March is here and with it comes the weekly warm-ups that come as a welcomed change for Lake Pontchartrain anglers in search of speckled Trout. The Causeway is synonymous with big trout and Mandeville fisherman Zack Liberto says the first installment of specks have moved in on the 24-mile reef. On his last trip to the Causeway, Zack and his uncle Gino caught 14 trout trolling and jigging along the pylons. “I’m not a big fan of trolling but while I was jigging and moving from pilling to pilling with the trolling motor,  my uncle decided to hang a MirrOlure off the back of the boat and it was engulfed within five minutes.

 We continued a trolling/jigging pattern for a few hours to finish with 14 specks, and all of them were beautiful size (14”-16”). We were trolling a red MirrOlure and jigging with Matrix Shad in just about any color,” Liberto says. With the water temperatures still in the 50’s, Zack says it’s important to slow everything down. “With the lower water temperatures, trolling slow was the key. Usually I like to stay around the 2 mph range, but we were only getting bites when we were using the trolling motor at a snail’s pace,” he says. Typically the bridge does better when the water temperatures reach the mid 60’s and Zack says he believes things are about to improve tremendously with the warmer temperatures forecasted. “The weather next week looks phenomenal! Sunny and getting up to 80 degrees -things in the lake are about to explode, “he says.



Pearl River Crawfish

With the recent rains that we have endured this month, crawfish farmers are grinning from ear to ear. The fields that they use are filling with water and along with the water, come the crawfish. Central Louisiana crawfish farmer Jared Allen says when it comes to the rice field crawfish “The more water we get means the earlier they come out and the faster they grow.” But what about those river crawfish. The Pearl River is a popular Northshore destination for people who run nets every spring. Mandeville resident, Tony Cyprus Jr. thinks there is such a thing as too much water. “I think the high water is a detriment when it comes to the Pearl River area. You don’t want it to be too high because that water will move through there and scatter them around,” Tony says. Cyprus says he likes to start running his nets after the Lenten holiday. “I like to wait for Good Friday. That’s when I usually kick things off,” he says. The Honey Island Swamp was good to Tony last year providing multiple sacks of big crawfish per trip and Tony says he expects the same this year. “I think it’s going to be a good year for crawfish. You just have to be patient and wait for more favorable conditions. The days are starting to get longer and that means warmer temperatures.  Also look for decent water levels. If there’s too much water flowing through there it can really affect your trip,” Cyprus says. 

For most Northshore bass anglers, fishing the Pearl River system can be a harrowing experience. Whether it’s the fluctuating water levels, muddy water, or tidal changes, one thing is for sure - It is truly one of the most polarizing places to fish in South Louisiana. And then there’s a little stretch of water near Hickory, often referred to by the locals a simply, Lock One.  “Lock One is actually a section of the Pearl River Navigational Canal that they used to bring timber to the paper mill in Bogalusa. It’s basically a ditch that, with a really long cast, you could throw across,” says Covington bass pro Jason Pittman. Like most bodies of water on the Northshore, the fish population in the canal took a big hit in 2006 when Katrina blew through. But unlike most rivers or bayous, there is something about this canal that prevented a natural replenishment of bass. The canal is basically land-locked, which prevents the new fish from naturally moving into it like other tributaries. “It was like fishing the Dead Sea,” Pittman says.

Things have changed considerably since the days after Katrina, however. Jason says that there is one group of guys that have a hand in the revival of the bass population on Lock One. “The resurgence is due in large part to that Liars and Lunkers group emphasizing the fact that we needed to take care of the fisheries there after Katrina,” Jason says. Liars and Lunkers is a bass fishing organization that holds tournaments on different locations around the Pearl River system. Tournament director Chad Hartzog says that they felt the need to take action to help the canal repopulate because of the unnatural boundaries. “For the longest time after our Thursday evening tournaments we would take fish from the weigh-ins and move them to the Lock One side and turn them loose. We did our best to stock it as best we could,” Hartzog says. Slowly but surely the fishing has improved on Lock One and today the quality of bass in the canal is the best he’s ever seen. “It’s nothing for us to see three or a four pound fish come in on a Thursday evening tournament and now five’s and six’s are starting to be more common - so there are some quality bass there now,” he says. 

 The Northshore Bass Series keeps tabs on the biggest bass brought to the scales during bass tournaments on the Northshore and a bass taken one Lock One by Clay Zeringue currently holds the second place spot on the leaderboard at 6.18 lbs. This is a testimony to the revival of this area, but Chad says he sees even more potential for Lock One. One of the rumors going around is a scenario where they would take both of those locks out and then dam it up where Lock One and Lock Two are. Then they could raise the seal so that water level can come up on it’s own and not spill out into the river system. Hopefully, if that comes to fruition, maybe we can work with the state to get some more stocking programs there. Man it would be nice even if we could have a slot limit for a couple of years and make it a trophy lake,” Hartzog says.

