The Northshore Fishing Report

The Best Grandpa I know

7/11/2016

Keith Lusher

It’s no secret that the recreational and commercial crabbers that call Lake Pontchartrain home, have been struggling for years. Arguments range from low salinity theories to the BP oil spill effecting the birthrate in 2010. Whatever the argument is, the end result is inarguable fact that crabbing in Lake Pontchartrain hasn’t been what it used to be. But things are changing, and if you haven't been down Lake Road in Lacombe lately, you might just miss out on a banner year for blue crabs. Shannon Griffin owns Bayou Adventure in Lacombe, a bait shop that is frequented by crabbers in search of crab net’s, turkey necks, but more importantly, information! “The crabbing here has been excellent this year! The numbers we’re seeing are better than last year and the year before,” Griffin says. One popular belief is that the BP oil spill has played a role in the years following the spill. “I think we missed a few life cycles in there. The numbers we’re seeing now are comparable to the numbers we were seeing before the oil spill,” she says. Shannon says she’s seeing people coming from places she’s never seen before. “The people are coming from everywhere! We’re seeing people from Hammond, Baton Rouge, Kentwood, and the South Shore. I’m selling crabbing equipment two to one over fishing right now,” she says. I took a ride down Lake Road and met James Blanchard of Pearl River. James is one who of the many who has been taking advantage of the multitude of crabs being taken from the area. “We’ve been out here for about two hours and we have three dozen crabs,” he says.

Colby Vinet and Cloby Culotta slowly pull a crab in to be netted

Blanchard made a trip with his grandson Colby. The two have been crabbing there before, but this time James decided to take his girlfriend Trish Vinet and her grandson Colby, along for the fun. It was their first time crabbing on Lake Road. “We’re having so much fun out here. I told Poppa (James), We’ll never buy crabs again because it’s so easy to catch them out here and the boys are having a blast,” Vinet said. James opened up the tailgate on his truck to show me their catch which revealed numerous #1’s, #2’s, and a few gumbo sized crabs mixed in. James said when crabbing in Lacombe, current is important. “When that tide quits, they quit. When that tides rolling, we really do well out here,” he said. James recommends using a weight attached to the end of the line. “If you throw the chicken out without a sinker, the current pushes the bait up near the shore,” Blanchard said. Just then I was interrupted by the couple's grandson’s in the distance. They had just missed a big crab on the other end of the line. James stared in their direction and added, “I love bringing the kids out here. This is something they’ll never forget. These are memories that will be with them forever.”
I soon strolled down the shoreline and witnessed the two boys in action. One was slowly pulling in a taught line while the other was hunched over with the net ready for action. “You gotta be slow and you can’t rush when you’re pulling them in.

James Blanchard, Trish and Colby Vinet, and Colby Culotta

You gotta be patient. I like to count - one banana, two banana, three banana, just so I don’t go too fast,” Colby Culotta said. Colby continued to tell me about his routine. “When we first get here we get everything set up. Then I watch for the lines that are tight. I’ll start at the first one we set and work my way down and whatever one is tight, I’ll start pulling it in,” Colby said. The two favorite baits among the crabbing community have always been turkey or chicken necks, but Colby says he recommends legs. “You can go to the store and read the packet, they’re called drumsticks,” Colby informed me. As I watched the two boys add crabs to their bucket Colby turned and to look at his Grandpa and added, “My Poppa is the best Grandpa I know! He is awesome! I wish I could do this everyday!”
The crabbing bite on Bayou Lacombe looks to improve throughout the summer and with the ease of setting lines along Lake Road, catching crabs on the North Shore couldn't be any easier. Now is the time to start a new tradition and make memories that will last a lifetime.

Maddy's First Red

7/1/2016

Keith Lusher

With he good reports coming out of Lake Borgne recently, Stephen Hoffman of Mandeville was eager to get out on the water for some speckled trout. He brought his daughter, Maddy, along for an afternoon fishing trip. They launched at 4:00 p.m. and with 20 minutes, was casting live shrimp on a Carolina rig next to a gas rig near the Biloxi Marsh which didn’t produce any trout. “After about thirty minutes of messing with the small croakers, we moved on to the marsh,” Steven says.

