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To Troll or not to Troll
 Keith Lusher
Jeff Webb enjoys fishing the Trestles for speckled trout especially in the winter. Unfortunately, his schedule has been jam packed and he hasn’t been able to make it out to the bridge. That all changed this past week when his schedule opened up. “I finally had a weekday off to make my first trip this winter to the Trestles,” says Jeff.
He launched at 8:30 in the morning to avoid the extreme cold temperatures that morning. As he approached the bridge his electronics read 54 degrees and with a quick glance over the gunwale he could see that the water was clear. “This is the clearest I’ve ever seen the water in Lake Pontchartrain. I could see 5 feet down,” Webb says. With the water temperatures in the 50’s trolling the Trestles is always an option for anglers who are looking to catch larger trout. Justin decided to toss some lines overboard and pull them horizontally along the bridge. He used 3/4 oz. silver and black Rat-L-Traps with a B2 Squid trailing behind. Ten minutes into the drag, Webb glanced back to see one of the rods bowed over. The excited angler reeled the line in and slung an 18” speckled trout into the boat. The fish bit the B2 Squid trailer. “I thought I was on to something after the first fish, but I trolled for another hour and caught nothing,” Webb says. Jeff decided to switch gears and jig the bridge. He used a 3/8 Golden Eye jig head with a Matrix Shad in the Midnight Mullet color. Webb caught 2 trout with this setup and then hit another slow period. The tide started falling and that’s when he decided to go back to trolling. “I tried trolling again and picked up one and lost one because I thought I didn’t need a net…argh! big dummy!” Jeff jokes. As he continued to troll he saw another boat catch 2 specks while jigging. That was all he needed to see to return back to jigging. “I pulled in the lines and went back to jigging and on the second cast…whack..fish on!” he says. Webb boated a beautiful 20-inch speckled trout. He then caught 2 more before heading in because the wind shifted to the Southeast and white caps were forming making it difficult to fish. Justin ended the day with 6 specks, with he smallest fish being 14 inches. “It was definitely a quality over quantity day,” Webb says. 
500 Bass in 2020
Zack Zimmerman has been bass fishing since he was 7 years old. He’s fished all over south Louisiana learning the waters and consistently improving his skills. The 21-year old can recall the first time he caught 100 bass in a single year. “In 2013 I hit 100 in one year for the first time. I was extremely proud of the achievement back then especially since I did it out of a kayak,” Zack says. He accomplished that feat while fishing in December on Bayou Bonfouca.  Zack with his 497th bass of 2020
Since then Zack has accomplished the feat of catching 300 bass in a single year. This year Zack says he has had his best year ever, catching 492 bass. With one more trip on the schedule before the end of the year, Zack had to make it count. He decided to go back to the bayou where he hit 100 for the first time. He was fishing with his friend Phi Smith The friends launched his flatboat at Heritage Park in Slidell. “As we took off from the long no wake zone all the memories of that great bayou came back,” he says. He started throwing a Texas-rigged Culprit worm along the rocks and he picked up 3 bass. When he was done fishing the rock-lined shoreline they moved into one of the neighborhood canals just off of the main bayou. “The counter was now at 496 when I set the hook on a big bite,” says Zack. “I was able to turn the fish over and see a large green flash six feet deep in the clear water. I nervously asked Phil to get the net and he netted it perfectly!” Zack and Phil froze for a few seconds staring at what was a 19-inch bass. They high fives and got right back to fishing. Zack could see the finish line now and with only 3 more fish to catch, he started fishing harder. They continued fishing the same canal and Zack was able to catch the final 3 bass within 30 minutes achieving his 500 goal for the year. “It was good day and a very fitting way to finish a very good year of fishing,” 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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