Keith Lusher Stephan Schmidt made a trip to the Causeway to try for redfish. He launched at Mandeville Harbor and headed toward the bridge. “I fished three different spots at the Causeway and nothing!” Schmidt says. So the discouraged angler decided to try the shoreline at the mouth of Bayou Cane. Stephan was throwing a gold Little Cleo and says the ladyfish were everywhere. “A zillion ladyfish hit my lure but kept shaking off so I switched to a weightless fluke because the grass was so thick,” he says. As he worked his way to Goose Point he spotted a bull red fish swimming towards him. “I threw the fluke in front of her and she gulped it,” Schmidt says. After landing the fish he tossed it back and caught a smaller redfish on the way back to the launch.
Stephan Schmidt fought through the lady fish to catch this redfish along the shoreline near Bayou Cane
Return of the Croaker
Most folks have to go back over a decade to remember the days of catching bull croaker in Lake Pontchartrain. Captain Andy Jones of Wicked Charters says he’s starting to see an uptick in the numbers of croaker he’s catching in the lake. “We made a trip the other day to the Causeway and just lit them up! We caught Croakers between 14”-16” so it’s good to see that these fish are starting to be more plentiful in areas where we haven't seen them in the past few years,” Jones says. The fish were caught on live shrimp and market shrimp on a Carolina rig. Andy says he’s also seen an above normal season catching blue catfish at the Causeway. On his latest trip he ended up with 30 catfish. “I’ve seen more blue cats in the lake than I’ve seen in past year. That’s some really good eating right there!” Jones says. Lake Pontchartrain is known for it’s unpredictability, but Andy says he’s learned that just when you think the bite is gone, something always pops up unexpectedly. “It never ceases to amaze me how this lake produces fish when your not expecting it,” Jones says.
Zack Strain, Andy Jones, Brig Simmons
Oak Harbor Invasion
Sam Coco fishes his neighborhood of Oak Harbor in Slidell often and says it’s inundated with fish. “I was throwing a 3/8 oz. gold Little Cleo and the action started on the first cast and didn’t stop! To bad it wasn’t anything you would want for your fish fry,” Coco says. Sam hooked about 30 ladyfish and says while he didn’t keep the fish, it was fun catching them. “They would come out of the water doing somersaults trying to shake the lure - It was very entertaining watching these pint sized tarpon put on such a show,” he adds.
Bass Tournament Fishing
The next NBS Tournament Talk TV show will be held at Dockside Marine in Bogalusa. on Friday, September 1st at 6:00 p.m. Terry Jones joins Keith Lusher and Jason Pittman to discuss the new NBS Championship Tournament this fall. All those interested in tournament fishing on the North Shore are urged to attend.
Sam Coco fishes his neighborhood of Oak Harbor in Slidell often and says it’s inundated with fish. “I was throwing a 3/8 oz. gold Little Cleo and the action started on the first cast and didn’t stop! To bad it wasn’t anything you would want for your fish fry,” Coco says. Sam hooked about 30 ladyfish and says while he didn’t keep the fish, it was fun catching them. “They would come out of the water doing somersaults trying to shake the lure - It was very entertaining watching these pint sized tarpon put on such a show,” he adds.
Bass Tournament Fishing
The next NBS Tournament Talk TV show will be held at Dockside Marine in Bogalusa. on Friday, September 1st at 6:00 p.m. Terry Jones joins Keith Lusher and Jason Pittman to discuss the new NBS Championship Tournament this fall. All those interested in tournament fishing on the North Shore are urged to attend.
