Fishing the Mississippi in BR area

I'm sure the river is BR is pretty much the same as it is in N.O.

There are many spots to bank fish and it will depend on how accessible it is for you. I have spots I fish from the top of the levee when the water is high like it is now and other spots I can walk 100 yards through the batture to get to the river's edge to fish from there. Kind of depends on the water level for me.

With the river kind of high right now it will require you to find a spot with little to no batture so you can cast into the depths.

If you find that, you will probably need at least a 4 oz. sinker to hold the bottom and you will have to cast upriver so the current will carry your line straight out in front of you, or even a bit downriver depending on how fast the current is running. I would also suggest no less than 30 lb. test mono since you can get hooked into some pretty big fish if things go right for you. Oh, and be prepared to lose tackle. The river is full of crap to snag your line, so bring extra hooks and sinkers.


ETA: If you reel in your line to check for bait or to try another spot, hold the rod straight up high and crank in the line as fast as you can. The closer your line gets to the levee, the more rip-rap there is to hook up on.


ETA Part II: I have caught a variety of catfish, eels and Buffalo fish(freshwater drum) and striped bass. There are 3 main species of catfish to be caught with blue, channel and flatheads leading the way. In N.O. you can also run into the nasty hard head cat from time to time.

The bait I have the most success with is either cut bait or live bait. I'll use live perch on a large circle hook and that is a good bait for flatheads.

Cut bait is just what it implies. I'll use dead bait fish and cut them up in good size chunks on circle hooks.

I've also used earthworms I get from my compost pile and fresh shrimp I get from the market and use regular hooks for them since circle hooks are too big for threading worms on them.

I used to fish the river at the end of Ben Hur Rd. You could sit on the edge there if the river wasn't up.

Look at the bend across from Donaldsonville. The river runs almost East/West. The Western end is a sand pit. Beautiful beach and lots of fish. Follow the river North and there is a mid stream grain loader. The spillage comes downriver and winds up in an eddy at the pit.

We fish there by boat when the river is at 32 feet/ BR gauge. We launch on the revetments.

There is nice beach in that area that you can access by four wheeler. We access the levee at the first levee crossing South of Bowden Road.

We use skipjack shad,chicken livers,and gizzard shad. Sometimes I’ll put skipjack on one hook and gizzard shad on another. Skipjack is the best. Last trip they wouldn’t touch the gizzard shad.

Good fishing

did the same thing last Fall. There's a sandbar below ben Hur that we sat on and caught a few nice Channels one afternoon

Lot more Busch Latte's got packed out than fish.

Cornor of River road and Skip Bertman drive at LSU. Park in the gravel lot and walk across the street. I've seen plenty of people catching catfish.

back in da day had many a drift wood fire night fishing drinking party on the river.no levee in BR cause its on a hill find a place to park and a trail down to the river some great sand bars on the BR side and pretty good access. We used to get there early after school on fridays hustle a big pile of drift wood ice down a few chest of lil millers and kinda get or spot set up logs and stumps to sit on around the fire. We would take turns watching poles and camp fire partying. Good times and fond memories