August is here, and what that means

Spanish are active in the surf

1. The last full month of SweatFest ... the festival no one likes to celebrate. It's fairly common for us to have several days this month with heat index at or over 110. So stay hydrated and limit your time outdoors if possible. Also be aware that water temperatures are at their highest of the year, and several strains of aquatic bacteria are active. Especially on the coast where we've had 9 cases of vibrio in Louisiana so far in 2026 (above average).  So bring an antibacterial and treat any cuts or wounds immediately.

2. Closer to the Gulf, the better it gets.  The interior marshes offer limited action unless you enjoy catching hordes of ladyfish and sailcats.  The water is simply too hot.  On the plus side, August is the best time for catching pelagic species like jacks, spanish and king mackeral, and bluefish either nearshore, in passes, or  in lower bays.   Bull reds are making their spawning run and big schools can be found in passes or lower bays.  At night, there's tons of 10-12 inch white trout under lights.  In two months, these fish will be 12-14 inches, so I'm holding off until then.     

3. Lake fishing windows are narrow.  Lake surface waters are hot (upper 80s) so the peak times to fly fish are at night and in the very early hours of morning.  Here on the home lake, the bass are feeding on threadfin shad and small bluegill from first light to about 8:00 am, and after that it's deader than Elvis (assuming Elvis is really dead!).  There's decent action on bluegill, but they tend to be smaller and thinner than the ones caught in Spring or in October.

4. Rivers are an exception.  In August and September, rivers are at their low stages and usually run fairly clear.  In the past, I've enjoyed excellent fishing on the Red River, Atchafalaya River, and Mississippi River, and their oxbows and immediate distributaries.  These waters have cooler temperatures, therefore higher oxygen levels.  For bass, one location that was always golden for me this time of year were the canals and waterways off the Intracoastal Canal near Houma. 

5. It's peak hurricane season - now through September.  NOAA has revised their original prediction for 2026 after confirmation that the strong El Nino in the eastern Pacific will persist for the next several months.  The new estimate is 9 named storms (average is 14.4),  4 hurricanes (average is 7.2), and 1 major hurricane Cat 3 or above (average is 3.2).  So far, we've had only two named storms, with Tropical Storm Bertha hitting southeast Louisiana with minor impact, mostly coastal flooding.  While the update is good news, when Gulf water temperatures are this high, storms can intensify rapidly once they form.

6. Football season kicks off. Louisiana fly anglers love their football just slightly less than they do their fishing.  Saints preseason games start August 15th against the Jaguars.  Fall practice for colleges and high schools start the second week of the month.  This year, there are no Week 0 (August 29th) games for Louisiana college teams, but no one is complaining about having games in August. 

2026 State of Fishing: Fly fishing steady, but concerns loom

Last week at ICAST, the American Sportfishing Association - along with the Outdoor Foundation - released its annual survey of fishing participation in the United States. The report comes out each year during or just prior to ICAST, the world's largest fishing trade show.  

It should be noted that previously this report was prepared by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF) which lost its federal funding in 2025.  RBFF and it's associated organization, Take Me Fishing, had been funded by the excise tax we pay every time we purchase fishing or hunting equipment.

The 2026 Special Report on Fishing details participation trends in overall fishing, saltwater fishing, fly fishing and other areas of our sport based on licenses, surveys, tackle sales and many other metrics from the previous year (in this case, 2025).  The survey counts anyone ages 6 and over who fished at least one time during the calendar year. 

Overall trend. Participation declined slightly from 57.9 million in 2024 to 57.0 million. This marked only the second decline in 13 years. And in fact, in the last decade (2015-2025), participation has grown 25 percent. The participation rate is 18 percent, just under the all time high of 19 percent. However, the number of anglers who fished more than 11 times per year continues on a slow but steady decline. This despite 39 percent of respondents describing themselves as "avid" anglers.

Youth participation ages 6 to 12 declined slightly to 7.4 million, while ages 13 to 17 increased slightly from 5.2 to 5.4 million.   Among minorities, black participation reached an all-time high at 5.9 million. Hispanic participation continues to break new records. In the past decade, this group has gone from 3.4 million anglers to 6.9 million. Women anglers dropped very slightly, from 21.3 to 21.1 million, but still an impressive number from the 15.7 million only a decade ago.

Fly Fishing.  Our sport remained somewhat steady with 7.9 million  participants in 2025 compared to 8.0 million the year before. Fly fishing had been growing at roughly 2.2 percent since 2010 (5.5 million anglers).  While there were significant numbers of new fly anglers, this segment - like all other types of fishing - suffers greatly from a high "churn rate" - the percentage of anglers who leave the sport compared to first-time anglers.  

While numbers remain strong, activity is on the decline. Only 3 percent of fly anglers fish more than once a week in 2025 compared to 6 percent a decade ago. Only 18 percent make more than 11 days fly fishing per year, also on a downward trend.  

