With the trout bite on the decline in Lake Pontchartrain, Slidell angler Taylor Valois has switched gears to fishing for redfish. However, Taylor has a different perspective when fishing for these bronze beauties, literally! Valois makes a simple adjustment in the trajectory at which he looks at water’s surface and in return he is able to spot redfish with ease. Taylor says you can use anything to turn a fishing trip into a sight fishing trip.  “Platforms are nice to have but you can stand on an ice chest, ladder, or homemade stand as long as it’s stable,” he says. 

Valois has been targeting the local waters and having great success with redfish with the warming temperatures. “Fishing the Northshore area you have multiple options for sight fishing. Most common are the Chef Menteur, ICW, Car Drive, Rigolets, and even ponds off of the East Pearl are great places to wet your line. The key is just to scout each area and move around,” Taylor says. Not only does he elevate his view while fishing, Taylor uses his computer at home to elevate before he heads out on the water. “Before I venture into the marsh, I’ll map out spots on Google Earth that are deep in the marsh off of canals that are dark blue. When you see a pond with that dark blue tint that means you are seeing the bottom of the pond and those are excellent areas to try,” he says. 

 

Bayou DeZaire Bass

They say the road less travelled is less travelled for a reason. For fishermen, the opposite is often the case. Todd Oalman decided to make a bass fishing trip on Bayou DeZaire, an often overlooked bayou that runs under Hwy 21 in Madisonville.  Todd drove his truck and trailered flatboat into the Starvation Landing parking lot, but before he could back down he saw action on the surface of the water. “At the launch, there were shad being pummeled by 12-13” bass,” Oalman says. Todd grabbed his rod and reel and casted in the middle of the action. “I caught four before launching the boat,” he says.  After the school moved on Todd launched his boat and made his way to the mouth of the bayou where if spills into the Tchefuncte. Again he found another school busting the surface and caught three more keepers from that bunch. On his way back to the launch Todd says he picked up a few more along the bank to give him his limit. Todd was using an 8 lb. ultra-light setup until a 4 lb. bass broke his line just before reaching the launch and says “Victory Red Shu Shu's fished weedless did most of the damage with a couple falling for a silver crankbait.

Gar Balls Anyone?

15 year old Blaise Polito of Ponchatoula recently made a fishing trip with his father Charlie Polito. The team headed to Unknown Pass for some trout and redfish action but wasn’t having any luck. That’s when they heard a loud splash at the side of the boat. “I thought a fat kid was doing a cannon ball off the bridge at us,” Charlie says. All of a sudden Blaise jumped into action. “That's all that my son needed to see - out came the big rod,” he says.  Blaise found the biggest hook he could find in his tackle box and baited it with an old fish carcass in the ice chest. After about 10 minutes of watching his line go out, Blaise decided to set the hook. “When garfish take the bait, you have to wait for them to swallow. You can tell when they swallow it because they will swim around with it, stop for a while, and then dart off,” Blaise says. The Ponchatoula High Junior finally got the gar in the boat and upon returning home, had the gar cleaned within an hour. “I'm probably the only person in the world that can clean a gar easily,” Blaise says. Charlie says his favorite way to prepare garfish is to make gar balls out of them which involves mixing the meat with potatoes and sculpting them into round balls, then frying them.

The heat is on! And the speckled trout bite that anglers have enjoyed this spring is all but an afterthought. It’s the harsh reality of fishing Lake Pontchartrain.  90 degree water temperatures = Speckled Trout Lockjaw! Charlie Polito of Hammond recently made a trip to the Trestles where he quickly found out that he picked the wrong bridge to fish that day. “We started out on the train bridge Sunday morning. We saw lots of boats but no bent rods for about an hour,” Polito says. That’s when he and his son decided to make a run to the Twin Spans and the decision payed off.  We had decent luck on the Twin Spans south of the hump. We only managed a couple specks, but got a good number of drum and sheepshead,” he says. Charlie says they also added some redfish, and flounder to the box. “We put a few reds and flounder in the cooler. We used live shrimp for the sheepshead and live or dead shrimp for everything else,” Polito says.


