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Trenton Pittman

1/7/2018

 
The Northshore Bass Series 2017 Season has come to a close and finishing at the #1 spot in the power rankings is a young man from Covington Louisiana. At age 18, Trenton Pittman has won the title of Northshore Bass Angler of the Year and has left his mark on numerous trails with 7 first place finishes that stretch from Manchac to the Pearl River. 
Trenton was born in Covington, Louisiana to his parents Jason and Melissa Pittman in March of 1999. Trenton was fishing even before he could remember. But Trenton can recall a few times when his dad had to cast his line out for him and let him reel it in. It was a canal off of the Tchefuncte River where he and his dad would always go to and catch bass and perch. “We’d just go looking for fillets. I basically grew up in that spot. It’s etched in my memory,” Trenton says. 


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When he wasn’t on the water, Trenton could be found tinkering with his Dad’s old baits.  He interchanged components from assorted buzz-baits and spinner-baits in the garage. “I found this old bag of buzz-bait and spinner-bait components that my dad had and started making my own buzz-baits. I remember taking that buzz bait and actually catching a few fish the next time we went fishing,” Trenton says. But Trenton’s favorite lure was a simple Texas-rigged worm. Trenton can recall catching a 2 lb. bass on the Tchefuncte River when he was 8 year’s old.
“Back then I was using some easier to fish with hooks that made for a better hook up ratio so that played a big part until I was able to develop a few different styles of hooksets,” Trenton says.



But much like his father, Trenton turned from fun fishing, to the highly competitive world of tournament fishing by age 10. It was the Bass Assassins Tournament on Bayou Bonfouca. 
"I remember that day because it was freezing cold and I was all bundled up. That no-wake zone felt like it took an hour to get passed,” the teen says.  It was a singles tournament and Trenton says he didn’t catch a single fish but his dad had no problem catching fish and even finished in third place that day. “He front-ended me the whole day,” Trenton jokes.

Trenton began fishing more as a junior angler alongside his dad and after fishing a few tournaments at Toledo Bend; Trenton was hooked and began fishing more with his Father, Grandfather Floyd, and professional bass tournament angler Cliff Crochet. He locked up his first sponsor at age 15 with Mister Twister and was completely ensconced in the tournament fishing scene.  Since gaining that sponsorship with Mister Twister Trenton has been  able to secure partnerships with Ardent Rods & Reels, Swagger Tackle Company, T & H Marine and Trapper Tackle. He began fishing with his dad in the local tournaments as a permanent partner in 2014 which meant pre-fishing tournaments as well. Jason credits his wife Melissa for the time she dedicated to homeschooling Trenton, as well as daughters, Abigail, Lillian, and Haleigh.  

PictureTrenton and jason after their first win as a team.
We all have our memories of fishing that we’ll never forget. Trenton says he remembers the first time he won a tournament. It was the Liars and Lunker’s tournament at the Lock #1 Canal in Pearl River. It was the first win as a team. “That’s when I knew that this is what I wanted to do. I remember Dad taking a picture with the money that we won and sending the picture to Elite Series member Cliff Crochet,” he says.  His father Jason says that Chad Hartzog and the Liars and Lunker’s group were key to Trenton’s growth a bass angler. Liars and Lunker’s has been holding the kids tournament since 2000. Since then it has grown into the biggest kid’s fishing tournament on the North Shore “Those guys were instrumental in helping Trenton develop into a tournament angler by putting together their annual Kid’s Fishing Tournament and allowing him the chance to fish it,” Jason says.  

PictureTrenton after the FPBA tournament at Manchac
Winning his first tournament as his Dad’s partner was a big stepping stone in Trenton’s tournament fishing journey. But it wasn’t until 2015 that he made what was perhaps his biggest leap in his young career. It was the Florida Parishes Bass Anglers Tournament held in August of 2015. Jason was scheduled to go out of town on business and because of their ranking in the FPBA AOY points system, one of them needed to fish it. “My dad asked me, ‘Are you comfortable fishing by yourself in this’.  I don’t think it took me a second to respond with a yes!” he says. Trenton and Jason pre-fished the tournament a few days earlier and Jason caught a 6 lb. bass in one of the spots so Trenton was excited to get back to the spot the day of the tournament. Trenton’s recalls the morning of the bog day. “I was up way before my alarm was supposed to go off that morning. My Grandpa drove me to the launch and put the boat in and I went straight to the spot where Dad caught the six pounder. I figured they would hit a top-water bait because it was so early. I immediately caught a small bass but on my 15th cast I hooked a bigger one,” He says.  Trenton was throwing a small surface popper and says he didn’t think the fish was big because of the strike. “I never really saw the fish hit. I just heard this sucking sound when it disappeared. I didn’t think it was that big but when it started pulling I knew it had some weight,” Trenton says. After a quick battle, the teen boat flipped a 4.11 lb. bass into the boat. “I was shaking so hard after catching that fish,” he adds. Trenton remained in contact with his father throughout the day checking in with texts for advice. In the tournament world, anglers have been known to overthink a situation and waste time by following what their head tells them to do instead of what they know they should do from past experiences. Trenton says that his Dad had only one thing to say. “He kept telling me to just keep fishing!” The teen kept doing what was working and was culling fish by noon. It was time for the weigh-in and Trenton says he didn’t think he had a shot to win with his bag. “Going into the weigh-in I thought there was no way I was going to win this thing with how many people were competing that day. I figured someone was going to come in with 11 or 12 lbs,” he says. Trenton weighed his fish and the scale read 8.98 lbs. Trenton didn’t watch the others weigh-in fish and when it was finished he recalled the totals being called out. “I heard them announce second place and it was 8 lbs. and I knew I had close to 9 lbs. so that’s when it hit me that I had won!” he says. Trenton had the heaviest bag of the day and the 4 lb. bass that he had started the day out with ended up winning the big fish division. In shock, Trenton climbed into is Grandpa Floyd’s truck to go home. “I called my dad on the way home and he asked me what the winning weight was. I told him 8.98 lbs. Then he asked what I had and I replied - 8.98 lbs,” the proud teen says. 


