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Meager Tide in the Marsh
 Keith Lusher
It’s no secret that a large tidal range is great for catching fish. Moving water tends to stir up the baitfish which groups the shad tighter, along with the fish. But what about fishing on days with a small tidal range?
I made a trip with Danny Hunter of New Orleans Best Charters where we were faced with just that predicament. Our day began at 6:00 a.m. I met Hunter at Rigolet's Marina in Slidell, and after a 25-minute boat ride to the marsh near Proctor’s Point, we were casting just as the sun peeked over the horizon. 
Everything seemed perfect. A forecasted high of 75 degrees. No chance of rain. Winds 8-10 MPH. There was only one thing that had us worried — the tide. It was forecasted to be a meager 0.5 feet. After fishing the marsh for an hour, it became obvious that the lack of tide was going to be a problem for us on this day.
As we bounced around looking for moving water and baitfish, the day wore on and it became clear that we needed to enact a “Plan B”. “On days like this, where the tide is non-existent, I like to think of spots that I’ve fished in the past where there is a lot of current during a normal tide range,” he said. “Those are the spots that I know will produce current even with a meager tide range.”
We made a run out of Lake Borgne and up Bayou Bienvenue. After a 10-minute boat ride north to the Chalmette Wall, Hunter pointed towards one of the bulkheads attached to the wall. "There is always water moving through these man-made openings in the wall, so on days with a light tide, I know there will still be water flowing through these openings," Hunter said.
As we looked around the area, we spotted baitfish skipping across the surface of the water. Hunter cast out and started bouncing a 3.5-inch Finger Lure rigged on a drop-shot rig. Before I could make my first cast, he reared back and set the hook. "There he is! They're here," he said. 
Hunter reeled in a 15-inch speckled trout and the route was on! We were finally adding specks to the box and it was all due to Hunter's move to an area where he knew there would be water moving. "Sometimes you can take a bad situation and use it to eliminate water," he said. "If the water is dead because there is no wind or tide, it may be as easy as finding one spot with moving water that leads to success."
Marker 54 Shrimp
Every season it seems there is a new hot bait that everyone is using to put speckled trout in the box. Over the summer, we’ve seen the Marker 54 Artificial Shrimp explode onto the scene after producing trout and bass. Adrias Mier of Slidell started using the shrimp lures and is now a firm believer in the shrimp. “We are usually live bait fishermen but these things are amazing,” he said. “My mom fished all summer and never used one piece of live bait.” While the lures are hard to find in the tackle shops, Mier said Gus’ Tackle & Nets just received a shipment and are fully stocked. |
 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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