The Northshore Fishing Report

The Student and the Pupil

10/30/2017

Keith Lusher

Ray Miller is an avid Sac-a-lait fisherman and targets the Tchefuncte River. Jake McCutheon is an avid bass fisherman who also calls the Tchefuncte River home. So when the two got together to make a “strictly sac-a-lait” trip, Jacob was out of his element. “He was a bit out of his comfort zone when I put that ultra-light 10 ft. pole in his hands,” Miller says. On the first three stops the teacher and the student couldn’t find a bite but then Miller decided to switch over to live shiners and on their next spot hit pay dirt. Ray says Jake learned quickly. “The student learned about the rapid, light tap and had 6 in the boat before I had my first one!” The team moved to a few more spots jigging 10’ down in 18’-24’ of water and ended the day with 17 beautiful slabs. Jake learned a lot about sac-a-lait fishing on this trip but the most important thing that Ray taught him was that it’s all about finesse. “I had to remind him a couple of times that he wasn’t setting the hook on a bass,” Miller jokes.

Ray Miller is all smiles with this deep water slab

Lake Borgne
The influx of saltwater into Lake Borgne has propelled what is normally a good month to fish the area, into a great month to fish!

Miguel Gorordo with a speckled trout caught in the ICW

Taylor Valois and Miquel Gorordo have made several trips to Lake Borgne and says, “If you are sitting at home deciding if the fishing is good or not, I'll give you a hint - Its on fire!” The team has been targeting speckled trout and redfish and has tips on both. “The redfish have been fairly simple to catch. When we have cooler weather like we've been experiencing, the water turns a crystal green color and those reds shine bright and are easy to find. The water levels are fairly high so its easy to get just about any boat in these ponds right now,” Valois says. Speckled trout haven’t been as easy to figure out with them still transitioning into a fall pattern but Taylor says there are two things you want to target. “The key is finding tide lines and fishing the edges with either a popping cork or just a 1/8 oz. jighead. Another way we have been targeting them is throwing on the edge of grass lines along the shore,” he says. The team has been using Shu-Shu Marsh Minnows in Chromis and Frostbite as well as top water plugs to pick up speckle trout.

Salt Water Intrusion

10/19/2017

Keith Lusher

Lake Pontchartrain speckled trout anglers have been waiting for this for quite some time. the start to a fantastic trout run. Hurricane Nate was the perfect storm in terms of strong southeast winds with little rainfall. Captain Andy Jones of Wicked Charters has been catching scattered trout in areas like Eden Isles, Bayou Lacombe, and Geoghegan’s Canal.

Andy Jones

“The east winds have been steady for several weeks and Nate kicked off a nice little trout run. We have been fishing from Lake Borgne to Lacombe and catching fish all over the lake. “We have been picking up a few really nice fish in the 18”- 20” class and even one that went 4 lbs. It’s very exciting for this time of the year,” Jones says. While the salinity has improved, Andy says the water quality has also been the best he’s seen in a while.

Lower Pearl

John Guillot fishes the Pearl River system often and recently made a trip to the lower Pearl where he found plenty of bass. “I fished the bottom of the Pearl, Mud Lake, and lower Rigolets and had a great time catching green trout on Baby Brush Hogs,” John says. On the inside of Brown’s Island on the west bank was were John saw the highest concentration. Guillot then ventured out to do some saltwater fishing and tried a few drains along the Rigolets for flounder but there was another kind of fish working the shoreline.“I had to reel up my line several times because of bull reds moving down the west bank. I saw a couple of small sharks also,” he says. Join did manage to catch some small 11.5” trout in the main Rigolets and adds, “If you like to play Tug-of-War with big reds, they are easy to see. Just look for the water blowing up right against the bank.”