PictureTrenton and Chase Damare finally catch 5 and win the Liar's and Lunker's event on the East Pearl
Trenton fished more tournaments solo and has since placed in numerous tournaments but most trails on the North Shore are team trails so Trenton had to make an adjustment that would benefit him for the days that he couldn’t fish with his dad. He teamed up with another 18-year old, Chase Damare, who was in the same homeschool group. “We went out and I don’t think we caught to many fish but he enjoyed the heck out of it so we started fishing the Bass Assassins tournament,” he says. Trenton recalls Chase’s first tournament fish he ever caught. “I remember him catching his first tournament fish. He was like a kid in a candy store! It was the funniest thing. He was going crazy when he caught that fish! That was the only thing he could talk about afterwards was how he can’t believe he caught that fish,” Pittman says. But like any new team in any sport, the team struggled. For the next 3 tournaments they didn’t catch more than 3 keepers in each tournament. It wasn’t until the Liar’s and Lunker’s tournament on the East Pearl River, that the team finally meshed. They caught their first 5-fish tournament limit that was the heaviest bag that day and Trenton and Chase had notched their first victory as a team with a bag weighing almost 13 lbs.  

While Trenton has accomplished a lot as a young tournament angler he admits that he has a lot to improve on. Like most of us growing up in South Louisiana, we’ve grown accustomed to shallow-water fishing in the marshes and bayous.  Trenton says this is his biggest weakness. “I need to improve on fishing in deeper water. Because I’m not comfortable fishing deep, I find myself going shallow even when I know I should be fishing deeper,” he says.
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PictureTrenton Pittman heads down the Lock One Canal tournament morning.
At age 18, Trenton will have plenty of time to improve on his perceived weaknesses but looking back on his short career the angler has accomplished what most can only dream of. His father Jason talks about his accomplishments “The phone call on that August day will always stay with me, just listening to his excitement while he was being humble made me realize that he wasn’t my sidekick any longer but a proven tournament contender after finishing first against that group of guys.” Any professional bass tournament angler knows that success can work against an angler if he let’s it go to his head.  Jason says he’s proud of the way Trenton has handled his success so far. “To see him stay humble after gaining sponsorships with major tackle companies as well as industry leaders makes everyone in the family from great grandparents, to grandparents, to Melissa and me really proud” “His passion and drive to continually focus on all aspects of the business and sport reminds me of that same fire that burned deep inside of me when I was his age,” Says Jason

With the 2017 in the rearview mirror. The 2018 Northshore Bass Series just around the corner.  Trenton will be teaming up with Chase Damare and looks to compete again for the title of Northshore Bass Angler of the Year.

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Patrick Engerran

2/19/2017

 
The 2016 bass tournament season is over for anglers on the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain, and with the end of the season comes a new champion.  Independence angler, Patrick Engerran, was crowned Northshore Bass Angler of the Year for the 2016 NBS Season. For Patrick, 2016 was a tale of two seasons in which he experienced a winter and spring in which he could do no wrong. Patrick started the NBS season off with a win on Bayou Lacombe in the first Bass Assassins tournament in which 30 anglers showed up. Patrick won the tournament with a strong 12 lb. 4 oz. bag.  When the FPBA rolled into Bayou Lacombe a few weeks later Engerran was confident. He shares his recollection of that tournament. “I didn’t get a chance to pre-fish it but I was feeling good.  I had just fished a Bass Assassins on Bayou Liberty and ran back to Lacombe.  I finished 4th out of 33 guys so I believed I had it dialed in and knew what to do.  I pulled up to the ramp and the water had dropped out from my last two trips.  It was one of those Homer Simpson head slapping moments.  Low water is something I struggle with.  After a day spent running everywhere the club’s boundaries would permit, the live-well had one dink.   I distinctly remember looking at the time on my GPS when I came back to Lacombe, 2:20, maybe 20 to 25 minutes left to fish to make it back to the launch for check in.
PictureBailey Madere and Patrick Engerran finish second after a slow start on Lacombe
  I was upset with myself for not settling in to an area and just fishing.  I ran around way too much and wasted time that I should have spent figuring out a bite in one area.  As I was going through a no wake zone I noticed the water had come up a good bit with a hard incoming time.  I’d been so busy running to different spots that  I hadn’t noticed how hard the tide had been coming in, I mean, I noticed it but didn’t compute it.  I told Bailey we could still make this happen, at least get a quick limit.   He gave me that ‘yeah right’ look and went back to checking game updates on his phone.  I make about 5 casts and a big fish absolutely crushed my jig.  I thought it was a red because it was pulling hard, then it comes up and shakes by the boat and it was a huge bass!  I just used it’s momentum from the jump to boat-flip it.  Bailey and I stared at it laying on the floor then the fist bumping and high-fiving started.  He grabbed it and threw it in the live well and we got busy.  In 20 minutes we had a limit and culled 3 times.  It was hectic man!  The bite was probably there for the last two hours but I was too busy running.   We finished with over 10 lbs. thanks mostly to that 5 1/2 lber.  I had been telling him never quit till you pull the trolling motor up that last time cause it can happen in the last half hour just as easy as the 1st hour.  He finally saw it happen and I think that was a defining moment for he and I.  We had just fished the FPBA Classic at Lake St. John where we bounced back from a horrible 1st day to weigh in right at 15 lbs. the 2nd day to get a third place finish and it helped me to believe it can happen as long as you mentally stay in it.“   During the upcoming tournaments Patrick rode the wave of momentum generated by that tournament and says “If you’re on a streak - you gotta ride it, and after that tournament I was on a streak.  The more top 3’s I got - the more I wanted to fish as many tournaments as I could find. I was pulling my boat up onto the trailer and asking ‘where’s the next tournament.’ It’s like you can do no wrong out there! My mindset was that I was going to go there, and I was going to figure it out and I was going to cut a check,” Engerran says. Patrick strung together a number of top 3 finishes during the spring and summer and held the #1 spot for 6 months until the Pearl River Team Trails tournament in early December. Charlie Dauzat and Mark Mohr placed first with a 5-fish bag weighing 13.0 lbs. in the tournament which catapulted Dauzat into the first place position with one tournament to go late in the season. The tournament was held on Tchefuncte River and Patrick needed a first or second place finish to pull back into the lead. Engerran teamed up with tournament veteran Skip Rayborn and the team finished in second place with a 9.37 lb. tournament limit, which moved Engerran back into the #1 spot for the close of the season.
“To finish in the #1 spot really means a lot to me because the best of the best fish these tournaments and to score points you have to place in the top 3 in a tournament so getting points is not an easy thing to do. It’s quite an honor to be ranked #1,” Engerran says. 