If there's good news in the fly fishing sphere it's that female numbers continue to grow. Of the 8 million fly anglers, a whopping 21 percent were female first timers.  Women now make up 31 percent of all flyfishers. Hispanic participation also continues to grow with 14 percent, while African-American numbers continue to lag at 12 percent. 

By age, the distribution is quite even, with age group 25-34 making the largest segment at 19 percent, followed by group 35-44 at 14 percent.  Historically, fly fishing has the highest income and highest education levels, and again, there was basically no change from 2024. Nearly 54% of longrodders have income of $50k or more, and 51% have some college or college degree. 

Since revamping the regional participation metric (fewer regions), in 2024, it's been difficult to do historical comparisons here. However, it does appear that the South region continues to grow, while the Northeast region continues to decline. The South region - Virginia to Texas - accounted for 40 percent of all fly anglers, and 52 percent of all saltwater fly anglers.

The Leaky Bucket.  At ICAST, Stephanie Vatalaro of Wave Maker Strategies went into detail about the "Leaky Bucket" that is of great concern to the industry. It should be pointed out that Ms. Vatalaro was with RBFF for many years, so her analysis was consistent with previous work that RBFF provided the industry.  

Earlier we mentioned the "Churn Rate". This is the percentage of anglers who joined or continued fishing compared to those who quit the sport. For example, in 2024 we had 57.9 million anglers. For 2025, we had 18 million new or returning participants. However we LOST 19 million anglers.  The Churn Rate was therefore 33 percent.  

As Ms. Vatalaro pointed out, if we could keep even a third of those lost anglers, we would've had many more anglers in 2025.  While many of us are happy with less competition on the water, for the industry it's loss of potential sales. For some businesses in these economic times, it's the difference between staying open or closing doors.  The reasons for the Leaky Bucket are many, and include: death or illness, loss of job or other life event, or simply a case of not enjoying the sport. 

However, with fly anglers the biggest obstacle to retention remains lacking success with basic skills. For example, the failure to make a consistently decent cast, or determine what leader to use or what fly to use, etc.. This results in many folks taking up the sport and then dropping it the next year. This is why the Churn Rate in fly fishing is higher than other types of fishing. 

At some point, we'll go into more detailed discussion on the Leaky Bucket and what the causes are, and what can be done to remedy.  

New regulations coming for Atchafalaya Watershed

Starting August 1, 2026, new recreational fishing regulations for black bass and crappie will take effect in portions of the Atchafalaya Basin and adjacent waterbodies in south-central Louisiana.  

Unlike most fishing regulations - which are implemented by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission - these were initiated through Senate Bill 111 by Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter during the 2026 legislative session.  SB111 passed both chambers by unanimous votes and was signed into law by Gov. Landry.

The following regulations will apply to all waters within the designated area indicated below:

Black bass (incl. Largemouth, Florida, Spotted and hybrids)

•  Daily Creel Limit: 5 fish
•  Minimum length: 12 inches

Crappie (incl. Black, White, and hybrids)

•  Daily Creel Limit: 25 fish
•  Minimum length: 8 inches

Major waterbodies within the area of regulation change include, but are not limited to:  Henderson Lake, Pat's Bay, Alabama Bayou, Grassy Lake, Lake Verret, Lake Palourde, and the majority of the Atchafalaya Basin.

The area covered by the new regulations is within the area south of US 190 from the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee to the intersection of LA 1 and US 190 due north of Port Allen, east of the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee from US 190 to US 90, north of US 90 from the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee to LA 20, north and west of LA 20 from US 90 to LA 1 in Thibodaux, south and west of LA 1 from LA 20 to US 190.

Anglers utilizing any boat launch within the regulated area must be in compliance with the new regulations regardless of where their fish were caught.

Areas outside of the designated area will maintain the statewide regulations for black bass and crappie which continue to be:

Black Bass - 10 daily creel, no minimum size limits
Crappie - 50 daily creel, no minimum size limits

Full recreational fishing regulations can be viewed on the LDWF website.

Rio Rumble returns on October 3rd

17th Annual Rio Grande Rumble
Saturday, October 3, 2025

Start: 7:00am (first light for pre-registered)
End: 12:30pm (weigh-in)
Event site: Lafreniere Park, Metairie, LA
$25 entry fee, includes lunch and refreshments

The 2026 edition of the Rio Grande Rumble has just been announced.  Hosted by the New Orleans Fly Fishers Club, the Rumble is the longest running freshwater fly fishing tournament in the South. Target species is the Rio Grande cichlid. This species is native of south Texas but has become widespread in extreme southeast Louisiana. For fly anglers, it’s an opportunity to put their skills up against a very wary species that when hooked, “fights like a wet cat”.

