Rods: 6-7′ Med-Medium heavy Inshore Saltwater rods, (Example-Daiwa, “Coastal” rods, $64.95 OR Falcon “Coastal” XG $100).

Bait for LA: Live shrimp, Live Mullet, Live Pogey/Menhaden, Live Mud-minnow & Live Pin-fish.

Riggs for saltwater: 1/8-1/4 OZ jig/live shrimp, 1/8-1/4 OZ jig/live mullet or mud-minnow, Popping cork & Live bait or jig/Berkley “Gulp” minnow grub, Topwater plugs & Swim Baits.

L.A. Fishing: The marshes and bays in L.A. are extensive. You need to thouroughly investigate WHERE you plan on fishing, otherwise, you will spend all your time “scouting”/hunting for fish.

Talk to the local baitshop before you go! They will point you in the right direction so you don’t waste your time. Does your boat have a trolling motor? I hope SO! You will spend more time using it than your outboard.

BE CAREFUL! Although most of the area is “muddy/sandy” bottom there ARE oyster-beds. And because you are unfamiliar with the area, I would “idle” and keep a sharp eye on my electronics! It’s very easy to lose a lower unit hitting an oyster-bed at full throttle!

And DON’T get LOST! The Spartina
Grass is SUPER-tall and you can get lost easily unless you know your way.

A good idea: Stay near the ramp, in the main channel, and don’t venture forth too far into the swamp! You will still catch plenty of Reds, Bass, Trout & Flounder near the channel’s!

Good luck! Have a good time!

And remember: ‘Nawlins is mighty close if ya’ll get bored! (lol)

spinning reels i really like quantum(ultra lites) and shimano(for bass and other larger fish).as far as baitcasters i like abu garcia(ambasaduer series),quantum(iron series),and penn reels for big fish fishing.preferably the 209 and 309 levelwind.

with the penns i can fish freshwater for big cats as well as fish from the peirs in the gulf for big bull reds and shark.

Use a sabicki rig, then use everything you catch on it as bait.

Depends on the type of fishing you are doing, i.e. bass, saltwater, crappie, etc. For bass, if you are finese fishing the spinning reels are my fav. For jigs, cranks, etc I use baitcasters, either a Abu 4600magC4 or a Extreme reel from BassPro. Crappie fishing….def a spinning reel.

Salt water… Shrimp, mullet, mud minnows, croakers, sandfleas, fiddler crabs, squid, clams, other various fun things that you can find quite handily at the local bait store. Here where I’m at in FL, nearly anything will take any of these things… well, some species are more picky than others, but in general you can catch something on any of those whenever you want around here. (haven’t fished Lousiana, but I can’t think that their redfish are too much different than ours, or any of the other fish that we have in common for that matter…)

Have fun.

Whatever is on clearance @ Wal-Mart.

Hit ebay and look for a Penn level wind reel. These will hold up to 800yds. of 50lb. test line. You may want a more heavy duty hook. My guess is that you hooked into a sturgeon, the Sacrament R. is famous for them. Check out Youtube for videos on these monsters. I would use at least a 2 ought hook and 18″ of 80lb. dacron leader. (the dacron is softer in their mouth, so they don’t spit the hook as easily)

Conventional saltwater reel. Specifically the Daiwa SL30SH, with 20 pound line. I’ve caught everything from bass and halibut to tuna, wahoo, and marlin with this reel. Probably not too useful for the freshwater trout and bass guys, but for medium-sized saltwater gamefish (5-30 pounds or so) you can’t beat it, and it holds up well when you hang into something bigger.

I am an ABU man by far for my baitcaster reels and my spinning reels all are Okuma!I have the ABU’s from 10000 all the way down to the 4600 and Okuma’s from my Epixor 80’s down to my smallest Inspira.

i agree with what everyone else says! The type of pole that will need in this fishing trip is a fishing pole. You know, one of those poles that you stick in the water and its got a hook on the end to catch a fish? yeah that one…..i think by now you realized that i dont know anything about fishing lol