Patrick is a relative newcomer to the Northshore tournament scene. Growing up in Mt. Hermon, Louisiana, Patrick learned to fish the Bogue Chitto, gravel pits, and creeks near his house. “Back when I was a kid I can remember dad taking me perch fishing and we’d catch perch from the river bank,” Engerran recalls. Like most kids his age, the chores came first in the Engerran household. “My Dad had a garden and I can remember that thing getting bigger and bigger as the years went by. The older I got, the bigger the garden got. So one of the things that I had to do was tend to that garden. Then came raising a couple calves for beef and more chores.  When I was done with that I can remember walking or riding my bike down to one of the gravel pits that was near the house,” he says. Patrick says he didn't have a large arsenal of baits but that didn’t stop him from finding fish. “I had my little Zebco 202 with my little single tray tackle box with 6 different lures in it.  I would head down to the pit and fish down by the bank. Catching sac-a-lait and catching bass. Some of those pits you could only fish in certain places because the grass was overgrown, So I had to wade into the water in order to fish certain spots,” Engerran recalls. When Patrick was 8 years old he made one of many trips to the gravel pit, but on this trip he caught a fish that is still burned into his memory.
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I remember the first big bass I caught was over 4 lbs. I caught it on a ole’ Mepp’s Minnow. I can remember that head coming out of the water and that big ole’ mouth opening up and those gills flaring. It’s like a freeze frame video in my head. It was so big to me. My first impulse was to get it on the bank. That little 202 was screaming man! About all I could do was hold the line on the rod and just start walking backwards and get it up on the bank,” Patrick says. After getting the fish on land, Patrick says he was paralyzed and all he could do was stare at the beast. After regaining his composure the first thing he wanted to do was show it to his father. “There was an old Coca-Cola crate that I would carry my pole and tackle in when I would go down there. I threw all that stuff out, I plucked that sucker in there and headed home. I just left all my stuff by the pit,” he says. My dad never bass fished much so that fish was one of the biggest he had seen. I put some water in a bucket and when Dad got home the fish was head down in the bucket and the tail was sticking up in the air, Patrick laughs.  “We took it to the little country store which had one of those little scales where they would weigh sandwich meat. We weighed it and It was like 4.14 or 4.12. For some reason that number sticks in my head,” he says. 
Those memories of his father are one’s that Patrick holds dear to him. Wayne Engerran, Patrick’s father, worked many hours at a sand plant that he managed. A job that consumed most of his time. In addition to work, the dedicated father’s health started declining. “He had his first bypass after his heart attack when he was 43,” Patrick says. When Engerran went off to college to attend USL in Lafayette, his fishing time with his father decreased even more. Patrick transferred to USM in Mississippi and upon finishing, started work in Alabama where he met his soon to be wife Kelly Wood, who worked in the Safety Department of the company. Little did Patrick know Kelly’s father, Tommy Wood, would jump start his love for fishing again.  “I was in my late 20’s when I met my Kelly. She took me home and her dad had a bass boat. We would go every time that I went over to the house, sac-a-lait or in Bama white perch was his favorite.  He’s the one who really got me back into fishing again. He fished! I mean he really fished!” Engerran says. Tommy pointed Patrick to a starter boat. “ Mr. Tommy was at a local dealer and found two new Ranger’s that had been sitting there for 2 years. He bought one and called me to let me know there was one left.  We got it for a hell of a deal. They we’re just wanting to get it off of the lot,” He says. I owe Mr. Tommy more than I can say for getting me back into fishing and helping me get a bass boat.  Finally, a 17’ Ranger R71 with a 130 Johnson. Kelly, Dad and me would pile into that flat with a 9 hp on it and hit some local stuff.  Dad named it Stump Jumper because it would jump on stump in a second and with three of us in it, getting off was not easy,” he says. Patrick recalls his Kelly and Tommy fishing out of it more that he did. “I’d be driving at work and see them pass me headed to a lake, or someone I worked with would tell me they saw them with the boat heading to fish.   Dad and I fished almost every weekend and had a chance to do a lot of catching up and get back some of the time we lost either to him working or me working. 


