Keith Lusher September marks the beginning of the speckled trout run that happens along the northern shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain and in the rivers and bayous. Most folks wait for the first cool front to kick things off but Roy Pendergraft says he wanted to get a head start on the trout and give the shoreline between Bayou Lacombe and Bayou Liberty a try. He may have gotten an early start on the season but getting an early start on the sunrise that day was a different story. “I had the wife with me so there was no early start,” Roy says without further explanation. The couple left the launch at 7:00 a.m. and arrived at their destination shortly after. Both were throwing Matrix Shad on a 1/8 oz. unpainted jig head. Roy says they casted and retrieved their lures in the eel grass that lined the shoreline and that’s where they caught fish. “The trout are there, but they are going to be where there is grass under the water. We caught everything in about 2' of water,” he says. The team ended the morning at 9:30 with 20 keeper trout and 20 throwbacks.
Bonfouca Trout
Danile Sissac lay out a full spread from Bayou Bonfouca Daniel Sissac hasn’t been fishing in a while and wanted to get out on the water with his father Roger, to catch “whatever” he could catch. The father and son team started 100 meters where Bayou Liberty and Bonfouca meet and started catching speckled trout in the middle of the bayou as they worked there way north. “We caught a few trout and bass within a hundred meters of the feeder that splits Bonfouca and Liberty, then nothing. We kept moving but couldn't find any more trout so we went to one of our bream spots,” Daniel says. Roger brought some live crickets and they started catching bluegill further upriver. When they decided to head back to the camp they had 19 perch, 7 trout, 2 bass, and 1 catfish. Roger and Daniel then boiled up some crabs for lunch and enjoyed a relaxing day at the camp. But their day wasn’t over yet. During the crab boil they discussed heading out that evening to find some redfish and decided to make a quick run to one of their proven locations. “We hit a spot that was good to us in previous years and found that the reds were still there. We landed eight before we headed back to the camp. It was a fun day on the water, which I hadn't had in a long time - too long!” Daniel says.
Irish Bayou Redfish
Kevin Morris had speckled trout on his mind when he and a friend made an evening trip to Irish Bayou. They put their canoe in at the truck stop and paddled to a few spots but didn’t catch anything. "The lake was flat, so we decided to take the canoe through the lake to the rock-line a couple of miles away,” he says. They never got to the rocks because they found a cut with water coming out if it. “We ended with 7 beautiful redfish, 18'' to 25'', a few bass, and also hooked into a bunch of ladyfish. All the fish were caught on dead shrimp under a cork, gold spoons, and Vudu Shrimp under a cork,” he says. Morris says the the redfish were a surprise to him and they saved the day. “While there were no signs of trout, it turned out to be a nice day. I never had that much luck with redfish in the Irish Bayou area,” he adds.
Irish Bayou Redfish
Kevin Morris had speckled trout on his mind when he and a friend made an evening trip to Irish Bayou. They put their canoe in at the truck stop and paddled to a few spots but didn’t catch anything. "The lake was flat, so we decided to take the canoe through the lake to the rock-line a couple of miles away,” he says. They never got to the rocks because they found a cut with water coming out if it. “We ended with 7 beautiful redfish, 18'' to 25'', a few bass, and also hooked into a bunch of ladyfish. All the fish were caught on dead shrimp under a cork, gold spoons, and Vudu Shrimp under a cork,” he says. Morris says the the redfish were a surprise to him and they saved the day. “While there were no signs of trout, it turned out to be a nice day. I never had that much luck with redfish in the Irish Bayou area,” he adds.
Kevin Morris finds redfish in Irish Bayou
Sac-a-lait Seminar
For those interested in learning more about how to fish for crappie there will be a sac-a-lait seminar held at Fat Jack’s Restaurant in Slidell on Saturday, October 6 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Avid crappie angler John Guillot will host the event. Food and drinks will be served. Also a free raffle will be held. To reserve a spot please visit NorthshoreFishingReport.com for tickets.
