See every public fishing venue in Louisiana on the map, with boat ramps, camping, parking and full rules for each one.
Cow Bayou is a public river in De Soto Parish, Louisiana. You can fish it on a Louisiana licence, but bank access is only at road crossings, parks, LDWF access sites and other public land; riparian owners control the bank on non-navigable reaches.
It runs roughly 9 miles through the North Louisiana region. The nearest other mapped waters on PiscaMaps are Bull Bayou and Pen Bayou.
Night fishing: No statewide night-fishing closure in Louisiana. Some state-park and municipal lakes gate at night or post hours; a few WMA impoundments are daylight-only. Yo-yos, trotlines, jugs, slat traps and hoop nets are legal on most fresh water for licensed anglers with the gear tagged (not on the LDWF trophy lakes and some others). Bow fishing for gar, carp and buffalo is popular at night.
Boats: Most Louisiana bayous and rivers are fished from a pirogue, jon boat, bass boat or go-devil (mud motor); the Louisiana, Red, Atchafalaya, Ouachita and Sabine take full-size boats. Water level rules the Atchafalaya Basin and the marsh.
Bank & bivvy camping: You may fish and float any navigable Louisiana bayou or river on a state licence; bank access is at LDWF and parish launches, state parks, Kisatchie National Forest, the Atchafalaya Basin access points and bridge crossings. Louisiana's running-water rule opened many navigable streams to public use, but crossing private land to reach them is not guaranteed.
Tackle: Statewide black-bass daily limit is 10 (no statewide minimum), but the LDWF trophy lakes carry slots or minimums — Caney (8-12 in and 14-17 in protected), Poverty Point, Toledo Bend (14 in), False River, Concordia, Bruin, D'Arbonne and others each have their own rule. Sac-a-lait (crappie) is 25 per day on most waters, 50 on some; bream is generous; catfish and the saltwater species (red drum 5, speckled trout 15-25 by zone) have their own limits. Check the current LDWF regulations for this water.
Anyone 18-59 needs a Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries fishing licence — since the 2022 licence overhaul the resident Fishing License (about $17) covers both fresh and salt water, and the non-resident annual is about $68 (short-term non-resident trips are sold). Louisiana residents 60 and older buy a reduced-price Senior licence, and residents born before 1 June 1940 are licence-exempt; anglers under 18 fish free. There is no trout stamp — Louisiana has no freshwater trout ('trout' here means speckled trout, a saltwater fish covered by the base licence). Buy from LDWF at wlf.louisiana.gov. A Louisiana fishing licence covers this water. Toledo Bend and Caddo Lake are fished lake-wide on a Louisiana or Texas licence. The LDWF trophy lakes have their own bass slot or minimum limits.
Every water carries species, bank & boat access, current regulations and live water conditions — and members get Swim Mapper, Catch Logger and Trip Planner. It's the only US map with a dedicated carp-water layer.
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