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The Marsh Martian
 Keith Lusher
Bayou Lacombe is home to some of the best bass fishing on the Northshore. It’s winding shoreline is loaded with cypress knees, lily pads, and submerged vegetation that provide ample habitat for largemouth bass. Unfortunately for the bass, Bayou Lacombe is also where Corey Labostrie calls home.
 Corey with one of his prized catches from Bayou Lacombe
Labostrie, who’s known locally as The Marsh Martian, moved to Lacombe with his family when he was five years old. It was at that time that he truly felt like a Martian. “I moved from the 7th ward in New Orleans so Lacombe looked like another world to me,” he says. It didn’t take the youngster long to make friends and learn what the bayou had to offer. “We’d go dig up some worms and walk or ride our bikes to the bridge from where I lived over on Shady Pine,” he says. It was from that bridge that Corey and his friends would cast out several lines rigged with live worms and wait for a bite. “Man, those poles would line the bridge, there were like seven of them all lined up and we just waited on that bridge for one of them to bend,” he says.
Growing up he learned that not only could the bayou supply the fish but the bait as well. Corey and his friends waded along the shoreline at the end of the Lake Road with a net looking for blue crabs. “We took those crabs, cracked them in half, then put them on a hook and casted out. We caught so many sheepshead like that,” Labostrie says.  Labostrie sets the hook on a fish near the mouth of Bayou Lacombe
As the years went by Corey found himself targeting bass more than any of the other fish because there was no off season for the fish. “The saltwater fishing comes and goes in the bayou but I can catch bass in Bayou Lacombe year round,” he says. Today, Corey fishes almost daily frequenting the dead-end canals and cuts near Cypress Bayou. He also fishes the duck ponds in the marsh at the south end of Bayou Lacombe just before the bayou empties into Lake Pontchartrain. He fishes out of a 13 foot Coleman Canoe which is completely customized for Corey to have an advantage over the bass. The self proclaimed MacGuyver of fishing says “I’ve got this thing tricked out including wheels! How many guys have wheels on their canoe?” As with most fishing, bass fishing requires a quiet approach. Labostrie says his canoe allows him to get closer to the fish without spooking them. "You have to learn how to be stealthy. I find I can get into some shallow spots where boats with motors might run up on and spook the fish,” he says. When most people think of fishing from a canoe, they think of fishing while sitting down. The 240 pound man says he has no problem with standing in his canoe. “I’ve got a pretty good sense of balance so even once in a while if I need the leverage, I’ll stand up with no problem.”  The Marsh Martian about to launch his canoe in search of bass
Right now, Corey says the bass fishing is starting to peak with the warm spring temperatures that have blanketed the Northshore. On his last trip he limited out on keeper bass near Cypress Bayou. He recommends using a Z-Man StreakZ in “The Deal” color on a 2/0 weedless hook. “Those bass are dustin’ the StreakZ right now! Just cast to the shoreline and work that bait over the grassline. The fish are hanging on the edges of the grass and the lily pads.” The Marsh Martian says the bass are hitting minnows right now so it’s not rocket science as to what he’s using. “You can be your own man and use something else but I see the bass chasing minnows right now so I use my cajun instrument to tell me what needs to be thrown and that’s a minnow bait. The same goes with the frogs. When I start seeing the frogs jumping, I going to start throwing frogs,” he says.
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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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