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Summertime Slabs on the East Pearl
 Keith Lusher
The Pearl River System is unarguably the most turbulent river system in the state of Louisiana. It’s muddy flowing waters not only are at the mercy of 450 miles worth of tributaries that feed into it, it also is subject to Lake Borgne’s tidal flow. John Guillot fishes the East Pearl River for sac-a-lait and is considered one of the most knowledgable sac-a-lait anglers on the river. I made a trip with Guillot in an attempt to learn more about crappie fishing on this unique river. Our day started at 7:30 in the morning, which isn’t the norm for Guillot. “I don’t usually start this early but lately the Navy has been running drills with their big boats and it wreaks havoc on the river,” he said. The military boats push such a wake that it throws waves onto the bank which stirs up the water.
Our first stop was south of Interstate 10 on the Pearl River
Fortunately we were able to beat the boats and head south below Interstate 10. We ducked into a canal on the Louisiana side of the river and started dropping our jigs down in 10 feet of water. The canal surprisingly had holes that were 20 feet deep so it was definitely capable of holding crappie. We spent an hour jigging and ended up with two decent sized sac-a-lait caught on a black and gray plastic micro-jig. “The water was beautiful in that canal but for some reason they just weren’t biting,” Guillot said. As we packed up and secured or rods Guillot said, “I know a few spots where I know there are fish.” The crappie veteran made a trip just two days before and it was those spots that Guillot made a bee-line for.
 This sac-a-lait was caught in 12 feet of water near a root-ball in the middle of a canal spilling out into the East Pearl
The first spot was up-river north of the Interstate; a section of the river known as “Wastehouse.” The water was dirty but this spot started producing fish just when the sun came out. John said the sun is your friend when fishing for sac-a-lait. “Those fish don’t tolerate sunlight well so when that sun is bright, they’ll head for shade,” he said. “So in a sense, the sun groups them up into the shady parts of the canal.” After putting 5 more fish in the boat we moved towards the back of Wastehouse and that’s were we found plenty of shade from the overhanging trees. We keyed in on a spot with a log slanting horizontally along the shoreline. Guillot pointed to the spot and said, “That spot is automatic.” He was right! I switched over to shiners under a slip cork and casted out next to the log.
 Guillot sets the hook on a sac-a-lait hiding in the shade
My cork shot under and I reeled in a 14-inch sac-a-lait. Guillot and I sat in that one spot and caught 15 more fish which were all over 10 inches, using shiners. “In August, If you’re not fishing with shiners, you’re not fishing,” Guillot said. We ended the day with 22 beautiful summertime sac-a-lait. Guillot said this is typically a time of the year where sac-a-lait are hard to come by, but things should start improving on the East Pearl River after the cool fronts start rolling in. John reminds folks that to keep in mid that the Navy runs their boats up and down the river on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s and to have a plan ready to find clean water off of the main river on those days.
Tournament Results  Eirc Ciko
Crawfords Landing on the banks of the roaring muddy West Pearl River was the site of the last Bass Assassins tournament. The 23 anglers that showed up to do battle were greeted with a fast rising river. Rising so fast that the graph on NOAA website made a one foot jump straight up overnight. Not an ideal situation for this river, however in this crowd of anglers there are some folks that know this river and how to catch them in any conditions it has to offer. As boat numbers were called one by one anglers took off up and down the river. The launch that was buzzing with activity was now dead quiet to the point you could hear the water flowing through the trees. When noon rolled around the launch came to life again as everyone was coming in and picking up. After the scales closed Eric Ciko ended up on top with his 9 lbs. 3 oz. limit. Following close behind in second is a well known Pearl River angler Steve Hadley who brought in a limit totaling 8 lbs. 14 oz. A four fish bag that weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. was brought in by Devin Artigue to claim third place. Devin's bag contained the big fish of the day which weighed 4 lbs. 11 oz. In fourth place we find Kerry Terrebonne with a 7 lbs. 3 oz. limit.
 Ronnie Roth and CJ Pichon
The Double Nickel Bass Club gathered on the banks of the East Pearl River to compete on a sunny morning. The river was high and muddy with a rising tide which made it tough for the 21 anglers who fished today. In the end it was Ronnie Roth who came out on top with a 3-fish stringer weighing 5.64 pounds. Roth also brought in the big fish of the day - a 3.07-pound bass. CJ Pichon took second place with a 3-fish limit weighing 5.24 pounds. In third place was Bob Perry who's 3 fish weighed 4.10 pounds. |
 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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Andy Jones of Wicked Charters joins Keith at the NFR Spring Seminar to talk about his latest fishing trips to Lake Pontchartrain.
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