Oak Harbor Specks
Sam Coco Jr fishes from land in the canals that line the Oak Harbor Subdivision in Slidell and says it’s been tough fishing the past few months. “This is when fishing from bank is frustrating. I haven't caught anything in 3 months,” he says. With the push of saltwater that the hurricane brought, Sam decided to give it another try. I started casting Matrix Shad in the Green Hornet color. After 5 or 6 casts I picked up a small red. A little later I hooked up with a nice 14” speck. A few casts later and I landed a second one. Then I missed two more after that,” he says. Sam is ready to be done with the terrible summertime speckled trout bite that he has endured and adds, “It looks like our fall specks have arrived! Thanks to Nate for that final push of high tides this past weekend. It can only get better.”

Tchefuncte River Sac-a-lait
Ray Miller fishes the Tchefuncte River for sac-a-lait year round and knows that the river can be active not only with fish, but boat traffic. Ray decided to try and beat the activity from the Wooden Boat Festival in Madisonville so he started his day early on the main river jigging fallen treetops. Miller says the action was slow but consistent. “We had to move a bunch, catch one here and there but put together a nice mess of fish in the end,” he says. The sac-a-lait anglers day came to an end when the boats started passing by. “When that boat traffic from the festival started, it was over!”

Bayou Bonfouca Trout

9/20/2017

Keith Lusher

For anglers on the North Shore it’s an annual occurrence. The speckled trout run that happens along the northern shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain is something that we anticipate every year. Despite the muddy water due to the rebuilding of the marsh, Daniel Sissac of Pearl River decided to make a trip to Bayou Bonfouca where he’s had success in the past. “I caught 31 but only had 13 keepers. I also caught five bass, a few bream, and five reds. The reds were ten to twelve inches but it's a good sign that some are being caught,” Sissac says. Daniel used Shu-Shu’s in Gunmetal to catch the trout and Sexee Shad for the bass. Sissac says the water looks dirty but also reminds anglers that what you see is not always what you get. “Keep in mind that if there is good, moving water, then the dirt and silt you see on top is not necessarily through the whole water column. Also, if there is sufficient bait, fish will tolerate a bit of dirty water for easy feeding,” says Danie

Despite the dirty water, Sissac was able to find trout in Bonfouca

Bayou Lacombe
Mike O’Brien fishes Bayou Lacombe routinely and knows that this is the time when the trout usually make there appearance, so he made a trip to the mouth of the bayou to do some investigating. “Several boats were working along the main bayou around Glockner's. No one was having any success, including me. So after a couple of hours of throwing topwater, cranks, jerks, and a scrounger head with a big fluke, I moved back up the bayou,” Mike caught 3 bass north of the mouth of the bayou and says “The bass were off of the banks but not that far. They were taking the baits at the edge of the drops on the shallow side. The bite was very soft and I think I missed a couple daydreaming,” he says. Mike says he might wait until another cool front comes through before trying for trout again. “The water temperature was still at 80 degrees so I think the specks are still a few weeks out. I'm no expert on specks but I think the magic number is closer to 70 degrees,” O’Brien says.

A manatee scopes out Mike while he fishes.

NFR Fall Fishing Seminar
The 2017 Fall Fishing Seminar will be held at T-Rivers in Madisonville on Thursday, September 28 at 6:30 P.M. Guest speakers will include Mike Gallo of Angling Adventures of Louisiana, Andy Jones of Wicked Charters, Justin Bowles of JB Fishing Charters, and Forrest Green, Todd Shultz of Dixie Trolling Motors, and Sam Barberra wth LDWF. There will be a live band and raffle that will include numerous fishing packages and a chartered trip courtesy of JB Fishing Charters . Admission is free.

Pearl River Clean Sweep
The inaugural Pearl River Clean Sweep is scheduled for Saturday, September 23. Volunteers will pitch in to clean up the Pearl River from its headwaters in Neshoba County, Mississippi through the Ross Barnett Reservoir, along the border of Mississippi and Louisiana and all the way to the Gulf Coast. Watercraft and land-based cleanup teams will be deployed along as much of the Pearl River watershed as can possibly be covered. If you would like to help register to help clean up please visit PearlRiverKeeper.com.