Maddy is all smiles with her first redfish

After a quick run to the shoreline, Steven rigged his daughter up with a cork and started to rig his line the same way. “Maddy, being inexperienced, casted out and was reeling the cork in like the Carolina rig. As I was setting my rig up, I was about to explain how to use the cork and BAM it was on!” Hoffman says. Maddy had a redfish on the other end of the line - or maybe the redfish had her! “The best was watching her fight the fish, hands all over the rod, and the fish was pulling her where it wanted,” he says. The proud father calmed his daughter down and showed her how to hold the rod up to keep the tension. Just then he noticed the fish heading for the trolling motor. “The fish was getting closer to the boat and I had the net in hand. I told her to keep the fish away from the trolling motor but it wrapped around the shaft of the motor. At that point I was determined to net her first redfish so I grabbed the motor, lifted it up and was able to net the fish while the motor was running,” Hoffman says. Maddy had her first redfish. The team worked their way further down the marsh and ended the day with 4 redfish, 2 speckled trout, and 2 flounder.

Bayou Cane Bass
Ponchatoula fisherman Todd Oalman has been doing a lot of bass fishing this summer. From Salt Bayou to the Tangipahoa River, you can bet Todd has fished it. But Todd says out of all the rivers and bayous on the North Shore, a little bayou in Mandeville has by far been his best producing tributary when it comes to bass. “We’ve been catching limits or close to our limit every trip for the past week to ten days. After all this rain that has passed through, the water has finally cleared up over there”, Todd says. On his latest trip Todd brought his 5 year-old son, Reed, and Oalman says it was non stop action. “We parked up next to one of those drains that come out of the marsh and it was bass, after bass, after bass. As quick as he could reel them in, I would take it them off, and he would cast out again and catch another one. We were having a ball out there,” Oalman says. Summertime often dictates the times that anglers are out on the water. Todd says he’s been getting out earlier and that’s when the bite has been best. “I think they want to get fed and get fat, so they don’t have to try and find food when the sun gets high overhead and it heats up,” he says. The angler from Ponchatoula recommends using weightless plastics fished top-water. “I like to take those weightless Shu-Shu’s in the Victory Red color - rigged weedless. I just jig them across the weed-line and those bass just wait for it to pass that weed-line and they just nail it!” Oalman says.

Perch Jerkin’ Bayou Lacombe

Live crickets caught this perch on Bayou Lacombe

George Seymour loves bringing his grandkids fishing. On his last trip to Bayou Lacombe, George opted for a fast paced perch fishing expedition even though he knew he would’t get much fishing in with the re-baiting of the hooks and taking fish off of the line. “I figured I wouldn’t get to fish much and I was right,” George says. The team started early on the bayou and George says the action was fast and furious “The early action was fast and we caught some real pretty fish - one of them measured right at nine inches,” The proud grandparent says. All the perch were caught using live crickets under a cork.

Pond Hoppin'

6/26/2016

Keith Lusher

Slidell angler Nick Church is no stranger to fishing the freshwater tributaries all across the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Bayou Liberty, The Pearl River, Bayou Bonfouca, The Tchefuncte River, and Salt Bayou are all favorites of his when fishing from a boat. But recently, Nick’s been venturing into less pressured waters and he’s been doing it without a boat. “There are all kinds of ponds in this area with hardly any pressure put on them because they go overlooked by the a lot of people who think there are no fish in them,” he says. Nick recently made a trip to the a pond that thousands of commuters pass daily.

I threw it to the rocks and sure enough - first cast - he smacked the bait and it was on!

“I have always seen the ponds to the right off I-10 heading north between Old Spanish Trail and Fremeaux exit and I thought I would give it a shot,” Church says. It was a hot day so Nick started thinking about where the bass might be. “On a boat, during these conditions, I’m looking for structure and shade. That seems to be where the bass tend to hang out during these times. I noticed a few openings that had some trees that hung over the water and also there was some rocky embankment that I could through to,” Nick says. He was using a finesse trick worm that he had wacky rigged. “That is a must have bait for pond fishing! I threw it to the rocks and sure enough - first cast - he smacked the bait and it was on!” Nick says. Church hauled in a solid 1.5 lb. bass. Nick says he fished for about an hour and ended up with three nice sized bass from the pond and says, “I’m definitely hooked on pond fishing. I can’t wait to get out there and find some more of these hidden gems.”

