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Recovery on the Tickfaw
 Keith Lusher
The effects of Hurricane Ida are slowly eroding away across the Northshore and that includes the heavily effected Tickfaw River. The storm induced a massive fish kill that wiped out fishing for the first few months after the storm. Robert Gauley of Maurepas fishes the Tickfaw and can attest to the damage after the storm. Gauley made a trip after the storm and came up empty so he a was forced to fish further east. He ended up making a trip to Bayou Lacombe in November. It is there that he did much better.
 Laitin Gauley with a slab caught in the Tickfaw River
“I ended up with about 30 which I decided to transplant into the Tickfaw in hopes that maybe they’ll be fruitful and multiply,” he said. Gauley decided after a few more months to make a trip back to the Tickfaw to see how the recovery was going. He was fishing with his son, Laitin, and said the first thing he noticed was baitfish on his electronics. “There were millions of shad out there,” he said. Gauley started tight-lining a Bobby Garland jig in the Bone White color while his son used a Bobby Garland in Bluegrass color. They were fishing in 12-14 feet of water. “Much to our surprise we caught 13 and they were all monsters,” he said. Gauley said the bite was very aggressive. “They would attack anything that was swimming by,” he said. Gauley’s report lines up with other anglers reports that show a recovery for the Tickfaw River and if the past is any indicator of the future, next fall should prove to be a solid year with the bumper crop we’ve seen this past spring.
First Flounder James Bates made a trip to Bayou Lacombe with his Grandson, Austin. The team launched at the end of Lake Road and started setting out nets near the mouth of the bayou because they couldn’t get into the lake. “The wind was howling and white caps were breaking against the shoreline,” Bates said. 
 Austin and James with their Bayou Lacombe catch
They set out 18 nets baited with fish heads and then headed into the bayou for some fishing. They were using dead shrimp on the bottom and ended up catching 7 bluecats, 2 croaker, and two flounder. Bates said the flounder was his grandsons first but he almost lost it. “He almost lost it next to the boat because he thought it was stingray,” Bates said. “he was about to cut his line instead of bringing it into the boat when I noticed that it wasn’t a stingray.” The trip provided numerous meals for the Bates family. “We boiled the crabs that night and the next day I fried up the catfish for my bride. I made an artichoke stuffing mix with shrimp to stuff the flounders with.”
Tournament Results
PRTT held their tournament at the East Pearl River which was finally under 10 feet. At the end of the day it was Tony Cooper and Corey Wheat who came out on top with a 5-fish stringer weighing 12.15 pounds. The father and son team of Dennis and Wesley Campbell won second place with a limit that weighed 11.3 pounds. Team Campbell also had the big bass of the day: a 4.13 pound fish. Third place went to Jay Breland and Timmy Dickens with 9.8 pounds. The Double Nickel Bass Club fished the East Pearl as 19 anglers showed up to fish a hard incoming tide on a beautiful warm day. At the weigh-in it was James Harris who came out on top with a 7.67-pound bag of fish. Tommy Watkins came in second place with a 3-fish limit that weighed 7.07 pounds. Watkins also caught the big fish of the day - a 3.47 pound fish. Guy Stegall placed third with a limit weighing 6.79 pounds. 
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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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Max Patrucco of Slidell joins the NFR Studio by phone to talk about his latest kayak trip in which he caught sheepshead at the Trestles.
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