NorthshoreFishishingReport.com’s Fishing Forecast is out for the month of October and it is littered with 5-Star reports due to the fall-like temperatures that have reached the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. As expected, the bayous that dump into the Lake are loaded with speckled trout, and now is the time to take advantage of the cooler water temperatures and thick bait in the water. 

Bayou Lacombe kicks of the cast of 5-star reports this month. Lacombe resident Forrest Green says now is the time to fish Bayou Lacombe. “Fall is definitely here and now is the time that the cigar trout are in the marshes and in the bayous and the grass beds,” Green says. Mr. Green says theres a lot of grass in the bayou right now, so switch over to a lighter jig head when fishing plastics  “I’ve been using a 1/16 oz. jig head on any kind of plastic with 12 lb. test,” he says. Right now anglers are catching the smaller school trout but as is often the case with Lake Pontchartrain, those trophy trout will show up along the shoreline. Green says it should’t take long before we see the big girls along the shoreline. “When the water comes up along the shoreline, these big trout love to get in those little pockets along the shoreline and if you can find any tributaries that come out of the marsh and into the lake, you’ll do really good in those spots,” Green says.

Bayou Liberty is on fire in the month of October. Liberty scores  a 5-Star rating for saltwater fishing and freshwater fishing. The salt water has made it up into Bayou Liberty and the speckled trout have followed. Anglers are catching trout from the mouth of Bayou Liberty where it connects with Bayou Bonfouca, all the way to St. Genevieve Church. Live shrimp on a Carolina rig is performing the best, but plastics on a 1/8 oz head will work also. Anglers are catching trout from the wharf at the church signaling the start of the fall season. Further up-river anglers are catching bass in good numbers. Fish along the bank with chug bugs and spinner baits and pay attention to those bends in the bayou.

Lake Borgne has rebounded from a slow summer with a a stout 5-Star rating. Cpt. George Seibert of Fish Meister Charters says the specks have started showing up at the usual fall hotspots. “The specks have already been showing up in the surrounding marshes and rigs of Lake Borne.  Fish the  trenasses and bayous that flow out of the marsh.  Look for bait fish near the shore lines and throw into them,” George says.  The trout are chasing fin fish so be sure to try and mimic the shad with your plastic. “Shu-Shu’s in the Gunmetal color have been catching a lot of fish all summer and that will continue into fall.  When the trout are feeding on fin fish it is recommended to split the tail of the Shu-Shu to mimic them,” Seibert says.

Lakeshore Estates is producing good numbers of school trout. The two entrances into the maze of canals is always a speckled trout hot-spot. Live shrimp Carolina rigged on the bottom gives you the best chance of putting together quality box of fish. Plastics such as Matrix Shad in the Magneto color or Shu-Shu’s in the Gunmetal color on a 1/8 oz jig head will also produce specks. Lakeshore Estates is knows for a producing a plethora of different fish so don’t be surprised if you have a few sheephead, drum, redfish, and flounder mixed in as well.




Causeway not quite there yet

A popular fishing destination for speckled trout fisherman, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, has been slow so far in the month of October. Chad Cauvin and his son Jacob were camping at Fairview Riverside Park in Mandeville when they decided to make a run out of the Tchefuncte River to the Causeway. “We traveled just south of mile marker 16 of the Causeway Bridge. The water was a little choppy at first but calmed down almost as soon as we arrived. We had our first bite around 11a.m.,” Chauvin says. There first fish was a 16.5" Black Drum. The redfish bite has been great on the Causeway this summer and it looks as if they are sticking around through the fall. After catching the drum they started catching redfish. “About 30 minutes later we had our first Red in the boat. We stayed out there until about 2 p.m., trolling as far south as mile 14.9. We ended up with three redfish and the one drum, with the largest one being 23 inches,” Chauvin says. The team was using market shrimp on 1/2 oz. jig heads.

Every year around this time it happens. The cool fronts start rolling in, the leaves start falling, and more importantly, the speckled trout invade the bayous here on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. I had the opportunity to jump in the boat with Lacombe legend Forrest Green to try and get an early jump on the speckled trout bite here on the North Shore. I spoke to Mr. Green at a recent CCA Banquet and he told me that they were starting to show up in the bayou and I just couldn’t pass up the chance to fish with the Bayou Lacombe veteran. We launched at the end of Lake Rd. in Lacombe, and was greeted by 10 MPH winds early. Mr. Green turned to me and said “No problem, it’s a north wind. The good thing about fishing here, when those fronts start moving through is this whole area is protected.” He backed the boat down and we both jumped in.  Instead of heading out into the lake, Mr. Green headed up-river, a path I’ve never taken to hunt for speckled trout. He opened up the engine for what was all of 2 minutes, then the bow dipped back down and before I could grab my pole, the savvy veteran had the trolling motor in the water and was casting his smoke colored fluke on a 1/8 oz head towards the grassy shoreline. “This whole stretch of shoreline is where we’ve been catching them this past week,” he exclaimed. 