Patrick’s dad passed away in 2003. He had just turned 60 at the end of that August of ‘03 and died on October 3rd. Life and fishing changed for Patrick after that.  “That’s when I got a chance to fish a lot by myself because when he was alive - if I was fishing - he was going with me, which meant going after bream and sac-a-lait. That’s the kind of fishing he liked,” he says. Patrick’s love for bass fishing soon grew into an obsession in the years to come. “I’d buy every magazine I could find about bass fishing. If it had an article about fishing a crank-bait or a spinner-bait, I would buy it just to read that article,” he says. Patrick’s interest in bass fishing grew so intense that his interest in tournament fishing lead him to his first competition. In 2008 Patrick entered a bass tournament on Natchez Lake in Natchez Sate Park. The park is located just 10 miles north of historic Natchez, Mississippi and is famous for being the the lake where the largest bass in Mississippi history was caught; A largemouth weighing 18.15 pounds. “It was this little club that plugged their derbies on the Mississippi State Lakes.
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 They would post their results in the local newspaper and I would keep track of the results. Then there came a time where I started comparing my catch with the results in the paper and the fish I caught would have placed. It got to the point where on some days I could have made a little money if I was entered,” Engerran says. In most bass tournament’s, the five biggest fish that an angler catches combines to make up his total weight. But Patrick says Natchez State Park has a slot limit. “I caught 4 fish all day and they were all slot fish so my total was zero for that day. That was a horrible feeling,” he adds. Like most anglers competing for the first time, Patrick lacked confidence and says he was worried about his competitors more than himself. “Back then I was intimidated by pretty much everybody! In the first few tournaments, if I saw someone catch a nice fish I’d start telling myself ‘man we just started fishing and I’m already down 5 lbs,” Engerran says. 

PicturePatrick poses with his 10.13 lb. lunker
But Patrick didn't let the disappointing finish to the tournament affect his future efforts and with a little persistence, he won his first tournament later that same year. It was the same tournament series on the same lake, Lake Natchez. “A tropical storm was coming in to the west of us so the wind was blowing pretty good - about 30 MPH. Before blast off everyone was talking about how they were going to run to the opposite end of the lake to try and stay out of the wind. I was sitting there and the waves were just crashing up onto the rip-rap and the rocks. So I told myself ‘if everyone is going over there, then I’m just going to at least just start off here,” he recalls. Patrick started out with a square-bill crank bait with his boat about 3’ off of the rocks. “On my third cast I caught one about 8 lbs. After that, I never left that dam the whole day. I believe I had a 16 lb. bag won the tournament by 4 lbs,” Patrick says. Patrick continued to fish the Mississippi Lake tournaments and his confidence grew slowly with every tournament. “2009 was probably my best year. I weighed in one sack that was 27.96 lbs. at Lake Lincoln fishing offshore humps. And I caught my biggest tournament bass at Lake Calling Panther - a 10.13 lb. bass. So towards the end of my time living in Mississippi I was doing good,” he says.

Picture2 fish that helped Patrick finish with 27 lbs. at Lake Calling Panther
 Patrick moved to Louisiana in 2010 and started fishing the drastically different rivers and bayous that are affected by tides. “Mississippi has wonderful state lakes and the quality of bass in there is incredible. The quality of bass over here wasn’t what I was accustomed to so when I was ending up with 7 and 8 lb. bags I remember thinking to myself, ‘Man I am right back to suckin’ again! There’s no way I can compete in these tournaments bringing in these dinks,” Patrick laughed. The biggest adjustment for anglers who are new to fishing the rivers and bayous that are connected to Lake Pontchartrain is the tidal affects. Patrick says it was the single biggest thing that he had to adjust to. “That’s my biggest thing - trying to adapt to the rising and falling tides. The waters up, the waters down - the water changes constantly. I’d catch a bass up under a bush and later on that afternoon I’d come back to that bush and it’s on dry land,” he says. But much like his younger days, Patrick started researching the local tournament scene and he began to understand that these weren’t the same size bass that he was used to catching back in the managed lakes of Mississippi. “I started looking at the results from the Bass Assassin’s tournament that Chris Basey put together, and I started thinking to myself, ‘hey, ya know what?  I’m not quite as bad fishing over here than I thought,” Patrick said. Engerran started concentrating on the Tchefuncte River and then called Chris to find out where they launched in order to see how long the run would be to where he was currently catching fish. Patrick was launching at the Madisonville Bridge and he knew it wasn’t big enough for a tournament to be held. “I called Chris up and asked him where everyone put in for his tournament and he said 4th st. so I knew it would be a decent run. My tank didn’t hold a lot of gas so I didn’t want to get halfway there and have to turn around because of my gas being at 1/4 tank,” Engerran says. Patrick showed up the next day and payed his entry fee. He then made the run south towards Lake Pontchartrain. “My plan was to head south and catch my 5 fish about 8 or 9 lbs. then head back up north and try and cull. I had my 5 fish early within 30 minutes and about 10:00 I headed back up to try and cull up., but that didn’t happen so I finished the day with 7 lbs. I really didn’t think I had it won when I pulled up,” Patrick says. When the bags were weighed Patrick found himself with his first win on the Northshore. 

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Patrick after his first win on the Tchefuncte River. Wayne Richardson, Jay Hopkins, and Gerald James also shown
PictureBailey having a little fun after the tournament
He had won the tournament with a 5-fish limit that weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. He recalls finishing ahead of Wayne Richardson and says that’s what led to his friendship with Wayne. He fished with Richardson a few times after that tournament which helped Patrick learn more about fishing this new environment. Later on that year Richardson bought a new boat and teamed up with his son, Wayne Jr, which left Patrick with an open spot in his boat. Patrick took a chance by inviting 16-year old Bailey Madere of Covington, into his boat to compete. “Bailey’s mom worked with my wife. Kristy (Bailey’s mom) kept telling Kelly that her oldest son loves to fish and I’m sure the conversation probably started something like this Kelly: ‘Patrick is fishing AGAIN! It seems like that’s all he wants to do now-a-days! So Kristy asked Kelly if I could bring him fishing every once in a while,” Patrick says. Like most 16-year-olds, Bailey’s background was mostly fishing ponds in nearby neighborhoods, but Patrick says he didn’t expect him to be as good of a fisherman than he witnessed when he started fishing with Bailey.  “I was really surprised. He was only 16, but he could cast really well. The only thing was the first tournament that we fished, he threw a wacky rig about 90% of the time,” he laughs. Patrick says Bailey was a quick learner. “I never tried to change him because he watched closely what I was doing.  He was passionate about bass fishing and wanted to get better.  I’m sure his mom and dad have probably grown to hate me because of all of the Tackle Warehouse boxes arriving at the door,” Patrick jokes. Bailey fished with Patrick for the 2015 season but Patrick says it’s the 2016 season that he’s seen the most growth in Bailey. “Normally if we only have about 4 fish around noon he was checking his phone and checking the college football scores. He wasn’t mentally there. That Lacombe tournament where we went from 1 fish to 2nd place in 20 minutes really made a difference in his attention span. That showed him that it can be won in the last hour or so. But this year he really rocked it. I’m proud of him,” Patrick adds. 

