Lake Pontchartrain bridges finally
producing
With the latest installment of winter blowing past southeast Louisiana earlier this week, Lake Pontchartrain anglers are practically giddy with excitement over what has happened to the lackluster trout bite on the bridges that span the waters of the lake. What is normally a speckled trout free-for-all in October, the Trestles, Twin Spans, and Causeway bridges had anglers wondering if the trout would ever show up.
Mandeville resident Dustin Pellegrin commutes across the Causeway every day and says he has been keeping an eye out for boats which normally signals good fishing on the bridge.
“I love to fish the Causeway but I’ll admit to cheating a little before I decide to put the boat in the water. That’s one of the good things about this fishing spot; you can always tell when the trout start biting by how many boats are out there,” Dustin said.
He added that he usually sees two or three boats on an average day, but this past week he has seen a significant increase in boats that line the concrete structure.
“Last week I counted 10 boats out there one morning. That was my signal to get out there. I made my first trip that weekend and caught 22 really nice speckled trout. I couldn’t believe the size of these trout,” Dustin said.
While the numbers aren’t great at the 24-mile reef, the size of fish being caught will fill up your ice chest just as quick. Anglers are reporting speckled trout ranging from 2 lbs. all the way up to 7 lbs.
“These fish were beautiful! Every fish was a keeper! I think our smallest speck that trip measured 16 inches,” Dustin added.
When heading out to fish the Causeway, expect to make a decent run to find the fish. Lately the hot-spot has been on the north side of the drawbridge. Anglers have been having success using Matrix Shad in the avocado color, but some anglers are reporting seeing small croaker in the stomachs of their larger trout after they have been filleted on cleaning board.
Lawrence Lemoine has been catching his fish on strictly plastics but says that live croaker is the key to catching the big ones.
“The bigger trout we caught had croakers in them. If you had live croakers Carolina rigged around those concrete pylons along the Causeway I think you could catch some real nice sized trout,” Lawrence said.
He added that he has also been targeting the north side of the drawbridge but says he has been trying to locate schools of glass minnows.
“You have to be where the glass minnows are. There are tons and tons of glass minnows and it seems like we catch more when we are in the shad,” Lawrence said.
Trestles
The speckled trout action has picked up considerably along the Hwy. 11 Bridge and Slidell angler Alan Geunard recently made a trip where he caught a box of trout and a limit of redfish but it took some time finding them.
“We tried both sides of the bridge that day. Up-current, down-current, and nothing was biting. Then we decided to make a little run further south where we saw a few boats and that’s where I started seeing some fish show up on sonar,” Alan said.
The fisherman added that as they started fishing that area they noticed something a little more enticing that helped point them in the right direction. “We took a few casts out at that spot then we looked out into the lake and I bet you there were 40 seagulls spread out over a mile of water. They weren’t concentrated at all but you would see one dive here and then another over there so we decided to take a little ride away from the bridge.
“When we got close, I shut down the engine, threw the trolling motor in, and sure enough my buddy pulls in a redfish on his first cast! Then we picked up a 19 inch speck,” Alan said.
He added that they finished the day with a nice box of specks but what surprised him was the size of the redfish they caught.
“The smallest redfish we caught that day was a 24 inch red. Man it was fun catching those big fish,” Alan said. “The bait of choice that day was Matrix Shad in the Lemonhead color on a 3/8 oz. jig head.”
Causeway Wind Conditions
Any fisherman that has fished Lake Pontchartrain knows that the lake can get really rough at any given time. Anglers who fish the Causeway can be informed of valuable information on wind speed taken from the bascule located at the 16 mile marker. This information is updated every 10 minutes. Visit www.thecauseway.us for more information on wind speeds, wind direction, temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure.
(Keith Lusher Jr. writes a weekly column. For more info, visit NorthshoreFishingReport.com. Contact Keith at keith@northshorefishingreport.com.)