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.
Bailey 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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
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.
Patrick 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.
2 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.
Patrick after his first win on the Tchefuncte River. Wayne Richardson, Jay Hopkins, and Gerald James also shown
Bailey 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.
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.
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.
