Finesse Fishing on Bayou Lacombe
Cold weather often presents problems for anglers who fish the Northshore. Add to it the extremely low water that we’ve seen so far this January and the decision to stay home and clean the tackle box starts to look more and more like a smart idea for most anglers. Cory LaBostrie of Lacombe fishes for bass year-round and said there’s no need to fear cold weather, especially when fishing Bayou Lacombe. “I still catch my limit in January so the bass are definitely there, LaBostrie said.
On his latest trip he launched at the second bridge on Lake Road and paddled across to fish the shoreline. LaBostrie was throwing two different baits: A Finesse Worm made by Z-Man rigged with a 1/8 oz. bullet weight. The second lure he used was a TRD HogZ Ned Rigged. LaBostrie likes to downsize his baits in the winter so the worm he used was 4 inches long while the HogZ was 3 inches. “Those two baits are money during the winter,” he said. LaBostrie started casted near the shoreline about 3 feet away from the shoreline, working the finesse worm slowly on the bottom. On his fourth cast LaBostrie saw his line go slack and he set the hook. He reeled in a 1-pound bass. “I threw it out there and started working it in slow, then I saw a little slack in my line,” he said. “You don’t always feel the bite in the winter, so you have to watch for slack.”
LaBostrie switched back and forth between the two baits and after catching 4 more fish with the worm he decided to stick with the worm. Corey caught 12 bass on the worm and 4 bass on the TRD. “The bait of the day was the worm in the Junebug color! That worm did the trick,” he said. All of his fish were caught in the main bayou.
Record Low Water
With the north winds associated with the cold fronts that pass through in January, low water is quite common for fishermen along the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. However, anglers are dealing with what they describe as record breaking low water this month.
Miriam Davey and her husband Rex live on Powell Bayou just off of Bayou Lacombe. Davey said that she’s never seen the water this low since moving here from north Lousiana. “I’ve never seen the waterlike this. Even with the big motor up we wouldn’t have been able to get the boat out of the boat house if we tried,” she said. The water was so low that the dock that parallels the house looked like it was on dry land. “I took the opportunity to look for lost objects like sunglasses, jig heads, and knives next to our dock,” said Davey.
Crawfish Season
With the official start of crawfish season over a month away, LSU’s Agriculture Center says according to the size of the crawfish, this year has gotten off to the fastest start that they’ve seen in over 5 years. The department says because of the mild temperatures in December, crawfish were reaching market size by early January. Shane Bateau owner of Bateau’s Seafood in Mandeville said he’s selling crawfish at prices that he hasn’t seen in years. “It looks to be shaping up as a great year for crawfish judging by the numbers and size we’re seeing,” Bateau said.
Tournament Results
The Double Nickel Bass Club held their tournament at the East Pearl River on a cold and windy day. The North wind and extreme low tide had anglers guessing, but out of the 17 that competed, James Harris figured the fish out and brought in a 3-fish tournament limit weighing 9.21 pounds. In second place was Jimmy Howell with a 3-fish bag that weighed 8.75 pounds. Jerry Bullock finished in third place with a 3-fish bag that weighed 8.66 pounds.
Upcoming
Tournaments
The Double Nickel Bass Club is holding their next tournament at the East Pearl River on Tuesday, February 1. For more information, please contact Joe Picone at 985-630-4170.
Liar’s and Lunkers is holding their classic tournament at Lock One on January 30. The tournament is open to those who have fished at least 3 tournaments in the 2021 series.
Anglers will be able to fish either side of the lock and the weigh-in will be at noon. Food and drinks will be available after the weigh-in. For more information, please contact Chad Hartzog at 985-502-3217.
PRTT is holding their classic tournament at the East Pearl River on February 12. The tournament is open to anyone. For more information, please contact Charles Dauzat at 985-960-3260
(Keith Lusher Jr. writes a weekly column. For more info, visit NorthshoreFishingReport.com.Contact Keith at keith@northshorefishingreport.com.)