The Northshore Fishing Report

Bayou Sauvage Changes

8/29/2016

Keith Lusher

It’s the cold hard truth that folks here in South Louisiana are often forced to choose between coastal wetland preservation and their favorite fishing holes. More than often the discussion often ends with the words “But, I can understand both sides of the argument.” Shane Green has been fishing the ponds in the Bayou Savage area for for a few years now and witnessed an unsettling site on his last redfish trip to the marsh. “Saturday morning I got up early and made it to the launch at Mr. Eddy’s (Sonny) right at sunrise. I Headed out near the south shoreline by the rocks where I’d been absolutely killing it, getting 10-15 reds each trip,” Shane says. With the winds changing over to the north west, Shane says the water was considerably muddier than on previous trips, so he decided to try and find cleaner water. “After managing only one lonely red and a barely legal speck, I was determined to find clean water,” Green says. So he headed to Irish Bayou and the marsh along Chef Pass. “It was the same deal there - muddy water,” the dejected angler added.

Shane then decided head back into Bayou Savage where he spotted something oddly out of place. It was a barge in Chico Lagoon. After further investigation, Shane says he could see them dredging the lagoon. Heartbroken, he made his way back to the launch and on his way home began making phone calls. Upon returning hime, he continued his research and found what he had witnessed was the Army Corps of Engineers’ mitigation effort for the Hurricane Storm Damage Risk Reduction System. The project aims to restore marsh in existing shallow open water areas by “borrow dredging” in a designated borrow pit within Lake Pontchartrain. In addition to dredging, there are some other steps being taken to insure marsh development, including a retention dike construction along the perimeter of the proposed marsh creation areas and the construction of bulkheads within this site. “I’m disgusted to see this. Basically, all of the skinny flats in the interior of Bayou Savage will be gone. I count on that area for some hella good fall and winter fishing. The hardest part of this is that I've fished that area for the last two years and logged all my trips. Now all that work gets thrown down the drain, Green says. Northfolk Dredging Company was awarded the job at an estimated cost of between $10,000,000 - $25,000,000 and is estimated to take 8 months to complete, which will affect hunters that use the ponds for duck hunting. Northfolk says it has no plans to stop the project for hunting season. “I understand why they are doing this, they are trying to strengthen the marsh for future hurricanes - But at the expense of us fisherman who love the Marsh the way it is. Guess I'll have to start exploring elsewhere,” Shane concedes.

A map shows three of the fill sites along with the barrow site

A Kid Again

8/14/2016

Keith Lusher

For those of us with teenagers in high school, the word mature is a positive characteristic that is warmly welcomed by parents. Generally, this change makes itself obvious by a students senior year in High School. My nephew Tanner, came down from Tennessee for his routine summer visit. Tanner is going into his senior year in High School and like most teenage boys around this age, he has matured by leaps and bounds. I’ve noticed it in his manners, his knowledge, and even thoughts on politics. To an adult, all of these things are positive attributes. But on this trip, my three daughters came to me and questioned me as to why Tanner wasn’t playing with them the way he used to. They didn’t particularly like the fact that he was growing up. I told them that everybody grows up eventually and that they should enjoy being a kid while they still didn’t care about being cool or mature.
With my daughters worlds being upended by this “drastic” change in personality, I thought it would be a good idea to bring them all somewhere that would bring things back to the way they used to be oh so “long ago.”

We packed up the truck with the the typical crabbing tools including, chicken necks, string, and nets, and headed to Lake Road in Lacombe to try and take advantage of the great crabbing reports that were coming from that area. On the way over there it seemed Tanner was more interested in talking to me, rather than playing “pull my finger” with my girls. Even his music preference was difference from his younger cousins. AC/DC came on and when he started singing along the girls looked at him as and said “You like Dada’s music?” Yes, it seemed Tanner was growing up much to the chagrin of my Daughters.

We arrived at our spot by the side of the road just before the low bridge and my daughters abandoned the truck before I could put it into park. They knew the routine as we had done this before. Tanner had never done this before so my daughters proceeded to inform him as to how long to cut the line, how to anchor the lines, and how far apart to place them. As I watched the group effort, I noticed Tanner skeptically watching this small clan of cajun know-it-alls as if he wasn’t sure of their methods. The first line they tied to the bumper of the truck, according to my daughters, “you can just tie it to anything as long as it holds.” Tanner assisted me in cutting the second line and as I tightened the string around the chicken neck I glanced down at the first line and saw the slack being pulled out.

