Keith Lusher
Lake Pontchartrain speckled trout anglers have been waiting for this for quite some time. the start to a fantastic trout run. Hurricane Nate was the perfect storm in terms of strong southeast winds with little rainfall. Captain Andy Jones of Wicked Charters has been catching scattered trout in areas like Eden Isles, Bayou Lacombe, and Geoghegan’s Canal.
Andy Jones
“The east winds have been steady for several weeks and Nate kicked off a nice little trout run. We have been fishing from Lake Borgne to Lacombe and catching fish all over the lake. “We have been picking up a few really nice fish in the 18”- 20” class and even one that went 4 lbs. It’s very exciting for this time of the year,” Jones says. While the salinity has improved, Andy says the water quality has also been the best he’s seen in a while.
Lower Pearl
Lower Pearl
John Guillot fishes the Pearl River system often and recently made a trip to the lower Pearl where he found plenty of bass. “I fished the bottom of the Pearl, Mud Lake, and lower Rigolets and had a great time catching green trout on Baby Brush Hogs,” John says. On the inside of Brown’s Island on the west bank was were John saw the highest concentration. Guillot then ventured out to do some saltwater fishing and tried a few drains along the Rigolets for flounder but there was another kind of fish working the shoreline.“I had to reel up my line several times because of bull reds moving down the west bank. I saw a couple of small sharks also,” he says. Join did manage to catch some small 11.5” trout in the main Rigolets and adds, “If you like to play Tug-of-War with big reds, they are easy to see. Just look for the water blowing up right against the bank.”
Oak Harbor Specks
Sam Coco Jr fishes from land in the canals that line the Oak Harbor Subdivision in Slidell and says it’s been tough fishing the past few months. “This is when fishing from bank is frustrating. I haven't caught anything in 3 months,” he says. With the push of saltwater that the hurricane brought, Sam decided to give it another try. I started casting Matrix Shad in the Green Hornet color. After 5 or 6 casts I picked up a small red. A little later I hooked up with a nice 14” speck. A few casts later and I landed a second one. Then I missed two more after that,” he says. Sam is ready to be done with the terrible summertime speckled trout bite that he has endured and adds, “It looks like our fall specks have arrived! Thanks to Nate for that final push of high tides this past weekend. It can only get better.”
Tchefuncte River Sac-a-lait
Ray Miller fishes the Tchefuncte River for sac-a-lait year round and knows that the river can be active not only with fish, but boat traffic. Ray decided to try and beat the activity from the Wooden Boat Festival in Madisonville so he started his day early on the main river jigging fallen treetops. Miller says the action was slow but consistent. “We had to move a bunch, catch one here and there but put together a nice mess of fish in the end,” he says. The sac-a-lait anglers day came to an end when the boats started passing by. “When that boat traffic from the festival started, it was over!”
Oak Harbor Specks
Sam Coco Jr fishes from land in the canals that line the Oak Harbor Subdivision in Slidell and says it’s been tough fishing the past few months. “This is when fishing from bank is frustrating. I haven't caught anything in 3 months,” he says. With the push of saltwater that the hurricane brought, Sam decided to give it another try. I started casting Matrix Shad in the Green Hornet color. After 5 or 6 casts I picked up a small red. A little later I hooked up with a nice 14” speck. A few casts later and I landed a second one. Then I missed two more after that,” he says. Sam is ready to be done with the terrible summertime speckled trout bite that he has endured and adds, “It looks like our fall specks have arrived! Thanks to Nate for that final push of high tides this past weekend. It can only get better.”
Tchefuncte River Sac-a-lait
Ray Miller fishes the Tchefuncte River for sac-a-lait year round and knows that the river can be active not only with fish, but boat traffic. Ray decided to try and beat the activity from the Wooden Boat Festival in Madisonville so he started his day early on the main river jigging fallen treetops. Miller says the action was slow but consistent. “We had to move a bunch, catch one here and there but put together a nice mess of fish in the end,” he says. The sac-a-lait anglers day came to an end when the boats started passing by. “When that boat traffic from the festival started, it was over!”