Bayou Cane Redfish

Zack Liberto of Mandeville has been catching redfish along the Causeway, but decided to try something different on his latest fishing trip. “I went for the change of pace today and headed out to Cane Bayou in my mud boat to fish the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain for reds,” he says. Zack started throwing top-water lures and spinnerbaits along the shoreline and finished with a healthy box. “I threw top-water as well as spinner-baits from Cane Bayou to Goose Point and finished up with 8 reds, 2 flounder, and a lost 14 inch trout,”Zack says. Liberto says he was using a mullet colored Top Dog and Matrix Shad on a spinner. 



Pearl River Bass 

Robert Gauley of Maurepaus recently made an overnight garfishing/frogging trip on the East Pearl but and says the water was high and muddy. “The water in the East Pearl was sort of high and moving out rather quickly. It wasn’t exactly ideal conditions but we had already made the 45 minute trip over there, so we gave it a shot,” Gauley says. Robert ended the night with 8 frogs, 2 garfish and 1 catfish while running jug lines. But Robert wasn’t done with the Pearl after his less than productive night. “We've wanted to fish sacalait over there so at daylight we had our jig poles in hand,” Gauley says.  Robert brought along his nephew and his son on this trip and managed to catch a few sacaliat in the high, muddy water, but says they were small. “For some reason when the water is high and muddy it seems that the small ones are all that we catch,” Roberts says. The team started fishing for bass and says there were plenty, but much like the sacalait, the bass were on the small side also. But by the end of the day Robert’s nephew managed to catch a beautiful 2 lb. 8oz. largemouth along the cypress knees. 

They say folks around here will find a way to throw a party for any reason. The same could be said about holding a competition. The 2nd Annual Madisonville Frog Rodeo kicked of this weekend in Madisonville on the Tchefuncte River. Keith Jenkins of Frog Bones Cajun Sauces invited me to join his team for an overnight trip in the Rice Fields just off of the river. As the team gathered at the launch at the end of Lake Rd. in Madisonville, something told me that this would be a party and a competition all rolled into one.

 Soon the radio in the boat drowned out the motor and we were off to the Rice Field Canal. As we passed T-Rivers Bar at the entrance of the canal, I noticed a mad scramble to the bow of the boat. As we passed under the “high bridge” bridge, the team slapped the bottom of the bridge and cries of “ayyyeeee” echoed between the bottom of the bridge and the water’s surface. Keith says it’s a ritual for them.  “Just like football players slap the entrance of the stadium as they run on to the field, we slap the bridge as a sign of love and respect for the bayou. So when we enter this bayou we slap the bridge and when we leave we will do the same out of respect,” Jenkins says. Our first stop was a small cut on the left. A simple tranasse inundated with hydrilla and duckweed. 

The lights shined bright from the bow into the overgrowth as a spunky blonde with pig tails and a camouflage hat, climbed onto the edge of the bow and maneuvered into position. “Go Lighting Bolt” the team cried. “Watch this! This girl is quick,” Keith said. It didn’t take long before Samantha Stein, AKA Lighting Bolt, reached down and snatched the first frog of the night. “This one is just too small. What we’re looking for is one that is five inches or bigger. About the size of a beer can,” she said. 

After a few more small frogs, Samantha’s brother, Mark Stein, made the decision to hit the duck pond and venture into a canal with a more solid bank. “When the water is high like tonight, it’s hard to find them because they’ll hide back in the weeds. With a hard bank, they’re forced to gather along the shoreline where we can see them,” Mark said. The decision payed off and within five minutes Keith shined a big bullfrog sitting on the muddy bank of the canal. Mark positioned the boat straight at the frog and before crashing into the bank, Samantha slapped at the water and came up with the first keeper of the night. We continued down the canal and filled the bucket with frogs ranging from 6-8 inches. Keith says those are the best size to keep because they fry the best. “That’s the size you want right there. Not too thick, not too thin. Just right for frying,” he says. 