"Cajun Know-it-alls Alli and Maddie Lusher

I pointed to the line and told Tanner to “look”. He looked down and before he could react, the girls swarmed and instructed him on how to pull in the line. He pulled it in slowly and with a splooosh, I heard the mature senior erupt with a sophomoric “We got two!” As my oldest daughter flipped the net over and added the the crabs to the ice chest, Tanner looked down in disbelief. He looked up shaking his head and before he could utter a single word of what was on his mind, a shriek came from my youngest daughter. “Another one’s on!” Tanner pivoted and made a beeline to the string to start his self assigned job of pulling in the crab to be netted.
I continued to prepare lines for them to set and handed them out as I was finished with each one. The action intensified with every line added to the bayou. With every crab they brought back, Tanner seemed to let his newfound maturity fall by the waistside. Running, smiling, and even talking smack to every crab that was netted. “Yeah boy! You’re not going anywhere!” was one of the taunts Tanner shouted on numerous occasions. As my daughters dutifully picked up the braggadocios jabs, I could only sit back and smile as they ran up and down the road laughing and singing. And albeit for just for a few hours, Tanner was a kid again.

Tanner Tanguis shows of his catch before adding to to the ice chest

Reds in the Grass

8/5/2016

Keith Lusher

There have been numerous reports of Salvinia grass thriving along the ICW and the ponds that line the waterway. “The grass is really blooming in the ponds east of the Chef and some that are close to the wall, says Jerry Fazzio of Slidell. Jerry has been sight fishing redfish and says the action has been amazing. “I have been sight fishing reds every week for the last four or five weeks and catching my limit every time,” he says. Artificial crawfish lures have traditionally been used for bass fishing, but Jerry says it’s the crawfish lures that he’s having the most success with. “The lure of preference has been the Baby Paca Craw and Watermelon Shu-Shu Marsh Craw rigged with a straight shank #5 flipping hook and 3/16 oz. pegged worm weight.

Bayou Bonfouca Perch Jerkin’
You’ve heard the old saying - when life hands you lemons, make lemonade! Daniel Sissac and his father Roger, had planned on doing some bass fishing in the neighborhood canals that pepper the bayou south of the Bayou Bonfouca Bridge, but after launching their Boston Whaler at the launch at Heritage Park, the team realized that their original plan wasn’t going to come to fruition. “I backed the Whaler down into the water with my dad at the helm.

Roger Sissac holds up one of many perch caught on Bayou Bonfouca

He started the motor and backed off the trailer. Something didn't seem right so I waited at the launch with the trailer submerged in case we had to trailer it. He ran the boat a little but wasn't able to get it up to speed - it just bogged down,” Daniel says. Undeterred, the dad and son decided to try and catch a few perch near the launch but Daniel says the fish were small. “I trolled to my first spot while my dad fished along the way. Once again, he was catching fish immediately, however, they were two and three inches long. After I gave him a tissue because of all the crying he was doing about the fish size, I put put the trolling motor on high and got us to our spot,” Daniel joking adds. After reaching their destination, Daniel says the size of the fish were drastically larger. “It was like night and day. The first fish and the ones to follow were all keepers. My dad was quickly emptying the cricket container as I was going through Sexee Shad bodies,” Sissac says. Roger and Daniel ended the day at 11:30 AM and made their way back to the camp to ice down 123 hand sized perch to clean that afternoon.

Tchefuncte River Bass
Mandeville angler Luke O’Neal has been doing most of his summer fishing in Delacroix and Hopedale. He and a friend wanted to stay close to home so they decided to try the Tchefuncte River. “We started fishing some shorelines ending the main river. The bass were very aggressive. We caught several on a spinnerbait and floating worm working them high above the grass line,” O’Neal says. The team ended the day with 14 keepers but Luke Jokes “My buddy was rusty and probably let off 8-10 off on the side the boat so we should have had 2 limits.”

Salinity Levels
Salinity levels for Lake Pontchartain and Lake Borgne are on the rise this month. George Seibert, of Fish Meister Charters ,has been monitoring the salinity with the Lake Ponchartrain Basin Foundation’s Hydrocoast Map and says the salinity is looking good even without favorable winds. “We really haven't had huge east winds or southeast winds to push that kind of salt water in. The hydrocoast map shows the twin span at the hump for mid July at 6 PPT. If that salinity stays high, the trout will be at the trestles to spawn,” Seibert says.

From Green to Red

7/28/2016

Keith Lusher

Slidell angler Taylor Valois prefers sight fishing for redfish as opposed to marsh bass. But on his last two expeditions, Taylor says the bass have invaded the duck ponds that he usually fishes along the ICW. “The last few sight fishing trips I've taken have turned into a marsh bass frenzy, so a friend and I decided to take a little further run towards Bayou Bienvenue and put some reds in the box,” Valois says. The friends launched at Southshore Bait & Marina around 6:30 a.m. and where greeted with a smooth ride down the ICW to Bayou Bienvenue. At their first duck pond, they found what they where looking for. “We got to the first spot and could see redfish that looked like wall hangers floating in the ponds. We casted towards them but couldn't get a strike,” Taylor says. After a few minutes of casting, Taylor hooked on to the first fish of the day. “BAM, first fish to hit was ole faithful, marsh bass,” says Valois.

