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Causeway Specks and Reds
 Keith Lusher
The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is both feared and loved by anglers who fish the 24-mile reef. Anglers who frequent the bridge know of its potential for producing big speckled trout. And with the improving conditions over the past few years, the bridge is returning to what it used to be.
George Patterson of Folsom was born and raised on the Northshore. He grew up off of Lake Road in Lacombe and has been fishing the Causeway for over 50 years. Patterson made a trip to the bridge to poke around to see if the redfish were biting like they did last year. He was fishing with his friend James Ratliff and his son Preston. The friends started fishing at 9 a.m. and were using Matrix Shad in the Tiger Bait color on a 1/2 oz. jighead. The fishing was slow to start out, but after the tide turned, the action picked up. "The fishing didn't turn on until about 11:30. That's when the tide changed to an incoming tide," he said. The friends began putting speckled trout in the boat, and Patterson said they were big ones. "We only caught a few that were throwbacks with the biggest measuring 20 inches," he said. 
George Patterson and Preston Ratliff
As the team was catching specks, Patterson hooked into what he came to find: a 27-inch redfish. "We were using 30-pound braid and even with that, two reds broke us off," he said. The friends put two redfish in the boat and were well on their way to a limit when Patterson's ignition switch failed. "I'm sure we would have caught more if I were able to bounce around to look, but unfortunately, my ignition switch messed up and I had to get Sea Tow to come out and tow me back," he said. In the end, they were able to catch 22 speckled trout, 2 redfish, and a flounder. Patterson said he will be back fishing the bridge as soon as he gets his new ignition switch.
Four Flounder Mark Sagerholm has been targeting flounder in the waters around Fort Pike and the Highway 90 Bridge for years, and he knows that timing and tide changes can make all the difference. Last Monday, Sagerholm teamed up with his longtime fishing buddy Max Patrucco to fish what they called "The Golden Triangle" - a circuit featuring Hogtrack Lagoon, the Highway 90 Bridge, and Double Bayou. They started fishing the bridge but only caught gaff-tops, catfish, and hardheads, so they made a move to Fort Pike. As the two kayakers reached their destination, the tide shifted. "The tide turned from an outgoing tide to incoming," he said. The move paid off when they began working dropshot rigs and cork-rigged shrimp along the rocky shoreline. As they were fishing, they each deadsticked a cork and Cocahoe minnow out of the back of their kayaks. 
About 5 minutes went by, and Sagerholm's cork went under, and after a brief fight, he landed the first flounder of the day. "Something hungry tugged my cork under like the Jaws shark pulling under a float," he said. Patrucco quickly followed with two more flounder, and Sagerholm added another after switching to live shrimp.
The heat drove them off the water by 1:30 p.m., but not before they had boated four keeper flounder. |
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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