Tournament anglers have there certain days and conditions they like to see on tournament day and Patrick says if he had to choose, it would be terrible conditions. He recalls the FPBA Manchac Tournament and says these are the tournaments where you can place better because of mental toughness. Patrick recalled the tournament. “That was brutal. The water was high. That was one of the hardest, most frustrating days I’ve ever fished. We headed south to Ruddock and flipped cypress trees and it was a grind, but I like grinders. For someone like me who isn't as good as a Pittman, or a Duazat, or a Mohr - If you have  a tough day you can sneak in. It’s an equalizer.  When it’s a hard day and it’s a grind you have to mentally stay in it,” he says. 
Consistency is possibly one of the most sought after traits in any tournament fisherman and Engerran says it’s something that he has been working on lately. Patrick says when he thinks of consistency, he thinks of Albany angler Skip Rayborn. “He’s was probably the most consistent bass angler on the Northshore this past year if not the best, every FPBA he fished he cut a check.” Patrick adds. 
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Patrick and Bailey after their Manchac win in which they had to deal with high water
This year, Patrick looks to mimic his success he’s had in 2016. But he’ll do it without his partner of 2 years. In 2017 Patrick will team up with Mississippi bass angler Doug Canoy.  “One of my old tournament partners from Mississippi wants to fish with me. He’s been sitting back looking at all the results come in so we’re going to team up this year and give it a go, he’s never fished this tidal areas for bass much but he dedicated and that’s the kind of partner I like.  All in.” Engerran says. ​​​​​
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Jason Pittman

12/23/2014

 
After a wild ride from spring to the present, the 2014 bass season is officially over and the newly established NBS Power Rankings are official. Covington tournament angler, Jason Pittman has earned the title of Northshore Bass Angler of the Year!

PictureJason & Trenton after their first place victory in the FPBA tournament
Joined by his team mate and son, Trenton Pittman, Jason has put together a late string of first place victories across the Northshore throughout the late summer and early fall timespan and says tournament fishing with his father is how it all started when he was a young boy. “My dad and my uncle were fishing a lot of team circuits together but as we were growing up they stopped fishing those so they could fish with the kids. Just being on the water with him was what I was really excited about,” Jason says. Pittman was born in Pineville, Louisiana and can recall fishing on something he called Cleco Lake. “My dad Floyd worked for the electric company Cleco. They had a power plant lake just outside of Alexandria call Lake Rodermaker, and they had a private area and launch for the employees. As early as I can remember the weekends were spent up there with him, whether we were catfishing under some lights or bass fishing or bream fishing,” Pittman says. Jason says he was about 6 years old when he fished his first tournament with his father and like most fishing memories, his can still remember vividly the day he caught his first lunker. “He had a fish that was a little over 8 lbs. that he caught on Toledo Bend in ’79 and he had that fish mounted and I always told him that I wanted one mounted like his. Well I couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7 years old and he told me if I catch one over 4 lbs. that he would mount it. Sure enough one weekend I was fishing on Cleco Lake and I was throwing a spinner-bait on a little Zebco 33. Well I caught 2 fish that weighed over 4 lbs., so he had someone mount both bass on the same piece of driftwood. That was our time - either fishing or in a duck blind growing up,” he says. 

Jason moved to the Northshore in 1987 and says he can remember winning his first tournament on the Tchefuncte River when he was 18 years old. It was a Wednesday Evening Tournament on the river and Jason says it was a huge boost in his confidence when he won and says that he can distinctively remember who “the guys to beat” were.  “Every river has it go-to people and you want to excel and compete against the best. Anybody you talk to that has been on the Tchefuncte River in the last 25 years knows the name Ronnie Bell. He was probably the most noted fisherman on that river,” Jason says.  
 

PictureTrenton & Jason win the FPBA on the Pearl
It didn’t take Jason long to turn his passion into much more than a hobby and after graduating from Slidell High School in 1994 Pittman was able to secure sponsors at a ridiculously young age of 19. Jason says that’s when  he got to fish in his first professional tournament. “That was on the Arkansas River in what they used to call the Bass Master Invitationals. To be fishing and sitting around before blast off and see heroes- Rick Clun, Gary Klein, Kevin VanDam, Jay Yellis – I mean I basically grew up with those guys on that tour. It was a surreal deal,” Pittman says. From 1996 to 2003 Jason was fishing full time on the circuit and credits George Ricks, who is now a saltwater guide out of Hopedale, for helping him get his foot in the door at a young age. “I became really good friends with George and he helped open some doors and got me pointed in the right direction on the national scene right out of high school. He was fishing a lot of bass stuff in the Delacroix area and basically steered me in the direction that I needed to go. Everything that my dad had taught me up to that point was what I needed and then George showed me how to be a professional angler. He showed me how to carry myself and how to interact with sponsors. He may not understand that he did it but he was definitely tremendously helpful to me in the beginning,” he says.



