Alexandria, LA Fishing: Sportsman’s Fishing Paradise

Stated as the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, Alexandria stands as the ninth-largest city in the state. Home to a rich culture and history, be mesmerized by its natural beauty in art centers, museums, and historic sites. Being one of the underrated tourist spots, visiting Alexandria offers a unique combination of experiences on account of vibrant festivals, wonderful natural resources, and several zoos home to exotic animals.

Accommodating the community dedicated to supporting the activities of the Spanish outpost of Post du Rapides has led Alexandria to become the parish seat of Rapides Parish. Along with Alexandria, the Red River has played a vital role throughout the decade. Alexandria’s location is close to a place where it has obstructed the route for navigation along the river. Retaining a course of 1,360 miles through Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, the Red river establishes a partition between Oklahoma and Texas evident in the present. Dating back to the late 1800s, Alexandria operated with 75 mills and was known to become the sawmill capital of the world during the golden age. Moreover, Alexandria has continued to be connected to various sawmills and timber industries today, for instance, Roy O. Martin Lumber Company. 

Alexandria extends a delightful array of experiences throughout all four seasons with hiking, boating, camping, biking, fishing, wildlife viewing, and wilderness exploration with wide access to greenery. There are many great fishing spots because of the number of rivers and lakes present, such as Lake Buhlow. Alexandria offers an incredible range of fish species: black bullhead, bowfin, largemouth bass, and channel catfish.

Alexandria Fishing

In Alexandria, LA, anyone can easily access water without the need to travel very far. In any freshwater system, a variety of fish species are in abundance. Anglers can easily capture largemouth bass, several types of catfish, and crappie. There are also instances when alligator garfish and blue catfish are caught in surprisingly enormous sizes. 

Alexandria has a lot of fishing spots, namely Buhlow Lake Recreation Area, Champion Fishing Charters, Indian Creek Recreational Park, Lake Guerrero, Bayou Rapides stream, Bayou Rigolette stream, Dry Bayou stream, Huffman creek, Lake Buhlow, Mill Bayou Inlet, Philip bayou stream, Sandy Bayou stream and Spanish bayou stream. Some state record fish are the Mississippi River, Red River, Wax Lake Outlet, Kincaid Lake, and Cotile Lake, which are also accessible in Alexandria. There are also fishing ponds available such as Hidden Treasure RV Resort, Keeahmee Retreat Rentals, Kels Kove, and Louisiana Pond Management. Passing through Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee, Louisiana offers one of Mississippi’s finest catfishing along with Arkansas and Minnesota. The Mississippi River also provides a wide array of fish species such as walleye, catfish, crappie, largemouth bass, and smallmouth bass. A popular fishing destination is Lake Buhlow. For both inshore and offshore fishing, channel catfish have been in abundance in this place and for bass and bream. Lake Buhlow has no public piers, but most anglers would fish from the banks since they are generally clean. Lake Buhlow is bordered by the Red River in the north and Civil War Fort Buhlow to the west. 

In Alexandria, some of the common coastal species seen in the area are lemonfish, red drum, southern flounder, mackerel, striped mullet, and spotted seatrout. For reef fish species, there are accounts of grouper, snapper, almaco jack, gray triggerfish, tilefish, amberjack, hogfish, black sea bass, and triple tail seen in the area. Marlin, swordfish, tuna, shark, and sailfish are often caught in certain seasons since these are highly migratory fish species. Popular catches for anglers are bream, catfish,  crappie,  largemouth bass,  rainbow trout,  rock bass,  striped bass,  sturgeon, and sucker. Across the state, several public ponds are stocked with rainbow trout. Bowfishing is often done by anglers to catch channel catfish in Lake Buhlow. During winter, ice fishing is a popular technique performed by avid anglers. Anglers’ common techniques are baitcasting, bottom fishing, and trolling, leading to a productive fishing trip.

The Mississippi River has been a harboring state record fish and contributed seven out of 10 blue catfish records caught in Louisiana. The Red River produced four of the top flatheads recorded. In 2012, an angler caught a state record of 31-pound channel catfish in the Mississippi River. A blue catfish weighing more than 110 pounds has also set a state record. From Wax Lake Outlet, a 95-pound flathead catfish was once caught. Located on the west side of Alexandria, Kincaid Lake and Cotile Lake yields bass weighing more than 10 pounds and considerable sizes of bluegill and crappie. 

Top 10 Fish Species in Alexandria, LA

The top fish species caught in Alexandria are largemouth bass, channel catfish, white crappie, black bullhead, bowfin, freshwater drum, flathead catfish, walleye, smallmouth bass, and rainbow trout.

Fishing Seasonality

Alexandria has their summers in July, reaching a scorching heat of 92 degrees, hotter than most places in Louisiana. In January, it experiences its winter, having its lowest temperature of 37 degrees, colder than most counties. The humidity during summer can be stifling and may affect fish behavior. The humid season is from May to September, and the least humid months are from October to April.

Alexandria having more sunny days provides a great fishing trip. Catching wahoo is easier in the winter. Wahoo moves quite fast; trolling is suggested to cover a larger area and increase your chance of hooking one. During winter, ice fishing is done. Anglers are encouraged to take advantage of the cold temperature and harvest as much rainbow trout as they can before the temperature rises. Their behavior is easier to predict when March comes in catching largemouth bass. A bass would tend to search for places to spawn in these times. If you are eyeing to catch a redfish, it is best to bring shrimp as bait since they could become picky eaters. April has an abundance of redfish staying in coves and points. Spotted trout can be caught more in May and hide in man-made structures and under logs. In the Red River, channel catfish are likely to stay in the bottom near dams. Channel catfish are more evident in June. Often, bottom fishing is practiced by anglers. Schedule your trip from May to July to optimize the best experience to catch fish. 

Engage Yourself on a Unique Trip in Alexandria

1. Book a Fishing Charter

Enjoy a peaceful fishing trip at Lake Buhlow and take advantage of the scenic view. Home to several water bodies, Alexandria provides excellent freshwater fishing opportunities and offers a great experience of catching largemouth bass, channel catfish, white crappie, black bullhead, bowfin, freshwater drum, and flathead catfish. Frequently, over 10 pounds of fish are caught in the area.

2. Meet Exotic Animals at the Alexandria Zoo

Alexandria’s premier tourist attraction contained over 500 exotic animals of various species and was founded in 1926. Come across black howler monkeys, jaguars, Indian blue peafowl, foxes, tarantulas, herons, giant anteaters, rattlesnakes, tigers, African lions, Australian tree frogs, swans, Chilean flamingos, squirrel monkeys, and African lions. You can enjoy viewing crocodiles, otters, and fish through the underwater window exhibits. From Wednesdays to Sundays, one can enjoy the zoo.

3. Visit the Alexandria Museum

Founded in 1977, Alexandria award-winning museum is associated with Louisiana State University. Holding many permanent exhibitions and works of various internationally recognized artists, it hosts some art exhibitions throughout the year. In addition, the Alexandria Museum assembles music concerts, yoga sessions, movie screenings, and fundraising events. Another museum located in Alexandria is the Louisiana History Museum which holds thousands of photographs and historical documents. Visit and learn about the culture of Native American history.