If you’ve watched the news during the past few weeks, I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures of Madisonville’s T-River’s Bar along the Tchefuncte River. Southeast winds combined with heavy rainfall wreaked havoc on the narrow winding road that leads to the public boat launch at the lake.  Lawrence Lemoine fishes the Rice Fields Canal in that area religiously and says although the water is still muddy, the canal has rebounded fine from all of the high water. “Although the water was high and dirty, I found some cleaner water flowing out into the main channel from the duckpond,” Lemoine says

 After finding the line where the muddy water mixed with the clean water, Lawrence says it was on! “I started throwing Speed Craws and had four bites on five casts. Then I switched over to a crankbait and it was almost a fish for every cast,” Lemoine says. The infamous “bulkhead” has been known to produce loads of bass in a short time and Lawrence says he finally had the opportunity to experience it. “I have read about it, heard about it, and have had dreams about it, and now it was happening! It was literally cast after cast and fish after fish with little let up. I quit counting at sixty fish and I’m sure when I left it was well over 100 bass,” he says. Lawrence says he also managed to catch an 8 lb. stripped bass that the canal has been known to produce.



The November Fishing Forecast 

NorthshoreFishingReport.com has released it’s November Fishing Forecast and amongst the big winners for the month of November are Lake Borgne, Bayou Bonfouca, and the Biloxi Marsh scoring 5/5 fish. George Seibert of Fishmeister Charters says Lake Borgne shines in November. “November begins the prime cold weather fishing.  The female speckled trout are in their final spawn and as the water gets colder, the fish will start to school up.  They now begin fattening up for the long cold winter.  As the water cools down with the fronts, the fish will congregate in the deeper holes,” Seibert says. 

The Biloxi Marsh has always been known for it’s November fishing and Buddy Hereford says this month will be no different. “The specks in the Biloxi Marsh are plentiful but scattered. The size is mostly small but the numbers are great. They’ll be scattered around in the bays and lakes where deep water flows into shallower water. Interior lagoons are worth a shot, but the better fish I have caught have come from intersecting deep canals. Throw anything yellow under a popping cork,” Hereford says.

For you freshwater anglers, Daniel Sissac recommends Bayou Bonfouca for limits of bass in November. “November is one of the best months to fish Bonfouca. The cooler weather will bring bass closer to the shoreline and put them more in a feeding mode. The arrival of shrimp has triggered bass to gorge themselves while they can, and shrimp can be seen jumping out of the water while being chased,” Sissac says. Daniel says DOA Shrimp and weightless Shu-Shu’s in the Gunmetal color work best when the bass are feeding on shrimp but when there is no action to be seen “Soft plastics and suspending twitch baits should do the job for you,” he says.

Some of the top fisherman from the Northshore gathered for the Northshore Fishing Report Fall Fishing Seminar this past Thursday night and while the debate raged on about certain subjects like fishing line, barometric pressure, and what lures work best, one thing was agreed upon by everyone. “If you’re talking fall fishing. We are in the best time right now for fishing the marsh and bayous across the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. If you want to go fishing, you have to do it now! You can’t say ‘Well I’ll go when I’m finished painting this room or adding on to the house,’ you have to get out there now,” says Forrest Green of Lacombe. 

On Green’s last fishing trip, he says he couldn’t get away from the speckled trout even if he wasn’t trying to catch them and a lot of it has to do with the shrimp in the water. “I went way back into Cypress Bayou on Bayou Lacombe and did some white perch fishing. I ended up with 3 white perch and 5 speckled trout. Why? There’s shrimp back there the size of your hand,” Green says. In the past few weeks anglers have seen water high water levels all across the Northshore, and Green says thats what you need to look for. “When the water is so high it allows all the fish to go where the bait goes,” he says. But the seasoned fisherman from Lacombe also ads that the high water won’t last forever. “When these cold fronts come through and the water plunges back out - the baits going to be the first thing to get out of there and the fish will follow. Between now and the middle of November, the Lake is going to be full of fish. The marshes are going to clear out and the shrimp are going to come out and get in the lake. When these Northwestern winds come and push everything out then you’ll see the fish come into the lake,” Green says. 