PictureJason and Trenton win on the Pearl
Jason has recently refocused on fishing the local tournaments on the Northshore and says the Pearl River system is his favorite area to bass fish. “It’s got the versatility of marsh fishing as well as power fishing such as wood, trees, laydowns, and mats. If I had to draw up a great area to fish on the Northshore it would be the Pearl River system – The West, the Middle, and the East. I’ve grown up on reservoirs catching fish in thirty feet of water and then to come here and learn how to fish tidal and current has just been great,” Jason says. When it comes to the tournament fishing on the Pearl, Jason credits a lot of his knowledge to a major tournament contender on the river. “I was fortunate that Mark Mohr saw something in me at a young age and he taught me a lot about what I need to be looking for as far as the Pearl goes,” he says.

  As far as his least favorite, Pittman says Bayou Lacombe can be a tough place to compete. “It’s such a finicky place. Don’t get me wrong, there’s good fish to be caught, but just the size of it I think puts a lot of pressure on those fish,” he says.  Jason also says the Tchefuncte can be perplexing at times also. “I don’t think you can theoretically say anything good about the Tchefuncte because that thing is like the Dead Sea. If you can figure them out on the Tchefuncte you’ve accomplished something. It’s such a finicky place and a lot of that’s got to do with the pleasure boaters and tide influences but if somebody can consistently catch five fish, they’re going to be in the mix no matter what,” Pittman says. Jason reiterates that it’s not that there is a lack of fish on the river but he thinks the size of it makes it hard to locate the bass. “To be such a long river it still fishes small because there are only certain areas that hold concentrations of fish. I feel confident in the areas that we fish but there may be fifteen areas that we have to hit in eight hours in order to catch five at the end of the day.  I’m not sure that we caught more than three keepers in one area this year on the Tchefuncte,” Pittman says. 

PictureJason shows off his 6.2 lb bass that propelled him to a win on Bayou Liberty
In the bassworld, there are benchmarks that anglers aspire to reach and a double-digit weight is definitely a goal for most guys on the water.  Jason says his biggest fish to date was a bruiser that he caught on Lake Toho in Florida. That fished tipped the scales at 10.8 lbs. Pittman’s biggest fish this year was caught on Bayou Liberty. The 6.2 lb. lunker propelled him to win the Bass Assassins tournament in February in which 43 anglers competed. 

In competitive bass fishing there are strengths and weaknesses that are part of the equation that make up each tournament angler. Jason believes his biggest strength is keeping his thoughts on the task at hand.  “Whether it’s making a move or making a bait switch. There’s a lot of guys out there that feel like they aren’t able to compete when other guys show up. It works to the people’s advantage who are on that hot streak to where if somebody is thinking about how somebody else is doing – they’re done mentally. We used to joke about it but when certain people show up to the tournament and you’ll hear  ‘Oh well, we’re fishing for second now!’ They make joke about it, but if they are saying it, it’s in their mind. So if fifteen boats show up and six of them are nervous, you’re only fishing against nine others,” Jason says. Pittman says that he thinks a lot of tournament anglers also suffer from thinking about “the one that got away.” “Get over a fish! If you lose a fish, get over it. There’s nothing you can do about after it’s gone. It’s not going to do any good two hours later when you put your head down and say ‘man I can’t believe I lost that fish!” he says.


Picture3.11 lb kicker caught on Bayou Lacombe in a Bass Assassins July Tounament
 Pittman says decision making is a crucial part of tournament fishing and he believes that too many bass anglers overthink things while on the water. “It’s important to listen to both your head and your gut. If you’re going down a stretch of bank and you think in your head that you should have caught more fish or have had better quality, then your gut will start saying ‘hey let’s either eat a sandwich or make a move because this ain’t workin!” Pittman chuckles at the question of whether or not overthinking things hurts a lot of guys when tournament fishing.  “Does it hurt a lot of guys!  All you have to do is look on the deck of somebody’s boat and if they’ve got more than five rod’s out? They- are- scrambling! And they have overthought what needs to happen. Pittman recalls a day on the water where overthinking things has gotten the better of him. “I’ve been guilty of it! We joke about it often. When fishing nationals one day,  I ended the day of practice with twenty rods on the deck and when I got back to the hotel, my roommate sees me  and asks ‘ohhhh - one of those days huh?’ Pittman says to try and keep things simple when bass fishing. “The best thing to do is to just keep it simple. You can’t round off the wheel any more than it’s already rounded. The wheel is round- you can’t reinvent a round wheel! If you’ve been catching fish flippin’ for a month and all of a sudden you go down that stretch of bank and you don’t get as many bites and you think ‘I wonder if they’ll hit a big swimbait?’ That’s when people start overthinking it instead of doing what comes natural,” Jason says.

PictureJason with his three daughters, Abigal, Lillian, and Haliegh
For now, Jason says he will continue to concentrate on the fishing the local tournaments on the Northshore where he can continue to spend time with his family. “There’s no doubt in my mind, in 15 - 20 years I’ll make a run at it again. I’ve dabbled in it here and there but I would much rather go and fish a one day tournament with my son or daughters, than go spend a week in Oklahoma and hope to win $50,000,” Pittman says. 


The 2015 NBS Season will begin in January where Jason will try and repeat as the NBS’ Northshore Bass Angler of the Year and says he’s excited to be a part of the competition on such a local scene. 