This redfish fell for a Shu-Shu Marsh Craw in the Victory Red color

The frustrated fisherman threw the bass back while shaking his head. The team moved through the ponds in the marsh where they saw numerous redfish, but getting them to bite was a chore. We got to a small little pond and casted towards one with a Victory Red Marsh Craw. First cast - didn’t take it. Second cast - it pasted right over his nose and he never budged. The third cast right before it got to him I gave it a nice pop to see if I could get an aggression strike and he took it,” Taylor says. The team continued to work the ponds and ended up with three redfish by the end of their trip. Taylor says Bayou Bienvenue is a great option right now for fairly clean water. “One of the main reasons I like to fish the Bayou Bienvenue area is because the water stays pretty consistent. With all the west winds lately, all my normal ponds I fish along the Intracoastal have been hard to get to and water clarity is pretty dirty,” Taylor adds.

Redfish still plentiful in Lake

The popular Matrix Shad in any natural color has been working for Zack

Zack Liberto of Mandeville is the first to admit that heading down to Venice and Delacroix are good options to have when the fishing in Lake Pontchartrain is subpar. But now is not one of those times Zack says. “We’ve caught our limits of redfish every trip these past two weeks fishing either the Causeway or the reefs,” he says. Those who brave the heat are being rewarded this month and it’s not taking all day to achieve a nice box. Zack says structure is key to finding the fish. “The water is hot and this is the time of year when the reds suck to the structure and ambush their prey. When the tide’s moving hard they have been hanging tight to structure and feeding hard,” Liberto says. The water temperatures during the summer months usually signal the end of fishing with plastics. Most fish get finicky with water temperatures above 85 degrees. But Zack says he’s still having plenty of success with plastics. The popular Matrix Shad in any natural color has been working for him. Zack adds, “I love being able to limit out every trip only 3 miles from my house. There’s no feeling like watching the trucks pulling boats heading across the Causeway to Venice and Delacroix, and not knowing what they are driving over and whats in there own back yard.

Picky Redfish

7/14/2016

Keith Lusher

You won’t often find the words “picky” and “redfish” in the same sentence. Slidell angler Shane Green has been sight fishing redfish lately in Lake Borgne and that’s just what he’s come across on his past two trips. On his first trip, Shane says there was no shortage of redfish, but getting them to commit was a challenge. “I counted 43 redfish. I casted at half of them and they wouldn't even give my lure a second look - the other half ended in short strikes,” Green says. On his latest trip, Shane headed back into a duck pond to try his luck with the frustrating fish. “I found a great spot and used the light breeze to my advantage to float as much as I could without using the trolling motor. I hate spooking redfish this time of year. You usually only get one shot at them so you need to be stealthy,” Shane says. It didn't take long before the enticing fish had Shane’s undivided attention. “I heard a nice explosion on the water about 200 yards from me along the shoreline.

The first red I saw I casted to and it ate it, and the hook was set! Finally!”

As I got close, I saw about 6 to 8 tails up. My blood was pumping but I stayed patient to get into the perfect position,” he says. Shane got into position and then casted. “I casted over them and all hell broke loose! Swirls, splashes, and waves! As my line came across them I felt a huge hit and then it let go. So I'm thinking, here we go again - pickiness! I started shaking my head but I was trying to think about what would change there mind,” the dejected angler says. Shane decided to switch over to a fluorocarbon leader and tied on a Z-Man Paddler Swimbait. “I went up the shoreline and started working my way back to where the big school was. The first red I saw I casted to and it ate it, and the hook was set! Finally!” Green says. That was all it took to spark the schools interest. Shane says their pickiness turned to greed after seeing another redfish with the lure in her mouth. “Her buddy was trying to bite the lure out her mouth as I reeled her in. What a show that was!” added Shane. The relived angler caught two more reds on his way out of the pond and says it was a great feeling finally figuring out what they wanted.

Twin Spans
While the speckled trout bite is on the decline, there is no shortage of black drum in Lake Pontchartrain. Slidell angler Justin Dugas made a trip to the Twin Spans in Slidell and says once he found them, they were thick. “I launched at The Dock and rode over to the new Twin Spans. I Fished up and down the pilings until I hit a mess of black drum under the hump at the very center,” He says. Justin was using shad and dead shrimp with a weight but getting the bait to the bottom was a problem. “I was catching smaller fish around 12” - 14” so I switched to a Carolina rig with a lot of weight to get under the small ones, and picked up my limit of 16"-18" fish,” Dugas says.

Cane Bayou Bass
The bass bite on Bayou Cane is showing no sign of slowing down this month. Todd Oalman made a trip to the tiny bayou in Mandeville and says the bass started biting immediately. I started in the pirogue around 6:35 in the morning and fished from the launch to just past the bird nests. I caught thirty bass in no time and missed 8-10 at the boat,” he says. Todd was using Blackenrage Marsh Craw’s and Shu-Shu Slugs in the Victory Red color on a weedless 1/0 hook.

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