All entry fish must be caught on flies and fly tackle. Categories are “Longest Rio” and “Most Rios Caught”. Net proceeds from the tournament go to Casting For Recovery.

The rodeo is open to all fly anglers. Registration deadline is 8:00am on October 4th. Both onsite registration and weigh-in will be at Lafreniere Park in Metairie. There will also be a Zoom seminar on fishing for the Rio Grande Cichlid. Date and time of the online seminar will be announced shortly.

For complete details, including tournament rules, and to register online, go to the NOFFC website at www.neworleansflyfishers.com.

Governor Landry vetoes tarpon bill

A bill that would have given gamefish status to Atlantic tarpon has been vetoed by Governor Jeff Landry.  This despite House Bill 688 by Rep. Joseph Orgeron having passed both chambers of the Louisiana legislature by unanimous margins.  

As we alluded to in an earlier post, this bill would've done more than just given gamefish status to one of the most prized recreational species in saltwater.  It would have put management of tarpon under the auspices of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission. And it turn, the LWFC could've determined the extent of current "catch and kill" tarpon tournaments.  It also would've required LWFC to take actions to limit any activity in which tarpon was a significant bycatch.

In his veto letter, Landry wrote: "I can discern no corresponding conservation benefits in this designation. There is no real harvest pressure on tarpon, and nothing in the science suggests we need new limits or restrictions to protect them. Louisiana anglers do not need more regulatory hurdles for their recreational activities."

The Louisiana Wildlife Federation (LWF) and Fly Fishers International  (FFI) expressed extreme disappointment in this action. It's their belief that this was a measure to further protect the menhaden industry from repercussions of tarpon bycatch. Both organizations are appealing to legislators to include HB688 in a veto override session.  Such sessions are usually held several weeks after the close of the annual routine legislative session.

Ladies invited to special fly tying event

Ladies Fly Tying Night
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
6:00pm – 9:00pm
Metairie, Louisiana
No cost!

As part of the celebration for Womens Fly Fishing Month, FFI Women Connect, the Gulf Coast Council (GCC) of Fly Fishers International (FFI) and No Wake Outfitters are hosting a "Ladies Fly Tying Night" on Tuesday, June 30th.  

Whether you're a beginner, or just looking to tie with some other ladies and share stories, this event is for you! Tools & materials provided. Class size limited, so please register early. To RSVP or more details, contact Lisa Lowman at wconnect@ffigcc.org.

Welcome to SweatFest 2026!

SweatFest.... a celebration of heat, humidity, sunburns hurricanes, and horseflies. As well as swarms of mosquitos. Conversely, it's also fun time for those who love the beach, snowballs, and mowing grass.  

Memorial Day weekend is usually the kickoff for 90 degree days and 70 degree nights, and high humidity.  At least during June there's a good seasonal breeze most of the time.  But come July and August, the wind goes away and the heat index - and the sweating - kicks up a notch. By early September, the nights are long enough for radiative cooling to take effect, even if the days are still a bit balmy.

As for tropical weather forecast, 2026 looks to be a fairly calm one due to a Super El Nino in the Pacific.  The National Weather Service predicts a 55% chance of a below-normal season, with 8-14 named storms, and only 1-3 major hurricanes (categories 3-5).  Of course, it only takes one downturn in the trade winds and with the higher-than-normal Gulf water temperatures, that one possible storm could be the next Katrina, Rita or Laura!  

The summer sun and heat of SweatFest bring dangers to anglers.  Heat stroke and high UV radiation require preparation for fishing trips: bring water and sports drinks, sunscreen, long-brim hats, neck gaiters, long sleeve light-colored UV shirts and pants, and sunglasses (polarized are better).   And for coastal fishermen, there's potential exposure to the vibrio bacteria which has the highest occurence from July through September. There are plenty of web articles on how to cope with these dangers of summer.  Let Google be your friend!

Also be aware that thunderstorms can be a daily occurence in summer. At the first sign of towering  cumulonimbus clouds, start your way back to the launch (especially if you're in a kayak). Lightning can strike from eight miles away, so waiting for lightning to approach is not a smart option!

Fishing-wise, June is usually a decent month, although the bigger fish of Spring are deeper now.  Early morning and late afternoon are still good.  July and August are probably the worst fishing months of the year in Louisiana.  Fish are lethargic as hot water holds little oxygen.  They feed less, and when they do, it's either very early in the morning or at night.  

There are exceptions.  In fact, offshore and nearshore fishing for pelagics is the best of the year in Summer.  Species such as spanish mackerel, jack crevalle, bluefish, bull reds, and sand (white) trout are abundant nearshore and inside passes and interior coastal lakes.  So are gafftop catfish and ladyfish, so it's often a case of avoiding those nuisance species.  And if a tropical storm moves close by - let's hope not, but if it does - the bite can be really good in freshwater lakes and in the brackish marsh just before and after the storm.