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Cold Weather Crappie
 Keith Lusher
With the dip in temperatures sac-a-lait anglers are seeing a more concentrated grouping of the fish. Ray Miller made a trip to the Tchefuncte Rive to see if he could find a large school of fish. Ray has numerous spots in which he systematically targets so in January its just a matter of finding the right location. He was fishing with his friend Neil Landry on a bitterly cold morning. The team launched at the Madisonville Launch off of Hwy 22 and started fishing near the bridge. They slowly worked their way north but after a few minutes in the main river the wind was too much to bare. “It was so cold and the east wind was blowing so hard we couldn’t feel our fingers!” says Ray. The friends were forced to fish spots that were off of the main river because of the wind. At their first two stops they couldn’t manage a fish and it looked like it was going to be one of those days but things turned around at their next stop.
 Miller caught this sac-a-lait on a Lil’ Hustler Scale Head tube jig
Ray was using a Lil’ Hustler Scale Head tube jig that was blue and chartreuse while Neil was using shiners. They were both using 10-foot jig poles and lowering their lines straight down into the submerged structure.
“On the third spot I dropped my jig and had a thump right away. I caught several in a row before Neil decided he needed to put on a jig,” Miller says. Neil tied on the same jig as Ray had on his line but it was a different color. “The sac-a-lait didn’t touch it! At that point I could have sold him one of my jigs,” Ray jokes. After Neil changed colors both of the fishermen started catching one after the other. After about an hour the action slowed down so they switched over to shiners and that seemed to do the trick! There was no definite pattern to the fish all day as the team picked up fish at different spots. “At some spots they wanted jigs and at other spots they wanted shiners,” says Miller. They were fishing in 20-25 feet of water lowering their lines 12-15-feet deep. They ended their day back at the launch with 42 keeper sac-a-lait. Ray says the water on the Tchefuncte River was cleaner than he expected. “The water has cleaned up a bit since last week but I suspect the upcoming weather will muddy it up again,” he says. 
Neil Landry and Ray Miller after a successful day on the Tchefuncte
Rainbow Trout It’s that time again! The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has stocked ponds in 17 locations across the state. There are 3 locations within an hours drive of the Northshore that anglers may be interested in. Those locations are Bogue Chitto State Park in Franklinton, Zemurray Park in Hammond, and BREC’s Burbank Park in Baton Rouge. Because the trout can survive in water temperature that re under 75 degrees LDWF is taking advantage of this time of year to stock the state with these fish that are non-native to the Gulf Coast. Anglers are encouraged to keep their catch so that the trout can be harvested before the water temperatures rise.  Rainbow trout empty out of a vinyl tube into a pond at BREC
While normal stocking typically resulted in the addition of rainbow’s under 1 pound, this year LDWF biologists suggest that the fish will be larger than normal. The average fish should over a pound they say.
In the past years BREC has held a fishing rodeo but due to the situation with COVID-19 they will not be hosting an in-person rodeo. Instead, they will hold a “tagged” fishing rodeo from December 17, 2020 to January 31, 2021. Anglers who catch a tagged fish are asked to take a photo of themselves and the tagged fish and email the photo to conservation@brec.org. Participants can only win one prize and each tagged fish can only be claimed once. The ponds are open to everyone but anglers 16 and older must posses a recreational fishing license. For those unfamiliar with rainbow trout, these fish can be caught on artificial lures. Small spinnerbaits or rooster-tails work best. You can also fish them under a cork as well. Some popular baits are individual kernels of corn, Berkley Power-Bait, and live minnows. |
 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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Captain Andy Jones of Wicked Charters joins the studio by phone to talk Causeway fishing and the improved saltwater bite in Lake Pontchartrain.
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