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Deep Jigging the River
 Keith Lusher
With the colder temperatures blanketing the Northshore, November marks the beginning of a transition period for sac-a-lait into deeper water. Matt Schwierjohn recently moved from the Northsore to Raceland, but had to make a return trip back to one of his favorite sac-a-lait fishing tributaries — The Tchefuncte RIver. As Schwierjohn made his way up-river he spotted a group of crappie in 25 feet of water. Schwierjohn uses Garmin electronics with the ECHOMAP 93SV for GPS, side scan and down scan. On his bow, he operates a Garmin GPSMAP 1022. The 28-year-old said that his setup has become invaluable when targeting sac-a-lait in deeper water.
Schwierjohn fumbles for a net for this a Tchefuncte River slab on the end of his line
 Schwierjohn caught this sac-a-lait in deep water off of a lay-down
When he reached his first spot Shwierjohn lowered down a Bobby Garland jig but couldn’t get the fish to bite. After 15 minutes of trying different color jigs, he decided to try another spot further north. As he approached the underwater structure his fish finder lit up with activity. He again lowered down his jig but the fish seemed disinterested. After relocating to another spot Schwierjohn was able to start catching fish, albeit slowly. He ended the day with 13 fish but admittedly was puzzled by the lack of interest the crappie had for his jig. “Every lay-down in 20-25 feet of water had fish on it. This was the most fish I’ve ever seen schooled up on the river. For some reason they weren’t hungry today,” he said. With the crappie moving into deeper water Scwierjohn said this is his favorite time to target the fish. “I find that they tend to group up tighter and I’m able to catch more fish fishing less spots,” he said.
Catfish Surprise
Jim Bates of Lacombe is new to sac-a-lait fishing. He’s been fishing Bayou Lacombe lately and slowly learning how to read his new Garmin LiveScope fish finder. On his latest trip to Bayou Lacombe he was fishing the southern half of the bayou. “I was catching a few fish here and there and then I found a spot where I caught 4 in a row,” Bates said. As he picked up momentum he stopped at a spot where he spotted sac-a-lait grouped on some underwater structure.  Two catfish were a nice bonus to the sac-a-lait Bates caught in Bayou Lacombe
He witnessed something that he’s never seen before. “There were some big fish chasing the sac-a-lait off of the structure,” he said. Bates admittedly got mad but then decided to target the large fish. “I switched to the regular rod and reel I usually use for saltwater fishing and cut the head off one of my sac-a-lait in the live well,” he said. I watched several small fish hit the bait and then I watched what looked like a train moving directly to my suspended sac-a-lait head. It swam past it a few times then BOOM! — all heck broke loose!” Bates reeled in a 15-pound catfish. “I baited back up with a smaller piece of dead bait and caught a few smaller catfish and then BOOM! I watched a 5 lb. catfish eat the suspended bait,” he said. Bates ended the day with 2 catfish and 8 sac-a-lait
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 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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Mike Maggio joins the studio by phone to talk about the results of the T-Joes Invitational held at Island Marina of Lake Catherine
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