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Rare Fish Makes
Appearance on Northshore  Keith Lusher
The Tchefuncte River is home to many species of fish. From crappie to catfish, the deep winding river offers anglers a variety of fish to catch. Logan Gautreaux of Folsom has been fishing the river and on his latest trip caught a fish that he’s never seen before.
 The spots on the scales of the shadow bass are triangular while the similar rock bass has rectangular spots on its scales.
“I was walking the shallows catching mostly sunfish and then I caught a fish that I’ve never seen in Louisiana,” he said. The fish jogged his memory back to a time when he lived in Pennsylvania. “I thought it was a rock bass because of the red eyes and camouflage pattern on its body,” Gautreaux said. Research later showed it to actually be something called a Shadow Bass. These bass are more prominent in northern Louisiana because they prefer moving water over substrate that is silt free. The label of “bass” can be misleading as they are actually in the sunfish family. Gautreaux caught the fish on a small jig in a shallow stream that feeds into the river.
 Todd Oalman caught this shadow bass in the Tchefuncte River
Todd Oalman has fished the Northshore for over 30 years and said he’s never caught a Shadow Bass. On his latest trip to the Tchefuncte he caught a one of these fish and was puzzled by it. “It looked like a sac-a-lait but had bright red eyes and splotches of black on the fin tips like a goggle eye. I thought it was a sac-a-lait and goggle eye mixed,” Oalman said. He did some research on the internet but couldn’t find any information on the fish and decided to check with a friend that worked for Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. “He told me that it was a Shadow Bass which is a first for me,” he said. Time will tell if these fish are making their was south as numerous anglers are reporting catching these fish where they’ve never caught them before.
Rain Effects
The effects from the three straight weeks of rain is being felt throughout the Lake Pontchartrain Basin. Anglers are reporting high muddy water that is effecting the fishing and crabbing across the Northshore. Salinity reports in the lake are at 0 Parts Per Thousand which translates to completely fresh water. 
Not only is Lake Pontchartrain struggling but Lake Borgne is registering low as well. The USGS Water Gauge at the Rigolets near Hwy 90 in Slidell recently posted a reading of 0 PPT which is something that most anglers that fish the area have never witnessed before. Sam Coco Jr fishes the area and said the fishing has been awful for him so he checked the gauge to see what the gauge read. “I was shocked to see the level at zero. I don’t ever remember seeing it that low,” Coco said.
Tournament Results Bass Assassins held its tournament at Crawford’s Landing on the West Pearl River. The rain made it difficult for the 12 anglers that competed as only half of the field brought fish in to the scales. 
Jay Breland
In the end it was Jay Breland who took the win with 5 fish that weighed 10 lbs. 11 oz. Breland also won the big fish award with a 4 lb. 3 oz. kicker fish. John Andrews placed second with a 5-fish limit that weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. In third place was Donnie Bergeron with a 7 lb. 2 oz. 5-fish bag.
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 Keith Lusher
I created NFR.com in the spring of 2012. Since then it has helped link Northshore fishermen to valuable information and has filled the void of absent information on the web about fishing on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Northshore Fishing Report has morphed into a brand name and can be found not only on the web, but on radio and newspaper. As NFR grows I will continue to work hard at keeping NFR local focusing on local anglers, reports, seminars, and fishing tournaments in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parish. I hope you enjoy the website and If you have any questions please email me at: Keith@NorthshoreFishingReport.com
Look for the Northshore Fishing Report publication every Thursday in The Slidell Independent Weekly Newspaper!
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Eric Ciko joins the NFR Studio by phone to talk about his win in the Liars and Lunker's Thursday evening tournament on Lock One and bass fishing on the East Pearl River.
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