Summertime Redfish
With the recent evacuation of speckled trout out of Lake Pontchartrain, Ponchatoula resident Bobby Miller turned his attention to redfish. Miller and his family launched out of Madisonville to find some redfish. With a tip from a friend, they ended up 1/4 mile west of the Causeway near the second crossover. Fortunately for the family, the winds were calm providing for a smooth ride.

Bobby Miller shows Bailey how to tag a redfish

Miller says they started catching redfish immediately! “We were throwing Shrimp Creole and Green Hornet Matrix shad on a jig head and the action was fast a furious,” Miller says. Redfish can often provide a challenge for adults, so Bobby and his wife Brandy, had their hands full helping their two children Bailey and Garret, fight the beasts on the other end of their lines. “I’m so proud of my entire family, Brandy put in the work to help the kids land some big ones,” the proud father says. The family caught enough to eat and started releasing the rest of their catch. Miller participates in the fish tagging program put on by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and fisheries and says he had the opportunity to teach his daughter Bailey, how to tag one of the redfish. “I’m trying to tech them respect for our fisheries so I showed Bailey how to tag one of the released fish,” Bobby says.

Tickfaw Sac-a-lait
Maurapas resident Robert Gaulley loves to catch sac-a-lait. But with the recent summertime heating, Gaulley says the fishing has become tough. On his last trip to the Tickfaw River, Robert was able to catch a few but it was a challenge. “The water was low and there wasn’t much tide movement. We had to work for every fish and even had to keep a few goggle-eye to make a nice mess,” Robert says. At the end of the day, Gaulley ended up with 14 sac-a-lait and 10 goggle-eye using a black and chartreuse jig on a chartreuse 1/16 oz jighead. Robert adds, “It seemed that most of our bites came from the back of curves where the wind was pushing the water and creating a little oxygen.”

Tearing it up on the Tchefuncte

6/16/2016

Keith Lusher

In the competitive world of bass fishing, fishing with confidence can be as important as what lure you have tied on the end of your line. 15-year Gage Wagner fished the Bass Assassins’s tournament on the Tchefuncte and says the confidence was there thanks to a tournament he fished with local tournament angler Jared Norris, in the spring. “The last Liars and Lunker’s tournament I fished was with Jared. It was during the spawn and we missed some great fish that day so when I woke up in the morning for this tournament, I was excited! I was pumped! I knew we were gonna catch fish,” says Gage. The Slidell High freshman grew more confident when he arrived at the Menetre Park launch in Covington, and saw that one of the best bass anglers to fish the Tchefuncte, was missing. “When we got out there and I didn’t see Pittman, it really had me more confident about the day. When I didn’t see Jason Pittman out there the only other ones I was worried about was Paul Paille, Patrick Engerran, and of course my cousin Cameron Wagner - but I knew what he would do because he taught me everything I know,” Gage says.

Gage Wagner

The Bass Assassins tournament put on by Chris Basey is a singles tournament which means two anglers can fish out of the same boat but still compete with each other. Gage says he was fortunate to be able to fish with a knowledgeable angler like Jared Norris “I got to climb into Jared’s boat again this tournament and I’m so appreciative of that,” he says. The day started out with a swing and a miss for the rookie tournament fisherman. “The first stop we made I missed a good one. I was still half asleep. I casted out there and he just sank it. I set the hook and he wasn’t there,” Wagner says. For the next 20 minutes Gage and Jared went without a bite and Gage grew frustrated, but says that all changed on the next stop. “We went to the next spot and I caught a 3-pounder and that brought me back up,” he says. Gage and Jared continued to fish hard without much results so they doubled back and that’s when Gage experienced a repeat performance along a deep bank with lily’s. “When I set the hook on the next fish I really didn’t think he was that big. I was going to just boat flip him and Jarred yelled at me not to. He ran into the back of the boat and grabbed him out of the water. After that fish came out of the water I knew I had a good fish,” Gage says. The “good fish” that Gage had caught was a 5 lb. 6 oz. largemouth bass. After that, the youngster knew he had to finish out his limit. He continued to fish the deep bank and filled out the rest of the 5-fish stringer within 20 minutes but still didn’t think he had enough. “15 minutes after catching my limit I was thought I had enough to finish in the money, but not enough to win,” Gage says. The Slidell teen weighed in his fish and when it was all said and done, ended up with the winning stringer for the tournament, an 11 lb. 10 oz. bag. Gage won not only the tournament, but also won the big fish category with his lunker bass.
After the win Gage says he’s totally hooked on tournament fishing. “I like the competitive part about it. Winning money is cool but being able to catch fish and compete against the best on the river is a feeling like no other,” he says.