As the boats started pulling up along the shoreline, I could tell there had been some previous days that were productive in the area. Mr. Green kept staring at a cut that was on the eastern shoreline and said. “That’s where they are, right there.” However there was a boat fishing there. We patiently casted along the shoreline inching in close enough to grab the spot when the boat decided to leave. Sure enough, the anglers steered their boat down the shoreline and Mr. Green swooped in and positioned the boat 50’ from shore. We casted into the cut and with a heave, I felt the boat thrust and Mr. Green set the hook on the day’s first fish. He slung an 11” speckled trout into the boat and said, “This is a good sign. We’re just going to have to sift through the small ones today.” It was my turn. 

I felt at the fish slam the Gunmetal Shu-Shu that was tied to the end of my line and I set the hook. It’s was nice to feel that head shaking franticly on the other end of my line. I got the fish into the boat and it was another 11” trout. “Trouble! That’s what I call them,” Mr. Green joked. We caught 11” trout for about a half hour and then the first keeper came into the boat. We both were relived and let out a simultaneous “There we go!”  From that point until 9:00 am. Mr. Green and I put 38 speckled trout in the ice chest, all caught in one cut. “You have to be patient. If you’re catching small ones, then the bigger ones are bound to come through. These fish are moving up and down this shoreline and it’s just a matter of time before they pass through,” He said. For you speckled trout anglers that are looking to put some fish in the boat, now is the time! “October is speckled trout time here on Bayou Lacombe, get out here and start living,” Mr. Green added.

Bass fishing on the North Shore this summer has been fantastic with the rivers being docile from the lack of rain we have seen. Covington bass angler Jason Pittman has been taking advantage of the slow water movement on the Bougue Chitto River in Bush. On Jason’s last trip he launched at the lock canal and headed into the Bogue Chitto for some early morning bass action. Jason started the day picking up fish early but when the sun started to rise he says that’s where the water clarity was a problem. “As the sun came up I got a chance to see that the river was really clear and that had the fish a little bit skittish. I started looking for shady pockets and overhangs and picked up a few more,” Jason says.

 Jason was using a Santone Buzz Bait and says the spotted bass bite was incredible. He picked up over 12 spotted bass before 10 am, but the highlight of his trip was a 3 lb. largemouth that smashed his buzz bait. “That was a bonus! You can go and catch all the Kentucky bass you want but when you slide up on a three pounder - That’s some fun,” he says.  For those kayak fishermen, Jason says that the area is perfect for smaller boats. “It’s really a neat little area. You’re not going to see the big boats running up or down like you’ll see on the Tchefuncte or the Pearl. It’s really a kayaker fisherman's dream in a sense,” Pittman says. 


One More Front

Now is the time to get a jump on the trout bite. James Johnson of Slidell has been monitoring Bayou Liberty often and says this is the time they start to show up. “I rode across the Bayou Liberty by St. Genevieve Church and saw guys out there fishing from the wharf. That’s my cue to get out there,” Johnson says. The slidell speckled trout angler says he made a trip in his boat but he thinks the water temperature is still too high. “I struggled all along Bayou Liberty and Bayou Bonfouca only catching 2 keeper specks. That’s a good sign though. I think we need one more good front to come through to knock these water temperatures down a bit and thing should explode. They’re already catching them further towards Lake Borgne so it should be about a week or so before they start moving inside,” Johnson says.


Goose Point to Green Point

Mandeville angler Will Henry has been fishing the shoreline from Goose Point and Green Point, and bringing back a few slot redfish every trip, but Will says this fall is setting up to be amazing. “The conditions are getting right again. The massive schools of unmolested bait are now grouping up into tighter pods and moving quicker. The schools of mullets are swarming into the shallows in tighter groups as well. I’m looking forward to the October and November when the specks in the bayous start running the fin fish and shrimp,” Henry says. 

I recently attended the CCA Slidell Chapter Banquet and had the pleasure of talking with Ashley Ferguson and Craig Gothreaux. The two biologists are overseeing the Lake Pontchartrain Telemetry study and were showing off the new and improved FishLA.org website which allows anglers to not only track the movements of one fish, but now numerous fish at the same time. “We have never had a website like this before so this is brand new. This is now our visualization tool for the telemetry project. It incorporates three years worth of data for speckled trout, redfish, and bullsharks,” Ferguson says. It’s human nature for anglers to try and figure these fish out to better their chances of catching them. With the new website, Ashley says not only are you able to track these fish, but it offers different variables to the equation. “You can pick whichever fish you’re interested in, and the time of year that you like to fish, and start looking at patterns and results. You can look at the lunar cycles and the water temperatures. You can clearly see these fish moving in and out of the lake at specific times of the year,” Ashley says. 

