Bass at the Locks
As largemouth bass expand their territory into what was typical saltwater fishing areas, anglers are following after. Dustin Touchet of Slidell made a trip to the Violet Locks, but instead of the typical saltwater fishing gear, Dustin packed his favorite bass lures in an attempt to strictly target largemouth bass. After a 30 minute drive from Slidell, He launched his 15’ flatboat off of Paris Road in Bayou Bienvenue. After a quick run down the Dike canal, He arrived at the locks as the sun was coming up. Before fishing the locks he decided to fish a rock shoreline using a XPS Z-Pop. On his first cast a bass exploded on his lure and made a run towards the rocks where the line popped. “That’s a great way to start the day!” Dustin joked.
He tied on another Z-Pop and started throwing it along the rocks. Dustin picked up 4 bass and then decided to fish the actual locks.
He found a corner of water tucked between the wall and a cement lined shoreline barrier that slanted into the water. The current formed an eddy in the corner but was significantly calmer than the main canal. “The water was pouring out of the lock!” Touchet says. Dustin started getting hits on almost ever cast and remained in the protected corner for about an hour until the bite died down. He made a move to the inside of the lock where he positioned his boat in another corner where the sloped cement met the Lock. He changed his lure as well tying on a curly tail Saltwater Assassin in the Salt and Pepper color.
“They were smashing that bait along those rocks!” Touchet had a limit of fish but stayed to catch more. “I caught 15 nice bass keeping my limit and throwing back the fish over 2 pounds.” he says.
Between fishing the inside and the outside of the locks, the outside along the MRGO produced more fish than the inside. He says to be ready to deal with a strong current if you head down to the locks. “The tide was coming in hard through the locks making it difficult to stay in one place so I definitely recommend having a good trolling motor when trying to fish around the locks.” Baitfish Everywhere Blaine Rozas lives in Lacombe and knows when the shrimp start popping on the surface of the water, the specks are not far behind. He made a quick afternoon trip and started fishing the grass flats along the shoreline near the mouth of Bayou Lacombe. He was using an H&H #4 gold blade with Matrix Shad and caught two keeper redfish. Blaine says the baitfish and shrimp are everywhere! “There were shrimp skipping the surface being chased by fish and pogies were flying out the water,” he says. Anglers are reporting a lot of hardheads in Lake Pontchartrain, Rozas says he can attest to this because it was the first time he’s ever caught a hardhead on a top-water Mirr-O-Dine lure. Even though he wasn’t able to catch any speckled trout Blaine says he knows it won’t be long before they move in. “I haven't found any specks along the shorelines of the lake but I have no doubt they’re coming with all the shrimp I am seeing. Fall is getting closer and some good fishing to go with it!” he says. Tournament Results The Liars and Lunkers kicked off the 2020 Fall/Winter Series at the East Pearl River. 21 teams participated in the seasons first event. Some anglers fished on the far northern reaches of the Pearl River Basin, some fished as far away as Bayou Bienvenue, and others fished within a stones throw of the boat launch. The fish seemed to be biting all over as 14 teams weighed in solid limits of bass. The victory went to Eric Ciko with an impressive 12.20 pound bag of bass. Second place went to the father and son duo of Phil and Morgan Schutte with 10.98 pounds. They also had the days biggest bass, which topped the scales at 4.20 pounds. Third place went to James Harris and Chad Hartzog with 9.83 pounds. |
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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