Keith Lusher Jr I recently overheard a conversation in a local bait shop in which two gentlemen were discussing what areas were producing bass on the Northshore. The older gentleman was rattling off rivers that he liked to fish this month. “Tchefuncte, Bayou Bonfouca, Bayou Lacombe are all good this time of year,” He suggested. Then the old man paused and said, “Now – if you really want to put some fish in the boat you need to head on down to the Pearl!” As soon as the word “pearl’ came out of the gentlemen’s mouth his friend threw his hands up and claimed, “Oh no! I can’t stand fishing the Pearl!” This is a common sentiment shared by many bass anglers on the Northshore. Whether it’s the chocolate milk colored water or the strong current, the Pearl River can be mighty intimidating for most bass anglers.
I had the chance this week to join Northshore fishing Guru Jeff Bruhl and the “up-and-coming” fishing prodigy Luke O’Neal on a bass fishing trip to try and learn why this river is so polarizing.
I had the chance this week to join Northshore fishing Guru Jeff Bruhl and the “up-and-coming” fishing prodigy Luke O’Neal on a bass fishing trip to try and learn why this river is so polarizing.
The drains were chock full of bass on the East Pearl We started the day early as Jeff launched his 21 ft. Phoenix bass boat at the public boat launch off of U.S. 90 on the Louisiana side. It didn’t take me 5 minutes into the trip to garner my first tidbit of Pearl knowledge. As I sat foolishly in my seat waiting for him to crank up the 250 Yamaha SHO, I saw him step on to the bow, reach down for his rod, and cast up against the bank. We weren’t 10 ft. from the ramp and Jeff was already working a white Ribbit Frog along the grass line. Jeff says that he can usually pick up few right away without even cranking the engine.
Luke O'Neal pounds the bass on a white buzz-bait. As the sun peeked from over the horizon we made the move upriver past Interstate 10 and as soon as the trolling motor hit the water Luke flung a white buzz-bait near the cypress riddled shoreline. It didn’t take long before the noisy propeller on the lure came to a screeching halt and with a loud splash the lure suddenly ceased to be a “top-water” lure. Luke cranked in the first fish of the day and everyone’s blood started pumping. Jeff manned the trolling motor while we trolled the shoreline anxiously expecting to pick up another bass. The mood on the boat slowly diminished as no one was able to pick up another fish along the long stretch of shoreline until we reached a small cut that lead into the swamp. I watched as Jeff casted to the point and with a big swing and a miss he repeated the cast and this time set the hook on another keeper bass. “The river is falling right now so the water is coming out of the woods and these drains are where they’re coming out first. That’s just pattern fishing on the pearl. Some day’s they might be along the cypress knees, the next they might be in the drains, and the next they’ll be on points in the marsh,” Bruhl said. As we approached the next drain we picked up two more bass and it was clear what the pattern was. As the day went on it we continued picking up fish out of each drain like clockwork. We ended the day with a total upward of 30 bass but Jeff says we could have ended up with more if the water would have been falling hard like it was supposed to do. This is another reason why the Pearl is so perplexing to most fishermen. “That’s one thing with the Pearl – The tides from Lake Ponchartrain dictate what’s going to happen but you also have to pay attention to the winds. Sometimes if you have an outgoing tide and an east wind, that wind will negate it. So you really have to pay attention out here,” Jeff says.
