at the helm.

Now how could I refuse such a bribe, since his boat was a much newer, faster, and fancier model than mine? 

After launching at Venice Marina, we headed south down the east side of the Mississippi River toward the location designated on a map as the Delta National Wildlife Refuge. This spot is situated right before Main Pass and is identified by a tall, red and white lookout tower and a concrete bulkhead that boarders the river's edge.

Once we arrived at the spot, I hardly turned the ignition off, let alone anchored, when my vivacious old friend had already hooked up with two nice sized largemouth bass on a tandem sparkle beetle rig. His audible reaction could be heard way back at the launch, as he continued reeling in amazement.

Feeling left out after making two casts and coming up blank, I began to wonder why I showed them this spot to begin with. On the third cast I became more frustrated, when I hung up on the bottom and had to break my line free. Re-rigging wouldn't have been so bad had they ceased catching and swing fish past my nose.

Using tandem, clear/silver flaked sparkle beetles with

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