Daniel Sissac fishes the marshes in the Slidell area this time of year and says it’s not only the shrimp, it’s the spawn that has something to do with it. “The trout are following the menhaden and the shrimp deep into the marsh right now but trout spawn twice a year so they do migrate into and out of the marsh because of the spawn,” Sissac says. 

While the marshes and bayous on the Northshore are alive right now, the conversation quickly moved to the areas that will turn on this upcoming month. Lawrence Lemoine says this is the month when the bridges and artificial reefs typically heat up. Lawrence says from now until winter, these fish will be in prime feeding mode on these structures. “These fish sense when the cold weather is coming and they know that they have to put on the fat. It’s just like when you’re deer hunting - If you kill a deer today, compare it to a deer you kill a month from now. That same deer will have two inches of extra fat on it and its because they know the cold weather is coming,” Lemoine says. 

Live shrimp is always a great option in the fall for putting trout in the boat but George Seibert of Fishmeister Charters reminded the audience that the time for fishing with live shrimp will soon come to and end. “These fish are going to start getting lethargic and they will try and conserve energy during the winter and when you fish with live shrimp, the shrimp will dig down into that mud to hide. So if you’re fishing with a Carolina rig and that shrimp buries himself, that trout isn’t  going to move around to find that shrimp because he just wants to sit there and wait for something to come by. That’s why plastics work so well - you’re pulling the bait right in front of him instead of making him do the work,” Seibert says.

It doesn’t take long for word to travel amongst the fishing community here on the North Shore. Especially when news is of of shrimp being caught by fisherman throwing cast nets. So when Roger Sissac of Pearl River went on his bass fishing trip to Carr Dr. He decided to bring along his cast net. “I went to the mouth of Carr Dr., armed with the Shu-Shu Gunmetal Texas rigged.  I fished some cuts with success and caught my fish in hour and a half,” Roger says. 

The angler hit his limit of 10 bass and decided to move out into the lake to try for some reds and trout, when he noticed something jumping out of the water. “I went back to the lake to try some other cuts and noticed some shrimp jumping. I pulled the cast net out, made a throw and hit the jackpot! I caught about two lbs. of shrimp so I kept throwing until it  slowed down to almost nothing then decided to call it a great day,” Sissac says. Roger ended his trip with 21 lbs. of shrimp. 


Trestle Sheepshead 

Fishing trips are often categorized by what type of fish the angler is trying for. Stephen Hoffman of Mandeville and his friend Frank Amador, made at trip to the Trestles and says they didn’t care what kind of fish they caught. 

We grabbed some live shrimp from the bait shop and headed to the Trestles looking for any type of fish,” Frank joked. Hoffman says they pulled up on the “NOLA” side of the bridge where they caught a few sheepshead but the bite soon died off so they made a move. “We moved further north and that choice was a lucky one.  I said to my fishing buddy ‘let's try here.’  After about 15 minutes of not getting any bites, all of a sudden it was on! We found the hole the sheepshead and drum were holding up in.  After fighting a bunch, we ended up with 14 Sheepshead, 3 Drum, and a Red,” Hoffman says.



Beau Rat

With Halloween right around the corner, creatures of different shapes and sizes are making there annual appearances all across the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Will Henry of Slidell decided to grab one of his wife’s Halloween decorations to bring it on board his boat as a good luck charm “After searching my fishing log, I determined that the annual Bayou Castine trout blitz would be on any day. I grabbed my rods and there was Beau Rat sitting on the shelf in the garage,” Will says. 

“Beau Rat” is a plastic rat skeleton and Will says he just had to bring the little guy fishing with him. “I couldn't resist the urge to take Beau Rat on my little fishing trip as he was sure to bring me some luck,” he says. Will launched at Mandeville Harbor and immediately found what he was looking for. “I saw massive schools of bait fish dimpling the surface from shore to shore and within 15 minutes of casting, the first speck came into the  boat. As I was dropping him in the box, I noticed Beau Rat's skull peaking out from under my console, he had that look,” Henry joked. Will grabbed the hideous rat skeleton and placed him on the bow of his boat and for the next 45 minutes Will was slinging specks over the gunwale. “The trout were on fire! At one point the only other boat around,  couldn't stand it and moved in on me to see what I was using. I boated a nice one in front of them and the gentleman just looked at Beau Rat and said ‘Like your dog,’  I replied ‘He's seen better days but still brings the luck!” 