Summertime Trout

6/9/2016

Keith Lusher

The spring trout run at the Lake Pontchartrain bridges has come to an end and the transition to a summertime fishing pattern is upon us. Gone are the days of 75 degree water temperatures and boats lined up in a chain longer than the CSX trains that thunder across the lake. Yes, It’s summertime and fishing for speckled trout in Lake Pontchartrain is proving tougher and tougher with each degree that rises on the thermometer. I recently made a trip with Zack Liberto of HookDat Charters, and Brooks Levy of Offishial Charters, to Lake Borgne to try and find some of the speckled trout that have left the lake. We jumped aboard Liberto’s boat, a beautiful 24 ft. Nautic Star that was built for the abuse that Lake Borgne is known to dish out.

Zack Liberto slings a speckeld trout into the boat

We left out of Rigolet’s Marina and was soon cruising across the lake as the sun started to peek over the horizon. “It’s so important to get an early start when heading across Lake Borgne right now. One reason is the winds typically get worse after daybreak. The other is the summertime temperatures are going to limit your time to fish, so getting an early start gives you an extra hour or so of fishing during the prime time,” Zack says. We pulled up to our first stop just as the sun was fully over the horizon and started casting plastics around the oil rig. It didn’t take us long to realize what the trout were feeding on. We counted 7 shrimp boats within 5 miles. “Lake Borgne is loaded with shrimp right now and it’s evident by all of trawlers out here. They’re not out here burning gas for nothing. They’re catching shrimp!” Liberto said. Brooks pulled out his spinning rod with a drop-shot rig on it and plucked a shrimp from the live well. On his third cast he lunged and set the hook. You could sense the excitement on the boat, but it soon dampened when Brook’s said “he’s pulling down”.

Between the specks and reds, Lake Borgne is where the summertime action is

The first fish of the day was a gaftop catfish. Another obvious sign that summertime was here. “Yep, from now until fall this is just something that we’re going to have to deal with. Those gaftop’s are going to start showing up everywhere,” Levy said. After a few more casts without any results, Liberto cranked up the motor and we moved on to the next rig. We started casting at the legs of the rig, when Zack set the hook and landed the first keeper speck of the day, a beautiful 16” speckled trout. A few seconds later Brooks had the second fish and we began to detect a pattern. “There’s more to these gas rigs than what you see above the surface. The base of these rigs are shells and if you can find the shells on the bottom, more often than not, that will be where the fish are,” Brooks explained. We stayed in that same corner of the rig for over two hours catching speckled trout with a few sheepshead mixed in. But as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky, the bite diminished to nothing. It didn’t take us long to be distracted away from the rig. Zack spotted a flock of seagulls diving near the shoreline near Bayou McGill. We streaked across the water that divided the marsh from the rig and within 5 casts, Liberto erupted with an enthusiastic “Look, look, look, theres one right there!” Zack had spotted a redfish in the shallows and casted out in front of it with a gold spoon. The redfish turned and blew up on the lure and the whole boat erupted with excitement. “This is it! This is what it’s all about,” Liberto cried as he slung the first redfish of the day over the gunwale. As we worked the shoreline Zack was a man on a mission catching 5 more redfish before we headed back to the launch. “This is summertime fishing in Lake Borgne - Pick up a few fish at the rigs then jump over to the marsh to pick up a few redfish,” Brooks said.

Frog Rodeo
The 3rd Annual Madisonville Frog Rodeo has been cancelled and rescheduled due to weather. The new dates for the rodeo are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 10th - 12th at the Madisonville River Front. Registration will be at Route 22 Gas and Bait in Madisonville. The entry fee for adults will be $40.00 and children under the age of 13 will cost $20.00. Keith Jenkins coordinates the rodeo and says, “If you’re not frogging you can still come out and hang out at the weigh-in and enjoy some free fried frog legs. This is just some good family fun,” Jenkins says.

Keith Jenkins prepares frog legs at last years frog rodeo

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