February isn’t exactly the month that anglers think of when deciding to target flounder.  Kayak fisherman Mark  Sagerholm recently made a trip to Geohagens Canal and that’s exactly what he caught. I fished the eastern edge of Geo's (Geohagens) so that the easterly wind would push me off the shallows and down the ledge,” He said. Mark had his spinning rod rigged with a live cocahoe minnow six feet under a cork. He was dragging it behind while he bumped an H&H Minnow off the bottom with his baitcaster. “On the very first drift I was just off the lip of the ledge when I felt that distinctive ‘thump-thump’. I immediately free-spooled the baitcaster and began a 17-count. Then I thumbed the spool hard and slowly lifted the rod tip,” He said. After reeling it in, Jeff had his first flounder of the day. 

 After unhooking it with a pair of makeshift lip grippers - his vice-grips, he tossed it in the ice chest and went back to work. Sagerholm caught two more flounder with his baitcasting rod but then he looked back and saw his spinning reel bowed over in the back of his kayak. “I felt a slight tug on the kayak, looked back and saw the spinning pole bent over. I had the drag backed way off so I was perplexed why it wasn't taking any drag,” he said. Mark says the cork came up and the pole straightened out. He reeled it in and put a new minnow on. On his next drift the same thing happened so Mark tried something different. “I went back for another drift and the spinning pole bent and the cork went down again! This time I released the bail and took the pole out of the rod holder. I let it have slack for a good thirty seconds before I started reeling slowly. I felt some weight on the line, raised the rod tip, and Holy Cow! It felt like Mr. Flappy!” Mark said. Mark had finally managed to set the hook on the doormat and after netting him he had his 4th flounder of the day. While flounder aren’t a familiar fish for February, perhaps this is a good sign for the upcoming spring fishing season on the Northshore.

 

Tchefuncte Catfish

While the cold river temperatures in the Tchefuncte river might keep most anglers off of the water these days, Pontchatoula angler Todd Oalman says it’s his signal to start running his trot-lines in the river. On his last trip he managed 6 catfish with one of them weighing 32 lbs. Todd says the monster catfish didn’t even let him finish baiting the rest of his line when he gobbled up the piece of hotdog he was using as bait. “I was setting out the trot-line and had baited about half of it when I felt a tug. I didn't think much about it and finished setting out the rest of the hooks. When I got to the end of the line, I motored over to see if the line was snagged. When I got to it, it was about 25 feet off the bank and was gently swimming,” Todd says. 

Oalman didn’t expect to catch anything on his baiting trip so it was just him and the fish. “I didn't have a net or gaff, so I slipped my hand in its mouth and dropped it in the boat. The water was really cold and it didn't put up much of a fight,” he said. Upon cleaning the catfish that night Todd says he opened the belly and found something he has never seen before. “While cleaning the big cat I noticed its belly was huge. I cut him open to see what he had been eating on. He had four 10”-12” speckled trout in his gut! That's a first! I've found ducks, chicken legs, turtles, Mardi Gras beads, but never a speck. Specks must be in the river,” Todd says.

Construction on the Bayou Bonfouca Bridge may have commuters that want to go over the bridge fuming. But for those who are traveling under it; it’s all smiles these days. Bayou Bonfouca has been unarguably one of the best places to catch bass this winter and Slidell anglers Daniel and Roger Sissac can attest to the cold weather bite that has greeted anglers this month. On their most recent trip the father and son duo launched at Heritage Park and headed under the Bridge to their favorite spot for catching perch. “I trolled across the bayou and we started putting fish in the boat. My dad was using crickets, and I was using my Sexee Shad under a cork to coalesce some red-ear sunfish into the boat – We caught them for about two hours,” Daniel says. 

The team caught over 30 perch but Daniel started having an itch that needed to be scratched. “I got antsy and wanted some bass. I grabbed my bass rod with a new, green Shu-Shu and made my first cast with the new color. I was wondering if green was the best choice since the water was stained, but before it could hit the bottom, I felt a tap. I reeled down, set the hook, and landed the first keeper bass of the day,” Daniel said. It didn’t take long for Roger to abandon his perch pole for his bass pole and within minutes the two perch fisherman had abandoned their trip to concentrate on bass. . “I threw beyond the grass line, but my dad threw to the deeper side of it. I gave the Shu-Shu two twitches and saw a wake moving toward it. I gave it one more twitch and the fish engulfed it. I set the hook and was about to tell my dad that I had a fish, when I saw he had one too. We worked our way down the shoreline catching several more before we decided to head in and call it a day,” he said. At the end of the day Roger and Daniel had a limit of bass and a mess of perch that they took back to the house and fried up.

