Big Beautiful Bass
5-year-old Russ Ledet of Lacombe has been fishing with his dad, Jason, ever since he could hold a fishing pole. Jason says Russ reminds him a lot of himself at that age. “I think I’ve been fishing since before I could walk,” Jason says.
Since moving to Lacombe in 2016 Russ has been adding notches to his junior sized belt. He’s already caught his first sac-a-lait, perch, and his first speckled trout all by himself by age 3. But Russ has never caught a bass before. That is, until his latest trip with his dad. The father-son team made a fishing trip on Bayou Lacombe in which Russ knew the routine. “We tied the boat off and and started fishing with shiners 2 ft. under a cork like we usually do when fishing for sac-a-lait,” Ledet says. Jason reached down into the bait bucket and put a shiner on Russ’ hook and youngster casted towards the bank. “Within a few seconds he was goofing off with some lures in my tackle box - paying no attention to his line when I saw his cork slowly pull under, and just that quick I was hollering you got one! You got one! grab your pole!” says Jason. As soon as Russ felt the tension on the line his face lit up and he started reeling. Neither of them were able to see what kind of fish it was until Jason was able to scoop it up in the net. That was when Russ took the opportunity to inform Jason that what he caught was a bass - “A Big Beautiful Bass,” Russ said. The team stayed and fished for a while longer and caught a few more sac-a-lait. Then they headed home with their catch. “All I got to hear about was how he beat me this trip with his "big beautiful bass”, says Jason Trestles Still Producing December is one of those months that can be down right cold even here in South Louisiana, fortunately for anglers who fish Lake Pontchartrain for speckled trout, this year has been relatively mild. Ronald Vincent of Slidell made a trip to the Trestles train bridge with a friend and says the water temperature was warm enough (58 degrees) that the trout were still biting at the bridge. The wind was blowing hard which made it hard to maneuver but they managed to catch 40 trout using plastics. The friends tried numerous spots but says all of the fish were caught around the 174 mile marker. Ronnie says it was hard to call it quits being so close to 50 but the conditions were too rough. “We probably could have finished out our limit but we got tired of fighting the wind,” he says. Letter to Santa
In the world of crappie fishing, electronics play a vital role in whether you catch fish or not. Mike Manzella of Madisonville witnessed first hand how important a good fish finder is on his latest trip to the Tchefuncte River. Mike joined sac-a-lait veteran Ray Miller on his latest trip in which Miller showed him the power of a good fish finder. “I got a great lesson today today in electronics and crappie behavior. We saw fish in 10’-12’ of water and started catching them. We even saw some 15’ down on the screen,” says Manzella. They ended the day with 16 sac-a-lait, one of them being a 16” slab that weighed 1.9 lbs. that Ray pulled out of a fallen tree-top in the main river. “ It was a great trip plus I've got some new items to put in my letter to Santa!” Mike says. Upcoming Tournaments Liar’s and Lunker’s is holding its next tournament at the East Pearl River on December 29. For more information please contact Chad Hartzog at 985-502-3217. |
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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