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Kyle Hills

6/21/2014

 
Webster’s Dictionary defines the word favorite as “a person, team, etc., that is considered most likely to win” When it comes to bass fishing tournaments held on the Tchefuncte River  these days there is clearly a favorite. 23 year old Kyle Hills has been on one hell of a tear when it comes to winning bass tournaments on the Tchefuncte. In 2014 he has already claimed 4 first place victories and 5 big fish awards and it’s only June. If he keeps up this pace he will earn a whopping 8 first place victories and 10 big fish victories by the end of the year. Those finishes are mind boggling given the level of competition on the river system.
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 Kyle is by no means a newcomer to the Tchefuncte River. He learned how to fish early with his dad, Calvin Hills, when he used to fish for perch on the Tickfaw River but says it was one trip to the Rice Field Canal that he specifically remembers that got him hooked on bass fishing. “My first lunker came when I was fishing from land at the bridge going over the Rice Field Canal. I was fishing for sac-a-lait in the winter and was using grass shrimp actually. I hooked that thing and probably fought it for a good few minutes before a random stranger had to help me land it. It wasn’t huge but it was the biggest I’ve ever caught,” Hills says. Kyle’s fish weighed in at 3.12 lbs. and that was all it took to get him out on the water targeting bigger bass. Kyle says he prefers the Tchefuncte River because he thinks it hold the biggest fish. “I like the Tchefuncte because of the amount of quality fish. It has the highest quantity of biggest fish,” Kyle says. 

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The Ponchatoula High graduate has always been competitive so tournament fishing was right up his alley. “My brother Dylan and I were usually pretty competitive when we would fish. I’m a little TOO competitive when I fish,” he says. When Kyle was 18 his father let him take the boat out on his own. Kyle fished that tournament by himself and talks about that day. “My first tournament was the Strawberry Festival tournament out of Manchac. I thought I knew something and headed out there with a lot of confidence but it turned out I really didn’t know anything. I pretty much struck out that day,” Hills says. Kyle scouted that river before the tournament and he says he has come to learn to never pre-fish. “I’ve learned a valuable lesson and that is to never scout a river! Never scout rivers! It definitely works against you. A lot of it has to do with the history of the river and what you’ve done in past years and not what you’ve done yesterday,” he says.

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What may set Kyle apart from the crowd are the conditions he likes to fish. Kyle says he thrives in bad weather during these tournaments. “Give me the absolute worse conditions you can possibly imagine. I believe it’s easier for me to out fish somebody in bad weather than to beat them with good conditions. That’s what it’s been mostly this year – bad weather falling on tournament days – that’s given me the edge so far this year,” Hills says. 


A decision that most anglers struggle with is the weather or not to make long runs from the weigh-in. While he is totally capable of making those runs out of his 20 ft. Stratus with a 150 VMax, he prefers to use that time to fish instead of traveling. “I like to stay close but if I have to make a run I will. I feel the more casts I can make, the better my chances of winning are,” he says. Kyle says he fishes faster than anyone he knows and it’s actually getting to the point where he getting too impatient. “I’m starting to loose patience as I get older. I’m starting to fish faster and faster - trolling motor battery is dead by the end of a trip,” he says.

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As far as fishing style goes, Kyle says top-water is definitely one of his strengths and braided line is a must for him. “Any top-water bait I am throwing, I’m using Power Pro Braided line. I try and stay away from mono. I hardly ever use fluorocarbon or mono – it’s all braid for me.  There’s hardly any error with it. I have hardly any line breaks with a lot more sensitivity,” Kyle says. 

While most bass fishermen concentrate on catching big bass during the spawn, Kyle prefers the fishing the pre-spawn. Early spring and late winter- It’s a lot easier for me to catch them in a specific area rather than having to drift the whole river,” He says. 

Eliminating mistakes no matter how small is important for any tournament angler to improve his game and Kyle says that’s what he has been working on improving. “I tend not to make the same mistake twice. Any little thing that can turn into a mistake I try and think about it before it happens, whether it’s line angles or landing a fish. I can’t remember the last time I’ve lost a big fish,” he says. 

The Tchfuncte isn’t the only river that Kyle excels on. He says the Tangipahoa holds a high concentration of large fish also.  He looks up to one particular competitor that really knows what he is doing on the Tangi. “Jaylon Wilde is almost unbeatable on that river when it comes to a tournament. He knows everything about it. He is the king of the Tangipahoa,” Hills says.


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Charles Dauzat

5/15/2014

 
PictureKeith lusher jr
I’d like to introduce a new segment that will be added to the NBS page called the NBS Spotlight Angler. This will be a series of articles that will shine the light on some of the best bass fisherman on the Northshore.  Our first spotlight will be on an angler that has been on fire as of late. Charles Dauzat has won three tournaments on the Pearl River within the past month and has vaulted to the 1st place spot in the NBS Power Rankings. His first victory came when he fished the Marsh & Bayou Outfitters Tournament. Charles took advantage of the high muddy water on Pearl and brought in a limit that tipped the scales at 14.05 lbs. He then followed that win up with another 1st place win on the Pearl when he competed in the Liars & Lunkers Tournament on the muddy river. His latest victory came when he teamed up with Mark Mohr in the Pearl River Team Trails Tournament. They weighed in a stringer of 10.14 lbs edging out Rustin Beaudette and Ben Williams by 3 ounces.



