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Sac-a-lait Spawn Coming to an End
 Keith Lusher
As the sac-a-lait spawn sputters out it’s typical for the bluegill spawn to begin for us here on the Northshore. Anglers are reporting perch in the shallows and are taking advantage of the shoreline bite. With the kids out of school now is the perfect opportunity to make a trip as catching perch will never be as easy as it is this month. Wooded shorelines and dead-end canals are your best bet in April as perch are making there beds in areas where water movement is at a minimum. Using live crickets or worms rigged 2 feet under a cork is your best bet but don’t forget about the flies. This month is a great month to break out the fly rod and use a small floating popping bug to target large bream in the shallows. With the lack of rain you should be able to spot sandy banks along the shoreline where the fish are bedding.
Tickfaw River Martin Duvic fishes for sac-a-lait on the Tickfaw and has been catching a lot of sac-a-lait. “The water is pretty on the river right now,” he says. Martin has been having success catching sac-a-lait tight lining black, green, and chartreuse colored tube jigs. Lately he’s been catching a lot more perch however, including one that measured 10 inches. “There’s plenty of perch biting. I caught a few chinquapin in one spot. One of them possible world record fish,” Duvic jokes. 
Duvic's 10" chinquapin
Pond Perch Not only are the perch biting in the rivers and bayous on the Northshore, the ponds and lakes are showing signs of producing good numbers in the shallows. Neil Carey of Covington fished a private pond and says “The bull bream are definitely on their beds now.” Neil was using a 4 weight fly rod with a popping bug and in a short time caught 15 perch all from 7-9 inches. “It’s a lot of fun using that lightweight rod,” Carey says. Sac-a-lait Moving Deep Rex and Miriam Davey live on Bayou Lacombe but missed the sac-a-lait spawn because they were out of town a few weeks. When they returned they made a trip on the Bayou to try their luck at catching a few crappie. They started fishing the shallows where they thought the fish might be but soon realized that they weren’t there. “They are not right up on the bank, but seem to be hanging around the first or second underwater ledge,” Miriam says. After locating the fish they started fishing deeper and that’s when the couple started catching fish. “We casted a few feet from the cypress trees and vegetation and quickly worked the jigs back toward the boat. I used a cork and Rex was tight-lining. It seems like the sac-a-lait are out from the bank at least 20-30 feet,” Davey says. Rex and Miriam were using Bobby Garland jigs in the Monkey Milk color. Miriam recommends using a leader if you try for sac-a-lait in Bayou Lacombe. “The water is clear in the bayou right now so using a very thin fluorocarbon leader helps to not spook the fish when. Thin line makes it important to play the fish rather than horse them in, which I tend to do,” She jokes.  Miller caught this goggle-eye in a canal just off of the Tickfaw River
Tickfaw River Goggle-eye
Ray Miller and Jeremy Glascock are two seasoned sac-a-lait anglers that fish the Tickfaw River often. They have been having success catching sac-a-lait in the shallows and hoped to find them there once again. “We hit several spots but just couldn’t get on the bite. We even tried scanning some lay-downs but just couldn’t find them,” Miller says. Finally the team decided to move into a canal off of the main river where they could target the goggle-eye. “We put on some tiny jigs under a cork and the fun began! They seemed to be in front of just about every cypress tree we came across. We had a ball catching some really nice thick goggle-eye,” Ray says. |
 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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