Mandeville resident Zack Liberto has been probing the Goose Point area for early spring specks. February usually brings warmer weather and it’s considered a good sign for the upcoming spring to produce trout along the shoreline, but Zack says the trout just aren’t there yet. “With February typically being a rough month for trout I decided to give it a couple shots last week anyway. My first trip was an afternoon trip to fish the cuts off of goose point, which doesn't usually hold trout during the winter. I was throwing a matrix shad on a 1/4 oz. jig head as well as a suspending mirror lure. The mirror lure was the ticket. Dead sticking the mirror lure with long pauses was key. I did not catch any trout but with the low tide I did manage to catch 25-30 bass,” he said. On Zack’s second trip he decided to make a run out to the Causeway and say’s the bite was sluggish. “I caught somewhere from 12-15 and I would be lying if I said any of them were over 14 inches. Slowly working the bait on the bottom similar to bass fishing with a jig this time of year was key. I didn’t feel many bites - most of the fish were nose down on the bait and as soon as id pick it up they would eat it and knock slack in my line,” Liberto said. February specks along the bridge are a good sign that this spring will be productive and Zack says he anticipates an active season coming up. “Get ready fellas because things should heat up at the bridge within the next few weeks,” he says.

  

 Tournament Results

FPBA held its second tournament of the year and it was the team of Wayne Richardson and Lee Zachary who took first place on Bayou Lacombe with a 5-fish limit of 11.01 lbs. The team also won the big fish division with a 3.79 largemouth. Wayne says he pre-fished Bayou Lacombe on the day before the tournament and didn’t have a lot of confidence going into the event. “I came over Friday for a little while and didn’t really get bit so we were going into it blind. I abandoned my original plan and did a complete 180 turn and tried something different and it worked out for us,” Richardson said. Wayne and his team mate Lee Zachary started the day off slow but were able to find the fish up-river. “It started slow but we were able to start fishing some flats up the river and that wound up making the difference,” he said.  Richard Bennett weighed in a 5-fish limit of 6.13 lbs. which was enough to take second place. In third was the team of Derek Paternostro and Darren Welch with a limit weighing in at 5.70 lbs. 

St. Tammany Bass Club put on its first tournament on the season and it was Walter Clarion who took first place on the Tchefuncte River, with a bag weighing in at 4.41 lbs. Brandon Fauntleroy took second place with a total of 3.84 lbs. In third was Casey Painter whose 3.48 lb. fish was enough to take the big fish division as well.

Mandeville resident Kevin Springmann has been fishing ponds all his life. In fact, he can remember a fishing trip he made to a pond in his neighborhood when he was only seven years old. “I have vivid memories of waking up early on a Saturday morning, tying on a plastic worm and walking down to the pond on a foggy spring morning. I casted next to some cypress knees and as soon as the bait hit the water a 3 lb. bass inhaled it! I got him in, picked him up, and literally sprinted home with the fish to show it off to my parents,” he said. 

That was Kevin’s first bass he ever caught and he has been hooked on pond fishing ever since. Springmann says he usually targets bass in these ponds but now he is starting to see Sac-au-lait show up. “Usually we start getting on the sac-au-lait around early March in these ponds but we started catching them as early as late January this year,” Kevin said. On his most recent trip, Kevin took his kids along on a ishing trip to a neighborhood pond in Madisonville. The team managed to catch over 50 sac-au-lait, with a few bass mixed in. Kevin says they caught the bass on Baby Brush hogs and the sac’s fell for weightless tube jigs rigged 3’ under a popping cork which is his favorite rig for slabs. “Hollow body tube jigs 1/64 and 1/8oz, paired with a small cork is all you need. Cast out and allow the jig to slowly fall. Use the rod to move the cork towards you then pause, this will cause the jig to rise and slowly fall again,” Kevin says.  There are literally thousands of ponds across the Northshore and while the majority of them are private ponds, Kevin says that it can be as simple as asking permission to gain access to these hidden gems. “Most people live in these subdivisions or have relatives or friends that can grant you access to them.  Ask around, many times getting permission is only a phone call away,” he says. Springmann warns the quickest way to get run off is to break the rules. “Respect the area you are fishing, do not litter or park where you shouldn’t, and check and see what the policies are about keeping fish. This will go a long way in being able to return to fish another day,” he says.

While it’s not easy task to find speckled trout during the winter months on the Northshore, Geoghegan’s Canal is the first thought that comes to mind for hardcore trout anglers who just can’t give up catching those speckled beauties. Kayak angler Jeff Kreller is one of those people, but says the trout bite just hasn’t been there this winter. Instead, Jeff has turned his attention to redfish and has been having success in Double Bayou Lagoon that is located off of Geoghegan’s Canal. On his most recent trip Kreller was able to find the redfish in the lagoon schooled up tight. “I would catch a couple close together, wait a good while, then repeat - Dragging plastics along the bottom,” Jeff said. Kreller says he caught them on curly tailed plastics of different colors and got to cherry pick the perfect sized reds for the pit. “I landed 9 keeper sized reds and kept a limit of 20-24 inchers that are the perfect size for grilling up,” He says. Jeff says he will turn his attention back to Lake Pontchartrain this month in preparation for the early spring speck run. 
 

Safe Boating Course

A Recreational Safe Boating Course is set for February 28 from 7:45 am to 4:45 pm at the St. Tammany Parish Library in Covington. Due to time restraints, pre- registration is highly encouraged. To register, please send your request with the names and ages of those who wish to take the course to [email protected]. Seating is limited, so please register as early as possible.