 Keith Lusher
November is one of the most productive months for speckled trout anglers across South Louisiana. Cooling water temperatures mixed with a plethora of shrimp often result in limits of specks being caught. And while the fishing is good in most areas, Lake Borgne leads the way when it comes to production...read more!
I recently made a trip with Danny Hunter of New Orleans Best Charters and Sully Vullo of Blue Collar Baits to Lake Borgne to learn more about the lake and what makes it come alive in November. We started our day cruising across Lake Catherine in the fog. The winds were non-existent which made for a smooth ride but when we arrived at our first spot, the lack of winds combined with minimal tide range made for some stagnant conditions.
Captain Danny pointed out a school of baitfish scattering across the surface near the shoreline and we began casting. Hunter and Vullo were using a Finger Lure which is a 3.5-inch plastic paddle tail. They were using the Kai Dog color which is pink with blue flakes. I was throwing the Head Hunter color which is light chartreuse and white, however, I wasn’t using a cork.
 Keith Lusher reels in the first trout of the day
We worked our way down the shoreline but nobody caught for nearly 20 minutes. I was jigging my lure on a 1/2 oz. jighead and decided to change up my presentation by casting out and reeling in. That was the ticket as on the first retrieve I witnessed a 14” speck swim up from behind and inhale my Finger Lure. I continued the cast-and-retrieve method and followed up with five more specks along the shoreline. “It's good to start out the day using different color baits and different presentations so that you can broaden your chances of finding the pattern,” Hunter said. After homing in on the color and presentation the fish wanted, all three of us began catching specks. We ended up with nine trout at our first spot along the Northern shoreline of Lake Borgne and decided to make a run to the mouth of Bayou Bienvenue.
 Sully Vullo caught this trout on a 3.5" Finger Lure
The water was clean there and a slight breeze which helped with water movement. As we cast towards the rocks, Vullo set the hook on a fish and began to reel him in. “I thought it was a red it was pulling so hard,” he said. As he reeled the fish in he saw a silver flash; that’s when he knew it was a trout. Vullo boat-flipped the fish and measured it. The trout totaled 18 inches and after a few pictures of Vullo with the fish, we all resumed casting and retrieving. No more than 10 minutes went by and I set the hook on what would be another 18-inch trout, and after battling the fish I was able to land it and quickly toss it into the box. By now the atmosphere was jovial as high fives and laughter filled the air. But the day wasn’t over as Hunter leaned back and as his rod bowed over. “This is a good fish,” he said.
 Danny Hunter is all smiles with this 19-inch trout
as the fish broke the surface and thrashed around shaking its head back and forth. Hunter got it near the boat and plopped a 19-inch speck onto the bow after launching it into the air. We fished the day with a healthy box of trout and while the conditions were less than optimal we were still able to put a nice box of fish together with some studs mixed in.
With the mild temperatures that look to continue through the rest of the month Lake Borge should produce healthy catches of speckled trout into December,” Hunter said. 
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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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Ron Hindman of Slidell joins the NFR Studio to talk about his 11-pound trophy bass he caught in the West Pearl River
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