As weigh-in approached on Sunday morning, the crowds gathered along the Madisonville riverfront. Rodeo organizer, Misty Cox, weighed in frog after frog and tallied the results. In the end, it was Trey Harriss who won the rodeo with a 20-frog limit that weighed 33.9 lbs. with the biggest frog of the contest weighing a whopping 2.29 lbs. Keith says the interest in this rodeo is growing. “This is only the second year so it’s definitely growing fast.  Maybe in four more years we can turn this thing into the “frog Festival,” Jenkins says.

 

Salt Bayou

When it comes to fishing, nothing is a sure thing. But fishing Salt Bayou may be as close as you can get to a sure thing when the temperatures start to rise. Todd Oalman made a trip to the bayou and used Watermelon Wreck Shu-Shu’s rigged weedless to catch a limit of bass. Todd concentrated on the drains coming out of the marsh and says the water is still not as clean as he would like to see it. “The water was falling and muddy. It should be on in a week or two,” Oalman says.

Aaron Vick of Madisonville has been on a mission to find crabs this summer. As a youth, Aaron has had some truly unforgettable times crabbing, and he wants to make the same memories for his kids. “Growing up, I had a friend whose father was a true Cajun.  I would go with them to pick up a line of about eight crab traps in the Atchafalaya Basin.  I can remember us pulling those traps up with each trap holding many dozens of crabs. I will never forget it,” Vick says.   After trips to the Tchefuncte River and Manchac producing less than stellar results, Aaron decided to make a trip to Bayou Lacombe. “This was my first venture down to the mouth of Bayou Lacombe.  I was amazed at how beautiful this area is. The beach at end that drops into deep water is just beautiful,” Vick says. On their last trip, Aaron and his two sons Roman and Adrian, launched at the end of Lake Rd. and started sinking their nets. 

 “I dropped the trolling motor and we dropped our nets in 8 to 10 ft. of water from the last cut to the left, all the way to the Lake.  We spaced our nets 50 to 100 feet apart,” he says. The team baited the nets with turkey necks and fish heads and after just 20 minutes of soaking, they checked the nets and Aaron says they were pulling in as many as 6 crabs per net. “The kids enjoyed pulling the nets in as well as using the tongs to put them in the ice chest.  We caught anywhere from 50 to 120 crabs that trip,” he says. At the end of the day the Vick family ended the day with a crab boil. Aaron says the sizes varied so don’t expect all #1’s, but as far as numbers are concerned. Bayou Lacombe is the perfect place to take the kids and make some memories.  “Our trip to Bayou Lacombe was almost perfect besides the size of the crabs.   The area was far more than I expected.  Not much boat traffic and Big Branch is absolutely beautiful,” he says.

With the speckled trout bite starting to teeter, the redfish have picked up the slack and easy limits are being taken from the 24-mile reef other known as the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Mandeville angler   Zack Liberto has turned his attention to the bronze bruisers and has been finding good numbers of reds along the bridge and the northern shoreline. “We launched from Mandeville Harbor around noon with beautiful water and conditions then headed out to the Causeway.  We Started about 12 miles out and fished for a few hours picking up 7 big reds,” Liberto says. Things started getting bumpy from the increasing winds so Zack headed toward protected water. “The lake kicked up so we headed to Goose Point and threw spinner baits to pick up 8 more reds,” he says. Liberto says it’s pretty much a given that you’ll catch redfish right now if you find clean water. “The redfish bite in the lake is insane right now! It doesn’t really matter where you go, just look for clean water and bait and the reds should be there,” he says.

Tournament Results

FPBA held its tournament on the East Pearl and it was the team of Ronald Pierre and Shaun Miley who took first place with a 5-fish stringer weighing 8.23 lbs. With the win Ronald Pierre moves into a tie with Wayne Richardson for the #6 spot in the NBS Power Rankings. In second was the team of Branden Sheridan and Corey Wheat with a bag that weighed 8.03 lbs. Darrick Neal and Nick Church took third with a total of 7.80 lbs. The big bass division was won with a 3.82 lb. bass caught by Forrest Green.

