Clements Bayou in St. Tammany Parish: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Clements Bayou lies in St. Tammany Parish, in Louisiana. Around the bank it is scrub and brush. It covers about 4 acres, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. It is a small entry by St. Tammany Parish standards. Head to Nicholson, 7.3 miles away, for anything you forgot. For a city, New Orleans is 42 miles off. The county edge is within a short distance of the bank.

• Where to Fish on Clements Bayou

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Nearby survey and observation records mention gulf logperch, Alabama shad, American eel, threadfin shad and gizzard shad. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. Read Clements Bayou before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  On the long-term average, July reads 81°F and January reads 50°F. Year-round warmth means year-round fishing, with early starts in summer. March through May is the strongest run, with autumn a second stretch. The cooler months are the comfortable ones to fish here. Clements Bayou runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Take the rules with you rather than trusting memory. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. The nearest alternative is Rice Patch Lake, 0.9 miles out. Rules at Clements Bayou are worth checking on the day.