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Tchefuncte River Catfish
 Keith Lusher
As the catfish bite heats up just before the spawn, Lacombe fisherman Jim Bates and his wife Dee Dee made a trip to the Tchefuncte River with their Grandson Austin Dabdoub. The family launched at the Madisonville Bridge off of Hwy 22 and was fishing by 10:45 a.m. Jim had a very productive July last summer and water to take a look to see if the catfish were stacked up. “The purpose of the trip was to see if the catfish were grouping up in the deep turns on the river,” Jim said. The water in the river was falling and the temperature was 78 degrees.
After fishing for 2 hours the team caught a box of blue cats but Jim said the fish weren’t as thick as he’d like to see them. “They aren’t grouped up just yet but we did manage to catch 16 blue cats using market shrimp,” Jim said. During the trip, Jim noticed a pattern to the fish that were biting. “The ones closer to the surface in 5 to 8 feet of water were biting. We also spotted some catfish on the bottom in about 25 feet of water but those wouldn’t touch our bait,” he said. As July begins, the Tchefuncte River usually reaches its height of productivity when it comes to blue catfish. Jim said he’ll be out again soon to take advantage of the thick schools of catfish that are found in the deep bends of the river.
Summertime Pattern
As June draws to an end, the summertime pattern is becoming more noticeable. With water temperatures in Lake Pontchartrain in the mid 80s, the speckled trout are making their way out of the lake and into Lake Borgne. George Patterson of Mandeville is no stranger to fishing the Causeway and was hoping to catch a few trout and redfish on his most recent trip. He was fishing with a group of friends, Richard Gaudet, Elliot Riche, and Kim Ducote. The wind was whipping but Patterson said the water was clean. “The water visibility was around 21 inches,” he said. The group started fishing the pilings early in the morning. They were located at the northern end of the bridge but the wind made it very difficult to stay within casting distance of the pilings. “I wasn’t able to get up next to the bridge pilings due to the waves,” Patterson said. “I thought we would be able to target reds and specks but the waves kept us away so we targeted the fish under the crossovers.” The friends anchored under the first crossover and were using dead shrimp on a Carolina rig. The hook was located about 4 inches from the weight. While fishing on the bottom they immediately started getting bites and putting fish in the boat. “drum, catfish, croaker, and we even caught a few specks when I switched over to a Matrix Shad Tigerbait,” Patterson said. They ended up with 3 speckled trout, 2 white trout, 2 drum, and 14 catfish. But the highlight of the day was the bull croaker that they caught. The team ended up with 10 croakers with the largest being 15 inches. “The numbers and size seem to be on the increase from years past. I’m not sure if it’s due to the salinity but bycatch kill could have an effect,” he said. Patterson is already planning his next trip and plans to target redfish which he said is a summertime special along the 24-mile reef. “I’m sure in the next few weeks the reds will be on the Causeway if they aren’t already there,” he said. “I wasn’t able to get to the bridge pilings due to the waves to see if the fish were setting up on them but if the weather is good by next week I’m going to get out again.” |
 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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