Bayou Lacombe Greens and Specks

Andrew Green and his girlfriend Ava recently made a fishing trip to Bayou Lacombe where he says the plan was to start out catching bass then move towards the lake to try and catch some speckled trout. “I wanted to warm up with bass a bite before heading toward the lake for trout, but after an hour of throwing a crankbait, I had the start of a nice limit and the trout time kept getting pushed back on account of the beautiful Lacombe bass I was catching,” Andrew says. He says the bass were inhaling the Rapala DT-6, in Grey Shiner color crank bait he was throwing and after catching about 20 bass, Andrew says he wanted to see what the trout bite was like towards the mouth of the bayou. “I was having a blast, but had told Ava that this was a trout trip so we made our way to the lake. I started dead center of the canal just across from the large cut that leads into the marsh. The bites started almost instantly! I put a couple of shorts in the boat, then decided to show Ava the fine art of using a bait-caster. My instructions were to press the button, let the Shu-Shu sink all the way down then shake it. We both set the hook about twenty times, but had only 5 keeper trout to show for it,” Green says. 

Northshore fishing guru Jeff Bruhl is most know for his freshwater fishing expertise. Whether it’s the Pearl River System, Bayou Bonfouca, the Tchefuncte, Bruhl knows how to put bass, sac-au-lait, and perch in the boat. So when I got the call to do some trout fishing this week, I had to make sure it was really him on the other line. Jeff said he had been catching speckled trout in Bayou Liberty this past week and wanted to make another trip. We launched at Bayou Liberty Marina on Hwy 433 and within 5 minutes of putting the boat in the water we were catching speckled trout. But it wasn’t in the middle of the bayou like expected. We were casting towards the shoreline. “Early morning is a good time to target the trout in Bayou Liberty. 

Cast along the grass line and let it fall or throw a topwater lure right outside of the grass line,” Bruhl says. We kept trolling the shoreline towards the lake and while the action was relatively slow, it was steady which allowed us to put together a healthy box of fish. Jeff says don’t stay in one place when fishing Bayou Liberty right now. “You’ll go along and catch one here and catch one there, but then all of a sudden you’ll run into a patch of them where you’ll put 5 or 6 in a matter of minutes, so it’s all about constantly moving around,” Bruhl says. The hot bait right now is the Shu-Shu in Gunmetal color. The bait holds true to it’s slogan of being the most versatile bait in South Louisiana as the new trend is to split the tail when fishing for speckled trout.


Quick Trip

When James Bransfield of Slidell got off of work he decided to stop by is favorite tackle shop to stock up on some lures. James was planning on fishing this weekend but could resist trying out his new lures. “After work, I stopped by Gus' to make sure I was ready for this weekend.  While there, I saw a Zoom Tiny Fluke bait fish.  Having never seen these before and remembering that split tail baits were hot right now, I picked it up,” Bransfield says. James just couldn’t wait till the weekend to try them out so he stopped by the Hwy 11 Canal on the way home and made a few casts. “I could only stay a few minutes but using these on a 1/4oz white jig head - they seemed to like it,” James says. Bransfield caught 4 speckled trout in 10 minutes. All of them being 14”-16” long.


Causeway Shoreline

Will Henry of Mandeville made a trip out to the shoreline near the Causeway and winded up with 11 trout between 14” - 17”. Will says the trout seemed to tire of the same bait. “I was throwing all hard baits either floating or suspended and I would catch a couple on one lure then if they stopped, I would switch and catch a couple more,” Will says. After paying attention to the way he was working the baits, Will says “I had to vary the cadence and how hard you snap the bait to trigger strikes. Sometimes I would just kill the bait mid-retrieve and let it sit still for a few seconds - then start the retrieve again and they would smoke it!”

