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Booyah on Bayou Bonfouca!
 Keith Lusher
Dustin Touche of Slidell has been limiting out on bass every trip fishing Bayou Liberty and Bayou Bonfouca. On his latest trip he formulated a plan to start early working the grass using a hollow-bodied frog for bigger bass. “Boy did that pay off!” Dustin says. He was throwing a yellow and green Booyah Pad Crasher Jr. and caught 5 keeper bass before the sun started heating things up. As the heat set in, the frog bite slowed and Dustin switched over to a Zoom Fluke in Chicken on a Chain color.
Using a frog results in bigger bass for Touchet
The highlight of the trip came at the intersection of Bayou Liberty and Bonfouca. Dustin casted out towards the shoreline and set the hook on a small bass. As he was reeling it in he felt the fish pull harder. “I didn’t know what was on the line at that point,” he says. He braced himself for a fight and muscled the fish closer. As it neared the bow the big fish let go and all that was left was a mangled 8-inch bass on his hook. “I set the hook on the smaller bass and while I was reeling it in that big bass came and grabbed him,” Touchet says.
 Dustin after realizing he lost a big bass at the boat
After that episode Dustin put his hands on his knees and bent over to take a few breaths and replay what had happened. “I saw that fish! It looked like it was at least 5 pounds,” he says. After recuperating, Dustin stuck with the Zoom Fluke casting into drains that came out of the marsh and finished off his limit. “It was another great day! Liberty and Bonfouca bass fishing is hot right now!” he adds.
Sac-a-lait in July
 Shelton Roberson shows off a sac-a-lait he caught on the Amite River
Robert Gauley of Maurapas catches sac-a-lait year round. On his latest trip he brought along his son, Laitin Gauley and his friend Shelton Roberson. They fished the Amite river and Robert says the fishing was slow for the most part. “We fish a lot of different areas picking up a few here and there,” he says. It wasn’t until noon when Robert says they hit the mother load piled up underneath an old houseboat. They were tight-lining Bobby Garland jigs on a 1/16 oz. chartreuse head. Robert says they kept fishing until the heat of the day was too much for them. “We caught them till we just got tired of being beat on by the heat and left them biting,”he says.
 Seth Stiles and Kevin Dean haul a large gar over onto the bow
Bucket List Seth Stiles of Covington has been an avid fisherman since he can remember. He grew up in New England then moved to Colorado where he caught various types of fish along the way. There is one type of fish that has managed to avoid him him who life. “I’ve always wanted to catch a big gar!” Seth says. On his latest fishing trip he got that chance. Seth is the assistant Pastor at Northshore Bible Church in Covington and while talking fishing one morning with a church member, Kevin Dean, he asked about where he could catch one of these monster fish. Kevin runs catfish lines in the Slidell area and is no stranger to catching garfish on his lines so he invited Seth to join him. The friends left early out of Eden Isles and started baiting the lines with cut mullet and tossing them in the water. The floats were made of the noodles that you might find in a swimming pool. “I’ve never seen anything like these things. When a fish is on it, the noodle points straight up in the air,” he says. After setting the lines, it didn’t take long before the excitement started. A noodle was moving fast across the water and settled under a sizable dock. The friends waited for 10 minutes and then it came out and made another run. Kevin maneuvered the boat into position and Seth swooped up the float and started pulling on the line. As the garfish neared Kevin realized how big it was and told Seth to drop the line. Kevin then casted his fishing pole out and snagged the line and began fighting the fish so that he could tire him out. The plan worked and the fish was exhausted when it surfaced. Seth gaffed the fish but needed help from Kevin to drag it over the box. The fish measured 5 feet and was an estimated 75 pounds. “I’ve always wanted to experience that and it was everything I thought it would be. Now I can scratch that one of my bucket list,” Stiles says. 
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 Keith Lusher
I created NFR.com in the spring of 2012. Since then it has helped link Northshore fishermen to valuable information and has filled the void of absent information on the web about fishing on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Northshore Fishing Report has morphed into a brand name and can be found not only on the web, but on radio and newspaper. As NFR grows I will continue to work hard at keeping NFR local focusing on local anglers, reports, seminars, and fishing tournaments in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parish. I hope you enjoy the website and If you have any questions please email me at: Keith@NorthshoreFishingReport.com
Look for the Northshore Fishing Report publication every Thursday in The Slidell Independent Weekly Newspaper!
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