“Superbowl” of Bass Tournaments to be held on North Shore

9/7/2017

Keith Lusher

Bass Tournament fishing on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain has exploded in the last few years. Now tournament anglers have another event to add to their calendar. The first Northshore Bass Series Championship Tournament is going to be held on October 7th. Tournament Director Terry Jones has worked painstakingly at putting together the tournament and says his goal is to bring anglers on the North Shore together. “We all fish different tournaments and we don’t get to fish together much. There’s the guys that fish Manchac and there’s the guys who fish the Pearl and there’s a big divide in between. I just thought there should be something done to get everyone fishing one tournament,” Jones says. The rules for the tournament will follow standard bass tournament rules all except the fact that this tournament will be a trailer style tournament which means all anglers can use any pre-designated launch and are required to make it to the weigh-in destination which will be the Blind Tiger Restaurant in Slidell.

Jason Pittman, Terry Jones, and Keith Lusher discuss the upcoming tournament at Dockside Marine

The scales will open at 4:00 p.m. and will close at 5:00 p.m. Terry says the trailer style tournament allows every angler to fish their “home water” and even extends to Delacroix. “This allows everyone to fish this tournament. If someone has a 40 HP Yamaha and we held the event at the Pearl River - There’s no way he’s going to be able to run to Manchac. With the trailer style tournament, everybody can fish where they want to fish. So everyone with a little boat can fish this tournament,” Terry says.
There are numerous locations that offer anglers a variety of locations to fish. Those locations are: The Pearl River at Poole’s Bluff, Lock #1 on either side, Crawford’s Landing, East Pearl River at Hwy 90, Bayou Bonfouca at Heritage Park, Bayou Lacombe at Main Street, Tchefucte River at 4th Street, Manchac at I-55, The Dock in Slidell, Rigolets Marina in Slidell, Serignes at Delacroix, Bayou Bienvenue at Paris Road, Tangipahoa River at Lee’s Landing, and the Tickfaw River at Tickfaw Marina.
To qualify for the tournament an angler needs to have fished at least one NBS tournament. The tournaments competing in the NBS are: Bass Assassin’s, Florida Parish Bass Anglers, Pearl River Singles Circuit, Liar’s and Lunker’s, Pearl River Team Trails, Bogalusa Bass Club, Wednesday Evening Bass Club (Tchefuncte River), and the Dockside Marine Tournament Trail. Terry says if you haven’t fished any tournaments yet, there’s still a chance to fish one. “There’s still time to get out there and fish one of these tournaments on the North Shore,” Jones says. There are three tournament trails that are holding events before the Championship that anglers can fish to qualify. Those events are: Pearl River Team Trails at the East Pear River on September 9th, Florida Parishes Bass Anglers at Manchac on September 10th, and Bass Assassins on September 24th.
The Championship Tournament will pay out 100% and will include a big bass division for the biggest bass caught in the tournament. Trophies will also be awarded. Terry says the tournament will be an annual event and he intends on making it something that anglers look forward to every year. “I want to see the North Shore have a tournament that people say ‘I can’t wait for October to come so I can fish this thing.” For more information about the tournament please contact Terry Jones at 985-255-2136.

Pear River Clean Sweep
The Pearl River is home to many sportsman and offers numerous options from hunting to fishing. State Rep. Melinda White wants to remind everyone who enjoys what the River has to offer that the upcoming Pear River Clean Sweep is a great way to help clean up and care for the river. Melinda says there is a log jam at the oxbow that needs attention. “We have a log jam/trash jam that has created a huge problem just below the seal at Poole’s Bluff. It’s like a waterfall there so it’s not safe at all,” White says. If you would like to help register to help clean up please visit PearlRiverKeeper.com.

Melinda White updates the audience about the Pearl River Clean Sweep at Dockside Marine

Bayou Cane Redfish

8/31/2017

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.

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