As a father to three little girls, I am always trying to teach my daughters lessons in life that will prove valuable for them in the future. Some lessons carry more importance than others, but the smaller ones are lessons still the same. On a fishing trip to the Rice Fields Canal in Mandeville, I had the chance to teach the age old lesson of “all it takes is one cast.” My youngest daughter Maddie is what you might call a spoiled fisherman. Believe it or not, she has never been on a fishing trip where she hasn’t caught a fish. So it was no surprise to me to hear sobbing as I rounded the kids up to end a fishing. Already knowing the answer to my question, I bent down to ask her what was wrong? At that point she started hyperventilating and it took her a few tries to get out the words “I didn’t catch any fish.” My heart hurt for a split second then I seized the opportunity to teach her what I thought was going to be the lesson of “Sometimes you don’t catch and fish, that’s why it’s called fishing and not catching.” She tried to process the distorted riddle, but the sobbing continued. As I started to load up the truck I saw her standing there with her pole and thought to myself, “She’s given up, her lines not even in the water.” I walked over, bent down and asked “how many casts does it take to catch one fish?” She thought about it, then barely smiled through the tears and replied, “one.” She baited the hook with a shrimp then casted out.

 I turned around and made my way to the truck with the poles and ice chest, when I heard heard her cry “I got one!” Now, if you’ve ever been fishing with kids, you know that this is something you hear just about every minute. So I was less than enthusiastic when I glanced over my shoulder to witness her rod bent over and the tip pulled down into the water. I dropped everything and ran over to watch her battle the biggest fish she has ever had on her line. She reeled in the line and it would make a run, taking back all the progress she made. The five minutes it took her to get the fish in felt like an eternity to me as I knew the important lesson that would be learned with this one fish. Finally the fish surfaced. I reached down into the water and lifted up a 20” sheepshead to a chorus of cheers from the other kids. We snapped a picture and then I put the fish in the ice chest with the others. As I went to walk back to where the celebration had occurred, I noticed the pole and my daughter were gone. I looked around and then heard her voice coming from the truck - “C’mon Dada! Let’s go!” The spoiled fisherman's streak continues!

This speckled trout run this fall has been fantastic for North Shore anglers. The high salinity levels are working further and further north and speckled trout are now being caught at the Lakefront in Mandeville. Renee Elvir of Mandeville has been a busy man recently but finally made some time to go fishing with all of the great reports he has been hearing. Renee says he had to make an afternoon trip because his fishing partner was still in school. “I finally got sometime to fish again and loaded the kayaks and waited for my fishing buddy to get home from school.  When he drove up and saw the yaks loaded, he ran inside and put on some fishing clothes. He came back outside in less than a minute and off we went,” Renee says. The kayakers managed to catch a box of trout just west of the breakwater and along the Mandeville Harbor wall. Renee says he even saw someone wade fishing. “While we were out there I noticed a fellow fisherman wade fishing and he had a nice box of trout,” Elvir says. Renee and his son caught the fish on Lemon Head Matrix baits on a jig head. 

Kayak Fishing Boondoggle

The kayak fishing event knows as Boondoggle was held this past weekend at Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville. Among some of the speakers was Robert Field. Field holds the title of the most viewed kayak fishing angler for his fishing videos that have millions of views on YouTube. The sport of kayak fishing has exploded and with the birth of affordable,high definition video known simply as GoPro, the two have come together enabling anglers to record there fishing trips with ease. Robert had a few tips for those who are interested in putting together a fishing video from their kayaks and stresses keeping the videos short. “Less is more. If you want to do these videos, less really is more. Leave your audience wanting more and they will subscribe to your channel and come back,” Field says. Robert gives an example of videos where he losses interest because of a drawn out opening scene. “I see a lot of videos where I’m excited to watch and the title’s really cool, but then the first 45 seconds is them paddling out to their spot - and they’ve lost me by then. 45 seconds doesn’t sound like a long time but if you think about it, it’s a long time to watch someone paddle,” Field says. Some more advice for kayak anglers that Robert stressed was to be yourself. “Be a person in your video. Talk to your audience - tell them what your doing and why you are doing it. Also tell them how you feel when you’ve caught the fish. You’ll definitely get more views if you act like yourself,” Field says.