|
Off the Beaten Path
 Keith Lusher
As inshore fishing heats up across the area, the crowds are factoring into angler’s decisions on where to fish on any given day. With so many community holes available to fishermen, boat traffic is becoming more and more of a problem. Kevin DiMaggio of Salty Bottom Outdoors knows where the popular places to fish are, and heads in the opposite direction. “I’d rather grind out a box of fish in peace rather than fight the crowd for an early limit,” he said. DiMaggio has been fishing the marsh near Proctor’s Point and said it’s been enjoyable only seeing a few boats all day. “It’s so peaceful out here,” he said. “Even on the weekend, this area is so vast that I hardly come across other boats.”
 The sun rises over a cut in the marsh near Proctor's Point
DiMaggio has been catching a mixture of speckled trout and redfish, targeting the canals in the marsh along the point. “The fall transition is in full effect already,” he said. “The water temperatures are in the low 70s, which is earlier than I’ve seen before.”
On his latest trip, DiMaggio fished Martello’s Castle and picked up a few trout in open water before moving back into the marsh. “With hunting season open, I like to let those guys have their time in the marsh before I head back in there,” he said.
 Kevin DiMaggio is all smiles after finishing off a cajun slam in the marsh
After 9:00 A.M. he headed back into the canals and was able to pick up a few more trout, before heading back into the pond for redfish. DiMaggio was using a Hoodwink Lure made by Southern Salt on a weighted swimbait hook. “The hook lets the bait fall horizontally which gives it a more natural appearance in the water,” he said. After picking up 10 trout he made his way back into the ponds, where he was able to catch 3 redfish and a bonus flounder that measured 17 inches. “I haven’t caught one that big in quite some time,” he said. The catch completed a Cajun Slam for DiMaggio, something he hasn't done in quite some time! In the end, the angler fished with a box of fish and didn’t have to fight the crowds to earn it.
Undersized Specks
As the fall speckled trout runlets up, anglers across the Northshore are catching loads of fish. But there’s one caveat - they’re all small. Greg Guillot of Slidell launched out of Rigolet’s Marina and fished a number of spots throughout the morning. “I started deep jigging with a heavy drop-shot on the 90 bridge with no luck,” he said. Guillot then moved to several spots including the Blind Rigolets and Bayou Biloxi hoping to find birds diving but didn’t see any. “I was hoping to see birds working but there were no birds nor any shrimp boats,” he said. Guillot finally found fish in Bayou Bienvenue but they were small. Guillot then moved back into the duck ponds and tried throwing spinnerbaits. “I caught a couple of keeper reds in the 22-inch range and several that were too small to keep,” Guillot said. Steve Kissee poked around in the marsh looking for trout and found them using live shrimp and avocado colored plastics under a Versa Maxi Knocker Cork. “We caught tons of trout but they were all 11”-12” which is a good sign for spring,” Kissee said. Out of all the areas he tried, Kissee found the most keepers in the MRGO. “The water was perfect and so was the tide but we just didn’t find the keepers,” he said. Forrest Green of Lacombe has started making his annual speckled trout trips along the Northern shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain and said he’s catching small trout 5-1 over keeper fish. I’ve been trying areas like the mouth of Bayou Liberty and the fish are there, it’s just so many small trout that it’s taking me some time to get to any keepers,” Green said. Green has been using Zoom Tiny Flukes in the Arkansas Shad color on a 1/4-ounce jighead. |
 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!
|
|
Ron Hindman of Slidell joins the NFR Studio to talk about his 11-pound trophy bass he caught in the West Pearl River
|
