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Watch Those Sweet Gum's
 Keith Lusher
With fall on the doorstep it’s important to know how to recognize the changes that come along with it. When summer turns into autumn, the larger shad start to move from their summertime locations in the deeper sections of the rivers into the shallows. Small cuts and canals with vegetation suddenly becomes alive with baitfish.
John Fulton has been fishing on the Northshore since 1973 and is intimately familiar with the waterways that span St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parish. “The T-Funk, Bonfouca, The Pearls, The Tangi, Liberty, The Tick…oh I love bass fishing on all of them!” Fulton says. John fishes for bass year round, but there’s one particular time of year that he cherishes. “I love bass fishing in the fall. There’s just something about this time of year and what it does to the fish,” he says. While a fair amount of bass anglers will agree with him that fall is a great time to bass fish on the Northshore, their definition of fall might not line up with what Fulton’s. Yes, it’s true that fish are reactive to the cooler temperatures that are associated with Autumn, but it’s also true that the angle of the sun plays a major role in flipping the so called “switch” that bass are waiting for to tell them that fall is on the way. “If you recall last year - We didn’t get a front until October, but I can remember fishing Bayou Lacombe and those leaves where falling in September! Trees have a timetable that’s not 100% dependent on air temperature and so do fish,” John says.  Sweet Gum's are often identified by there spiney seeds they drop
So how does the seasoned bass angler know when to switch gears into his fall fishing pattern?
It’s simple, he watches the Gum Trees. John owns 23 acres in Folsom and says it’s the Sweet Gum’s that tell him when fall is here. “I have three Gum’s in my front yard and every week during the summer when I cut the grass underneath them there aren’t any leaves. Then all of a sudden one day in early September My Dixie’s chopping up yellow and orange leaves that are falling from the trees,” he says. The reason for this is that trees respond to the duration of daylight, and will start to lose leaves when the days are shorter even if temperatures have not yet fallen. In the Northern Hemisphere summer ends and autumn starts at the moment of the September Equinox which occurs every year between September 21 and 24, but for John, “I just watch those sweet gum’s!” Lake Pontchartrain Blaine Rozas of Lacombe got an early start on Bayou Lacombe. He launched his 14' Xpress Flatboat at the end of Lake Road and started fishing the grass along the shoreline before the sun came up. Rozas was using a top-water frog and caught two chunky bass. “Both were beautiful blowups right at the edge of the grass,” he says. The bite didn’t last long however as the sun came up. Blaine wasn’t able to garner any more strikes so he decided to head into Lake Pontchartrain to fish the grass beds there. “I picked up a 19-inch red on a gold spinnerbait with Matrix Green Hornet and had two other reds swirl, hit, and miss,” Rozas says. With the clean saltier water that has been pushed into the lake recently there has been an increase in the batfish. One thing that Blaine observed is the large schools of pogies skipping across the water which is a good sign for fall fishing in the Lake. Along with the increase in baitfish, comes other less attractive residents. Blaine warns those who wade fishing along the shoreline from Bayou Lacombe to Goose Point, “Anyone wade fishing need to be aware! I saw 5 stingrays on the bottom.  Brandon Mohren
Tournament Results
It was a very busy day at the Bayou Lacombe boat launch at Main St as the Bass Assassins gathered to fish their latest tournament. Not only were there tournament anglers but the beautiful weather brought other boaters and kayakers to the launch as well. While the weather was good, fishing wise, the day proved to be a rough one. Out of the 20 anglers only 11 weighed fish. No matter how tough it is, it seems someone always figures out how to catch fish. Brandon Mohren brought a 5-fish limit that totaled 10 lbs. 8 oz. to the scales for the easy win. Brandon also took the big fish of the day with his 4 lbs. 12 oz. kicker fish. In second was Josh Endman with 4 fish totaling 7 lbs. 5 oz. Jake McCutcheon took home third with 4 fish totaling 7 lbs. |
 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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Joe Picone joins the NFR Studio by phone to discuss the new improvements to the East Pearl River Boat Launch.
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The Marsh Martian Cory Labostrie joins the NFR Studio by phone to talk "Pushin' for Crabs" in Lake Pontchartrain.
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Dustin Touchet of Magnolia Outdoors joins the NFR Studio by phone to discuss his latest trip to Bayou Cane.
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Keith Lusher and Chris Basey review the past reports on NFR. Also introduce a new drawing for fishing reporters on the site.
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