Keith Lusher, Jr Springtime is upon us and now that we have all “sprung forward’ and survived the loss of a precious hour of sleep, it’s time to get out on the water to take advantage of the warming waters and stout fishing that is happening all across the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain. The bridges in Lake Pontchartrain are starting to produce speckled trout and the bass spawn is in full swing providing anglers their best chance for that coveted trophy bass.
Trestles
The speckled trout have finally started to show up along the bridges in Slidell. Lake Pontchartrain fisherman have endured a long, miserable winter that completely shut down the trout bite and for the first time in months anglers are starting to see those yellow mouths appear around the concrete pylons that support the Hwy 11 Bridge. Ty Hibbs has been fishing the Trestles this past week and says that the warmer weather is helping but they’re still not seeing the limits come just yet. “We’re catching some nice trout but we’re not seeing limits just yet. You can catch 10-15 on a good day and they’re all solid 1-3 lb. fish with the occasional 4 lber. The lake is known for its big specks so you know you’re always going to have a chance at a big trout in Lake Pontchartrain,” Ty says. Another fish that is synonymous with fishing the bridges are those big Lake Pontchartrain doormats that anglers often come across unintentionally. Hibbs recommends fishing the west side of the bridge when the weather starts to warm up in the spring.
Causeway
Raymond Chapman and his Causeway speck The 24-mile reef knows as the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway has been producing big trout with the warm-up and the fishing along the bridge looks to only get better as water temperatures improve. Darren Digby recently fished the bridge and says trolling seems to be putting bigger fish in the boat. We didn't catch a lot of fish but the quality was solid. Overall it was pretty slow but out of six trout we ended up catching, two of them were around 4 lbs., three weighed about 2-3 lbs., and the biggest one was a personal best for me that weighed over 5 lbs. on the Boga Grip,” Digby said. Brightly colored Rat-L-Traps are always a popular trolling lure to use while dragging the Causeway.
Bayou Bonfouca
Bonfouca Spread Bass fishing is heating up along the Bayou Bonfouca shoreline and Daniel Sissac is taking advantage of the great top-water action this month. One of the benefits of fishing in March is the cooler daytime temperatures that allow for bass to feed on the surface not only in the mornings, but the throughout the day as well. On Daniel’s most recent trip he got out on the water late but it didn’t matter. The bass were still plowing his top-water lures! “Although we had a late start, I figured it would be in our favor by giving the water a chance to warm a bit. We started trolling the shoreline, and it didn't take long for us to find fish. We worked our way down the bank and realized and interesting pattern forming. It was the middle of the day, but we were catching fish on top water lures,” Daniel said. At the end of the day Daniel and his friend ended up catching over 30 bass with 16 of them being keepers. Daniel says the top-water bait he was using was a plastic frog but they also did quite well with chrome and black colored Rat-L-Traps.
Frog Rodeo
The 1st ever Madisonville Frog Rodeo will take place March 29-30 on the Madisonville River Front. Contestants may sign in from 12 pm. - 6 pm. on March 29th. The weigh-in will take place on March 30th from 6 am. - 12 pm. For more information please contact Misty at 985-390-7338 or Keith at 903-780-2208.