Upcoming Tournaments

Liars and Lunkers will be holding its tournament on June 14th at Crawford’s Landing. For more information please call Chad Hartzog at 985-502-3217.

The 2nd annual Madisonville Frog Rodeo will be held on June 12 through June 14 at the Madisonville Riverfront. For more information please call Misty at 985-590-7338.

The 18th Annual Save Our Lake & Coast Fishing Rodeo will be held on Friday, June 13th through Saturday, June 14th at the Kenner Boat Launch. All participants who register will be have their name entered to win a charted trip for two. For more information please visit www.saveourlake.org.

It didn’t take Mandeville High senior Luke O’Neal long to start enjoying his summer vacation. Luke and his Friend, Harrison Jambon, made a trip out to the Causeway where they took advantage of the duel bite going on. On the way out to the Causeway, the team decided to take advantage of the light winds and make a run to the artificial reef out of Madisonville known as Lemo’s reef. 

“I knew the wind would be good on Wednesday so my buddy and I took my boat and hit the reef first thing. We were greeted by same conditions and a couple boats at the reef. We caught five or six keepers and then the bite died out,” Luke said. After a short run to the Cuaseway, Luke says they started picking up trout immediately. “We ran to the Causeway and started catching some nice trout right away. They seemed to be scattered though. We would catch two or three then go a while without a bite,” he says. At the end of the day the duo ended up with 20 trout and 6 redfish. Luke says “All in all, it was a good day at the bridge and the reef. Hopefully we will make it out there again soon.”

Trestle Trout

Slidell angler Taylor Valios has been fishing the Trestles through the peak of the speckle trout bite and says the numbers aren’t what they used to be. “Limits are hard to get on the bridges right now but in all honesty I think it’s only the smart fish that are left - the big ones,” he says. Valios has been upping his game for the STAR Tournament lately which means targeting bigger trout.  

“I like to fish big baits when targeting bigger trout. If its live shrimp I’m using, I’ll find the biggest ones in my bucket. When I use soft plastics, I like to use 4”-5” baits,” he says. Taylor gives a tip for finding trout along the train tracks. “The key is to move around, find the strong tide lines, and either fish early morning or close to sunset. The first full moon in June is coming up and it’s going to be the last chance to limit out on some nice specks and also target these big specs before water temps get too high for the lake,” Valios says. 



Hungerford Reef Still Producing

Numerous reports of limits are still coming out of the shell pad out of Bayou Lacombe. Marked by three pylons strapped together, the shell pad may just be your best option for putting together big numbers of speckled trout. The key to targeting trout here is to get there early and have patience. These trout are moving around and come through in waves. You may have 30 minutes to an hour before hook-ups but when they are biting, you will be able to put good numbers in the boat in little time. Live shrimp is by far your best option but if you’re fishing plastics use smoke colored fluke on a 3/8 oz. jig head. 

 

Tournament Results

Wayne Richardson took first place in the River Champs tournament on the Tchefuncte River with a 3-fish stringer weighing 8.16 lbs. With the win, Richardson moves to the #6 spot in the Northshore Bass Series Power Rankings. In second was the team of Kyle and Dylan Hills with a 5-fish limit that weighed 8.01 lbs. In third was Scott Andrews with a 5-fish stringer weighing in at 7.78 lbs. 

 
Upcoming Tournaments 

The next Bass Assassins tournament is set for the Tchefuncte River on June 7th.  If you have any questions you can call Chris Basey at 985-707-7857.

Liars and Lunkers will be holding its tournament on June 14th at Crawford’s Landing. For more information please call Chad Hartzog at 985-502-3217.

The 2nd annual Madisonville Frog Rodeo will be held on June 12 through June 14 at the Madisonville Riverfront. For more information please call Misty at 985-590-7338.