Causeway Finally Producing
Catching speckled trout at the Causeway can be a challenging feat for some anglers. But the drought at the Causeway we’ve seen this fall and early spring has rendered the bridge almost un-fishable. “I’ve been forced to fish the Trestles since November because the fish just weren’t there. I think that flood water from the late summer floods have stayed in that area just sitting and the trout were forced to stay at the Trestles,” Justin says. Bowles has been checking in at the 24-mile bridge regularly with no luck until he made a trip and was pleasantly surprised to see that the trout have returned. “I talked with my friends Sam Barberra and Chris Maculouso and we all love fishing the Causeway so we decided to head out there and give it a try,” he says. The friends made their way to the bridge.”It was probably 10 minutes before we caught our first one and then about 5 minutes after that, another one came. It was work!” he says. Justin was using a Matrix Shad in the Magneto color and says “I hardly ever switch to another color even in murky water.” Typically anglers who fish the Causeway can pick up on a pattern whether the fish are a certain proximity to the concrete poles but Justin says there was no specific pattern to these fish. “It wasn’t a consistent pattern out there. We were catching one here and one there. They were all scattered,” he says. Justin was using Matrix Shad in the Magneto color. Bowles talked about the water clarity. “The water doesn’t look real gorgeous. We could see our lures 6”-10”. But I never was one who liked to fish that really clean water at the bridge so it was good enough,” he says. The team fished from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and finished with a 3-man limit of 75 speck trout that ranged from 13”-19.” Justin recommends concentrating on the 4 to 8 mile mark on the Causeway for the best action.
Bull Croaker
Justin Ledet of Lacombe decided to run out of the mouth of Bayou Lacombe to fish a few spots in the lake. “I headed out of the bayou Saturday morning to hit a few spots on the GPS,” he says. Jason fished at the reef balls, the west rig, and the pylon off of Goose Point. He ended the day with 2 beautiful drum, one sailcat, and a mess of croaker. Among the croaker was one that Justin says is a record for him. “This is the biggest croaker I’ve ever seen and a personal best for me. He measured in just shy of 18 inches,” Justin says
Tchefuncte
Sac-a-lait
Martin Duvic fishes the Tchefuncte River year-round and has plenty of success in the main river. But on his most recent trip he was reminded that summer is right around the corner. “There were party barges, bay boats, ski boats, and the always fun jet skis – all of them running wide open,” Duvic says. Martin still managed over 20 keepers despite the traffic but reminds anglers that the time to fish the Tchefuncte is changing. “The armada of boats started around 11:00 A.M. so you have to get out there early,” he adds.
Tournament Results
The Dockside Marine Tournament Trail held it’s tournament at Manchac and it was Fred King and Roy Laborde who took first place with a 5-fish stringer that weighed 14.16 lbs. In second was the team of Ross and Reese Watkins with 11.93 lbs. With the win, Ross and Reese move into a tie for the #1 spot in the Bayou Country Lures’ Northshore Bass Series. Claiming third place was the team of Barry Fallon and Will Moore with 10.55 lbs. Fallon and Moore also won the Big Bass Award with a 3.31 lb. largemouth bass.
Pearl River Team Trails held it’s tournament at the East Pearl and it was the team of Brock Fallon and Frenchie Torregano who took first place with a 5-fish bag that weighed 9.7 lbs. 2nd place went to the father and son team of Charles and Jordan Dauzat who brought in a 5-fish limit weighing 8.7 lbs. Third place went to Dwain Crumby with 7.14 lbs.
Upcoming
Tournaments
Pearl River Team Trails will be holding its next tournament May 13 at the East Pearl. For more information please contact Charles Duzaut at 985-960-6936.
Dockside Marine will be holding its next tournament at Bayou Segnette on May 13. For more information please contact Jay Ladner at 228-493-4378.
(Keith Lusher Jr. writes a weekly column. For more info, visit NorthshoreFishingReport.com.Contact Keith at keith@northshorefishingreport.com.)