Keith Lusher With the explosion of private property signs popping up across the Northshore, it’s hard for fishermen to know what’s legally posted waterways and what’s not. Chris Basey of Covington was fishing a bass tournament in the Lower Pearl River and says he was infuriated when he spotted a “Keep Out” sign on top of a Louisiana Wildlife Refuge sign. “It took me by surprise. I rode around to check the other LWF signs to see if that one was real and it checked out,” Chris says. Of all the refuge signs that he checked, they all had one thing in common, they were all contained concrete pillars.
Brad Kemp of the US Fish and Wildlife Service says they see it occurs more than you think. “I get it all the time out there on the Pearl. People are are very territorial. You take somebody that’s been hunting a certain public area and they feel like it’s their spot,” he says. Kemp reminds people that all Federal and State Wildlife areas are public and open for the sportsmen of Louisiana to use and that posting any other signs on state or federal signs will be dealt with accordingly. “It’s interfering with the public access to enjoy public land and that’s a pretty good charge,” he says.
Made in the Shade
George Seymour of Slidell didn’t expect to catch many fish on his latest trip to Bayou Liberty. In fact, fishing wasn’t a priority on this day. George needed to perform some maintenance work on his trailer so he backed the boat down at the Bayou Liberty launch and worked on his trailer for a while. After completing his objective he had some time and decided to take a boat ride on the bayou. “I did a little exploring to the north while the trailer was drying off and found a tree shading a big spot,” he says. George decided to try for some perch with a jig under a cork and soon found himself catching fish one after the other. His time was limited so he left the shady spot and returned the next day with worms and says, “It was nonstop for 3 hours! I threw back some that were too small and threw back even more because I didn't want to clean them,” he jokes. George managed 24 keeper bluegill mixed with lake runners, 1 catfish, and 1 goggle-eye.
George says the tree will be on his list of favorite spots to fish on Bayou Liberty. “Money might not grow on trees but apparently perch do!” he adds.
Lake Pontchartrain Algae Bloom
As seen in previous years, numerous local media outlets report of “possible toxic bacteria” that “may” develop as a result of the influx of river water into Lake Pontchartrain. However the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation hasn’t found any presence of Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB’s) in the Lake or any other waterways. The LPBF monitors the lake weekly and says they have been on high alert for potentially harmful algae and will continue to monitor and advise the public if any precautions need to be taken.
| Robert Perilloux of Mandeville joins the NFR Studio by phone to talk about his latest trip to the Tulane Rig in where he caught redfish and drum. | Chad Hartzog of Liar's and Lunkers Bass Tournament joins the NFR Studio by phone to talk about the upcoming Kids Fishing Tournament at Lock #1 | Keith interview Peter Bertucci about his recent bass fishing trip on the Tchefuncte River where he found bass busting on shad. |