PictureCharles and his winning bag at the Liars & Lunkers Tournament
  Dauzat was born in Bogalusa on a dairy farm but moved to Slidell when he was just a boy.  As a youngster, his great grandmother got him hooked on fishing. “My great grandmother was full blooded Cherokee Indian. She would take me down to the pond and we would catch fish - take them back to the house and fry them up.  She would cook grits then pour it over the fried fish and we would eat that for breakfast,” Charles said.  Duazat started fishing bass tournaments at the age of 17 when he fished his first tournament on Bayou Lacombe and says that first tournament was all it took to hook him. “I started with the Bayou Lacombe guys fishing the Wednesday Evening Bass Anglers. I met a few guys out their fishing one day and they asked me if I wanted to fish the tournaments on Wednesday afternoons - and that was it right there! That’s how it all started,” said Duazat. Charles says he was intimidated at first but it’s all a state of mind. “When I first started fishing these tournaments it was a lot of pressure. You pull up to the launch and you see all these guys with big boats but after about 10 or 15 years you realize that you just love fishing. After a period of time you learn that everybody has the same equipment and what really separates people is their mental capabilities – having a positive attitude – staying focused, and not getting distracted when you lose fish. If you keep a positive attitude you’ve beaten half the field already,” says Dauzat. Charles enjoyed the tournament feel so much he started holding his own.” I’ve been running tournaments here in the Slidell area since 1986. My wife and I started the Monday evening tournaments on Bayou liberty and the Wednesday evening tournaments out on the Pearl River for four or five years,” he said. While fishing these tournaments there was one particular bass fisherman that comes to mind when he thinks back on his younger years competing. “There was on guy named Randy Jenkins from Ponchatoula that fished the Tangipahoa a lot.  I used to say I wanted to be like Randy Jenkins. He was the most consistent fisherman I’d ever met. He had the ability to bring in 10 or 11 lbs. no matter what the river was doing. He was just so consistent. There was other guys that brought in bigger stringers but never consistent like he was. His key to success was fishing a lot of small water. He fished out of a small 14 ft. flat that allowed him to fish a lot of pressured areas,” Charles says. It’s because of those old timers that Charles established his very own bass tournament on the Pearl River. “That’s why we started the tournament was to try and get all the older guys back out here.” Charles and his wife Jennifer directs the Pearl River Team Trails Tournament on the Pearl River. The tournament has a 100% payout. They give out trophies to the top six teams after five tournaments. That’s a total of 24 plaques total awarded. “Our goal is to have $1,000 payout for first place every month,” Dauzat says.  

The secret to Dauzat’s success in these tournaments is his versatility. “I’m a dirty water fisherman but I am very versatile. I can fish 20 ft. of water- I can fish 2 ft. of water- I can fish clean water- it doesn’t matter. Over the years I have tried to learn every technique there is out there,” he says.


PictureCharles and his winning fish from the Pearl River Team Trail Tournament
Charles says fishing the Pearl can be tricky because of the many different aspects of it.  “The river is affected by salinity because it is so close to Lake Borgne. It’s also affected by the tide and the normal river fluctuation,” Dauzat says. The Pearl has always been a tough river to fish but ever since Katrina, the river has been a jigsaw puzzle. One of the main reasons for this has been the closing off the MRGO. “It used to be a lot easier figuring this river out but the river has changed ever since they blocked off the MRGO. The tide doesn’t do what you think it’s going to do. It may be falling in one area of the river and then you’ll see it coming in on another area,” Charles says.  One of the biggest complaints about the Pearl is the muddy water but Charles says you need to take that and use it to your advantage especially when targeting big bass. “In clean water the big fish are going to move to the deeper holes where they are harder to catch, but when the water is dirty those big bass will move into the shallows. You can cover a couple miles of shoreline in a short period of time and better your chances of catching a larger fish,” he says. Charles has been fishing the river for over 30 years and says one of the most common mistakes he sees from guys who fish the river is anglers trying to find clean water. “I think the mistake I see guys making is they tend to run to clean water - they want to find clean water. It’s good to go to the clean water to get your five fish but when you get your five fish you need to go to dirty water where the bigger fish pull up shallow. In clean water the bigger fish are going to go to the deeper water and they are going to congregate there. When the waters dirty the fish are going to move shallow,” Dauzat says. 

 Charles says another trick he uses when fishing dirty water is adding sound to his lures. “I’ll take a skirt off of a jig that has the little hooks on it where you can attach the rattles and I’ll slide that on to my spinner-bait. I fished a tournament over there on the blind river where I had to put five rattles on a jig because that’s how dirty the water was,” he says. 



PictureCharles and Mark Mohr show off their monster stringer weighing 16.50 lbs.
Charles says it's important to always know whats going on with the water levels on the Pearl. “Typically, the Pearl fluctuates during the spring. The water may be up at times and down at others. Charles says to watch the levels and when the water is on a rise, look out! “It has something to do with the speed of the water. Every time that river rises and you get a big rise it has something to do with the speed of that river. When that river gets to a certain speed they pull up to the banks. That’s when you can bust ‘em! All my big stringers over the years have always come on a rising river especially if there’s a full moon. If there’s a full moon and you pair it with a rising river – its lights out! These big fish pull up shallow and they have their eyes peeled up to the top of the water and they are easy to catch. Now you can do the same on a falling river, but the river needs to be out of the woods – it needs to be out of the swamp where the fish have to be out of the woods. Then you get enough current flow in the river where the fish have to pull up,” he says. These fish can tolerate a heavy current but Charles says they can’t do it for long. “River bass don’t store fat in their bodies like a Florida strain bass. They can swim in that current for a little while but when it gets up to certain speed they are going to pull up on that bank and they are going to get into those trees and roots.

Charles is not the only top dog on the river however. He speaks highly of his teammate. “My fishing partner Mark Mohr is probably the last of the older power-houses out here. He’s a little bit older than me and we've won a lot of tournaments over the years. Mark Mohr and Steve Hadley would be the two top competitors that are left out here. These guys have been fishing this river for 30+ years.” He says. 

Special thanks goes out to the following sponsors of the Pearl River Team Trails Tournament - 

Tommy St.Clair Designs  985-869-0165
Indian Village Trading Post  985-643-8161
East Gause GOODYEAR  985-643-9175
Beaudette's Welding and Fabrication 985-516-6297
The A/C Man Inc  985-781-6061

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    ANGLERS

    All
    Charles Dauzat
    Jason Pittman
    Kyle Hills
    Patrick Engerran
    Trenton Pittman

 Local reports written for Northshore Fishermen by Northshore Fishermen