Castnetting Shrimp
As anglers anticipate a fantastic fall of fishing, the signs continue to point to an exciting season of fishing in Lake Pontchartrain. Even with the heavy rains we’ve seen through the end of August, the shrimp are appearing in big numbers in the canals that line the shoreline in Slidell. Will Shober has been taking advantage of the shrimp by throwing a castnet off of his dock located on Carr Drive near Hwy 11. “They’ve been running right around dusk until 9:30,” he said. Shober has underwater lights rigged to the pylons on his wharf which he says is important to attracting the shrimp. He also uses rabbit pellets as bait. “The rabbit food bunches them up in large numbers, so we catch more in each cast,” he said. Shober has been catching over 15 pounds of shrimp a night on average. “The shrimp are definitely running right now,” he said.
Stacked Up Flounder
As the flounder numbers continue to improve anglers are taking advantage of what’s left of open season. The new regulations that ban the recreational harvest of flounder in Louisiana are set to go into effect on Oct 15. That’s a date of importance to Chad Majoue of Covington. Mojoue has been catching flounder along the northern shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain. On his most recent trip he caught 7 flounder over 13 inches. “I found the flounder stacked up this morning,” he said. The closed season for flounder is set to go into effect on Oct 15 and will last until Nov 15. LDWF said the closed season is projected to create a 50% reduction in mature female Southern Flounder that are harvested. “The closed season is an attempt to help the stock recover to a healthy biomass target by 2028,” said Rene LaBreton.
Croaker Beatdown
Jason Legaux of Kenner has been fishing the Rigolets train bridge in Lake Borgne for years, but his past two trips have turned up something that he’s never seen: Croakers. And lots of them! On his latest trip he was fishing the bridge and caught over 30 keeper croaker using crappie jigs tipped with Fishbites EZ Shrimp. “Right now, they are everywhere from the Rigolets train bridge, all the way to the Mississippi line,” he said. “It’s been a croaker beatdown!” Legaux recommends other spots for anglers who want to catch croaker. “A bank spot that’s usually pretty good is the East Pearl boat launch but the river is raging right now,” he said. “Also, Irish Bayou from the casino to the dead end.” The emergence of croaker this summer is another signal that the fall season will bring healthy catches of saltwater fish typical of what the area produced before all of the spillway openings.
Tournament Results
The Double Nickel Bass Club fished the East Pearl River on a cloudy, overcast day. The tournament drew 22 anglers which saw a high, muddy water with a rolling tide coming in. At the weigh-in it was Roger Mitchell who took first place with 2 fish that weighed 4.97 pounds. Mitchell won the big fish pot with a bass that weighed 3.89 pounds. In second place was CJ Pichon who brought in 3 fish that weighed 4.83 pounds. In third place was Dwain Crumby who had a 2 fish weighing 4.61 pounds.
A small crowd of 12 anglers showed up to do battle at Lock One in Pearl River for the Bass Assassins tournament. Rain was predicted for the day and the morning air had a welcoming mild feeling signaling the start of cooler temperatures. The bass reacted well to the cooler weather with numerous limits coming into the scales. John Seghers took first place with a 5-fish limit that weighed 9 pounds. Eric Ciko finished in second place with a 7 lb. 15 oz. limit. Right behind Ciko was Jimmy Dorris with a limit that weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. Big fish honors went to Kerry Terrebonne who brought in a 4 lb. 3 oz. kicker.
Upcoming Tournaments
The Double Nickel Bass Club is holding their next tournament at the East Pearl River on Tuesday, Sept. 20. For more information, please contact Joe Picone at 985-630-4170.
The next Liars and Lunker’s tournament will be held at Crawford’s Landing on Sept. 25. For more information, please contact Chad Hartzog at 985-502-3217.
Pearl River Team Trails is holding their next tournament at the East Pearl River on Oct. 8. For more information, please contact Charles Dauzat at 985-960-3260.
The next Bass Assassins will be held at Bayou Bonfouca on Sept. 18. If you have any questions you can email bassassassinsla@gmail.com or call Chris Basey at 985-707-7857.
(Keith Lusher Jr. writes a weekly column. For more info, visit NorthshoreFishingReport.com.Contact Keith at keith@northshorefishingreport.com.)