The telemetry project currently collects information from 93 data points. Amongst that data is salinity, dissolved oxygen turbidity, and water visibility. All of this information will be included in future upgrades to the website. “That is all going to be used in the next phase of this project. Our hope is to create a type of weather map overlay where you will be able to turn on and off all of these features,” she says. Another interesting feature Ashley is looking forward to is the ability to monitor how deep or shallow these fish are at any given time. “So not only will be able to see if a fish as at the Causeway but you’ll be able to see it at let’s say 12 feet. When you see these redfish, you’ll see them moving up and down in the fall. They’re going up to the birds and they’re feeding on the surface then they’re going back down and you’ll be able to see how they use those deep holes in Lake Pontchartrain,” Ashley says.  Craig Gothreaux adds that the more fisherman cooperate with the program, the more information can be given back to them. “We encourage anglers to release the blue tagged fish so that we can continue collect data. We work for the public so we want to provide what the public wants. It’s our job to create, develop, and provide that information so that it can help the anglers.”

Bayou Lacombe Croaker

With the last few days of summer being crossed off the calendar, bank fisherman have been enjoying huge numbers of croaker being caught from Lake Rd. in Lacombe. Kevin Lewis lives in Mandeville but has been taking the short ride down Hwy. 190 to take advantage of the great bite on the bayou. “We have always caught croaker and white trout here but this year seems a little better for some reason. Usually we will catch anywhere from 20-30 decent size croaker but this month we actually filled the ice chest with a mornings catch,” Lewis says. With the cool fronts on the way, Kevin adds that time is running out on the great bite. “Typically you’ll see the bite die out slowly as the water temperatures start dropping but that shouldn’t be for a few weeks so you still have time,” he says. Lewis has been using a Carolina rig with a #2 hook with market shrimp.

The September fishing forecast was released and there are some areas on the Northshore that are really gaining some attention from anglers both on the saltwater and freshwater sides. Here is a list of some of the top spots to fish for September:


Pearl River- Both East and West Pearl Rivers have been fantastic all summer with the low water levels and ultra-clean water. Patrick Engerran has been fishing the area a lot lately and gives this area a 5/5 rating. Patrick says finding moving water is the key. “The bite is on all over the Pearl complex.  From the West all the way to Mike’s River on the East - basically wherever water was moving,” Engerran says. The Wastehouse has been the main attraction on the East Pearl lately as anglers have been picking up a mixture of bass, goggle-eye, sac-au-lait, and even redfish. “The Wastehouse has bass in the pads and they are chasing spinnerbaits, flukes and Shu-Shu Slugs.  Try backing off the pads more than normal and the bass should be a few feet off of the vegetation,” Patrick says.




Salt Bayou- The summertime hotspot is still producing limits of bass but now with the salinity up, there’s more saltwater variety available. Todd Oalman gives Salt Bayou a 4/5 rating and says the salt water has definitely made a difference. “The east winds of late August brought in much needed salty gulf water. The specks, drum and redfish followed. That  area is producing good catches of specks, reds, flounder and white trout. The drum bite has been decent but most have been on the small side,” Oalman says. Todd says if the heat is too much to bear, try fishing at night. “The lights on the lakeshore have been producing nice catches of trout both specks and whites. The usual artificial baits are producing, but live bait is the ticket. Fish live shrimp Carolina rigged or free line pogies for best results,” Oalman says. 




Eden Isles- We may have turned the calendar another page but the water temperatures are still a reminder that we may have a few weeks to go until that first cool front comes. Nick Church has found that shade is the key right now and Eden Isles offers a lot of it!  “Eden Isles is a great place to fish that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Down here in the south, with the scorching heat, fish are running for shade. You’ll find plenty of shade in Eden Isles with the docks that line the shoreline. This is a great place for bass to find cooler waters and wait for bait fish to swim by,” Church says. Nick recommends finding moving water coming around the points and when the mid-day temperatures spike, “target the water under those docks. Pitch as far back under there as you can with a Texas-rigged lizard or Senko and let it fall,” he says. Church gives the area a 4/5 rating for September.


Bouge Falaya Cleanup

"Keep Covington Beautiful” is partnering with the City of Covington and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation to hold it’s annual Bogue Falaya River Sweep, litter clean-up on the Bogue Falaya River, on Saturday September 19th. The event will begin at 8:00 am at the 4th Ave. Boat Launch in Covington. Volunteers are encouraged to bring their own kayaks and canoes to collect litter in and along the river from the boat launch to the Boston St. Bridge. Paddlers and volunteers interested in helping with the clean-up are asked to sign up by Sept, 14th by contacting KCB at 985-867-3652 or [email protected].