Keith Lusher jr The Pearl River can be feast or famine and anglers who have fished on this turbulent river say that it’s one of the hardest rivers to fish at times. “If you can conquer the Pearl River, you can fish anywhere in the world,” says Charles Dauzat of Slidell. Charles has been fishing the river all his life and says there are many factors that affect the river. “The river is affected by salinity because it’s 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 to piece together. One of the main reasons for this has been the closing of 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 at 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 Dauzat If anyone knows anything about catching lunker bass on the Pearl it’s Dauzat. The last three tournaments Charles has fished resulted in three 1st place finishes! He finished first in the Liar’s and Lunkers tournament and then in the Marsh & Bayou Outfitters Tournament where he finished with a 5-fish limit that tipped the scales at 14.05 lbs. His most recent tournament he was paired with Mark Mohr for the Pearl River Team Trails tournament and their combined weight was 10.14 lbs.
Trestles
Speckled trout fishing has been improving at the Trestles in Slidell. Slidell angler Alan Guenard recently launched out of Bayou Liberty and made the trip to the Trestles where he found a light incoming tide and a light SSW Breeze. He fished the west side of the bridge for an hour with no fish to show for it. However, his luck changed when he moved further north. “We started catching a few and then all of a sudden it was like someone turned the switch on and we were getting bites almost every cast but the bites were extremely light. Most fish were 15 to 17 inches with only 2 throwbacks. We would have put a lot more in the boat if we were not releasing them at the side of the boat! After losing 5 in a row we broke out the landing net,” Says Guenard. Alan was using a red Hybrid Flurry on the bottom. After the tide picked up Alan said the bite stopped because of the water getting muddier. Alan ended the day with 9 solid fish but says that there was nothing in their stomachs when he cleaned the fish. This backs up the claims of anglers reporting no bait in the water recently.
