<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">So you want to catch white perch (crappie) in Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It’s not easy.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Maybe Dwyane Dubard can help.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He’s o</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">ne of the top white perch fisherman in the area, and on a recent trip to Lacassine he and fishing partner Todd Gorman had about a dozen crappie (all 11-12 inches long) in a catch of 30 fish (bass and bream).</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I used to be a big bass fisherman,” Dubard said, “but then I started bream fishing. After (Hurricane) Rita came through it shut Sabine (Reserve) d</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">own and I joined crappie.com forum over the internet. I learned all my secrets (crappie fishing) from members of that board.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Besides fishing Lacassine, he also frequents Bundicks’ Lake and Toledo Bend.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Three times a year we (crappie.com forum) have a big tournament which anyone can attend. It’s family friendly also. Coming up we will have one on Darbonne Lake (November), one at Toledo Bend (February) and one on Larto Lake,” he said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Crappie.com is a fishing website for white perch fishermen with just about anything you want to know about that type of fishing.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“The ways I learned to fish (for crappie) I got mainly from Randy Hulin of Pineville,” Dubard said, “The right poles to use, the line, the baits.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The lakes he fish are mainly deep water. Lacassine is different with its shallow bottom.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Basically I just work some of the main trai</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">ls, toss a jig under a cork and I also throw a beetle spin,” he said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Black and chartreuse and yellow and black are the colors he prefers in the jigs and black and chartreuse are the colors on the beetle spin.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Sometimes he will tip his jig hook with a small piece of cold worm.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“You want to work the bait right up agains</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">t the grass and then bring it back out to the middle.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">His jig pole is 10 to 12 foot (11-foot B&amp;M ultra-light graphite is the favorite) but any telescopic pole will do.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He fishes the jig (usually 1</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">1</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">⁄</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">4</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">ounce) from 10-12 inches deep with a cork large enough to keep it afloat and easy enough for a fish to pull it under.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I’ll drop it in a spot, pop it once, let it sit and then move on. In the marsh (I have found) the white perch don’t like a big bait.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The line he uses is 8-pound test, yellow from Stren, to which he attaches a short leader of 6-pound test.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">During his trip to Lacassine he said the way he and Gorman fished was that they would drift a trail or canal fishing with the jig and then come back and drift it again throwing a beetle spin (using light spin cast reels).</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He said it was pretty close that day as to the number of white perch they caught on jigs and on beetle spins.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">If he has a favorite crappie fishing area it would have to be Bundick’s Lake, where he recently caught his two largest.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“For years I’ve been trying to break into the 2-pound mark,” he said, “and then on the same day (March 4) I caught two 2-pounders the same day, back to back.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He’s having them mounted.</span>

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<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Sean Kinney, the local biologist mana</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">ger for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said the shocking survey the department did in Lacassine the day before opening did not produce many white perch.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“We only brought up eight,” he said, “and they ran from 9 to 11 inches. “He added that this type of survey was not a good one in determining a good count on white perch.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Kinney said he thought there was probably an excellent crappie count in the refuge and that it should continue to be so.</span><p>A mess of white perch</p>