Boat Traffic Bass
The Tchefuncte River is unarguably the busiest river on the Northshore. From jet skis to pontoon boats, the river is the last place you want to fish if you’re looking for serenity on the water.
Chris Basey of Covington has been fishing the river for over 30 years and has learned how to use the boat traffic to his advantage. On his most recent trip he launched at the 4th Ave. boat launch near St. Paul’s High School in Covington. As Basey ran south he noticed how clean the water was and decided to stop at the mouth of the canal near Salty’s Marina. “I’ve been wanting to do some deep water cranking and with the clean water I figured this was the perfect opportunity,” he said.
Basey started making long casts with a chartreuse KVD Sexy Shad crankbait. He was casting into a section of water that was 8 feet deep and reeling his lure down a drop-off that fell to 25 feet of water when he felt his lure stop. Basey set the hook and started reeling the fish in. As the fish neared the boat, Basey spotted another bass trying to bite the lure. “At one point the bass bit the lure and I had two of them on one lure, but before I lifted the bass into the boat he got off,” Basey said. The bass was 1.6 pounds with the one it was chasing about the same size. “I knew that was good sign when I saw that,” he said. Basey continued to catch bass off the drop-off adding 4 more to his live well when the bite died. “It’s fun when you get on a good deep school going because when you find them it’s usually a ton of action, but when the bite dies, more often than not it’s over,” he said. Fortunately, Basey has seen this pattern play out and knew what to do. He spotted two boats coming his way through the canal. One was a large yacht and the other was a pontoon boat. “Sometimes it takes a little moving water to stir the fish up, so I waited on the boats to pass,” Basey said. After casting out, he set the hook on a 1.2-pound spotted bass and continued to the catch bass that suddenly started biting again. Basey ended up with a limit of bass with his top 5 weighing a total of 7 lbs. 7oz. “Typically I shy away from boat traffic but today it worked to my advantage,” Basey said.
Tournament Results
The lack of rain on the Northshore has influenced the East Pearl River and the Bass Assassins took advantage of the cleaner water. A falling and mild temperatures greeted the 14 anglers that showed up to compete. In the end it was Sam Jenkins who brought in a 5-fish limit weighing 8 lbs. 11 oz. Right behind Jenkins was Steve Hadley with a limit that weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. Hadley also brought in the big fish of the day; a 3 lb. 11 oz. bass. In third place was Brent Harrell with 5 fish totaling 7 lbs. 1 oz.
The Double Nickel Bass Club held its tournament at the East Pearl River. Twenty-three anglers fished the event on a cold and windy day with the wind blowing at 20 mph. The tide was rising all morning and in the end, it was Jerry Bullock who brought in a 3-fish tournament limit weighing 6.44 pounds. Tommy Watkins placed second with a bag of fish that weighed 6.40 pounds. CJ Mayeux took third with a limit that weighed 5.96 pounds. Mayeux won the big bass division as well with a 3.58-pound bass. Awards were handed out for the 2022 season. Jerry Billock won the Angler of the Year award. The best stringer of the year was brought in by Bob Perry who brought in a 3-fish bag that weighed 9.35 pounds in August.
Upcoming Tournaments
The next Liars and Lunker’s tournament will be on Oct. 30 at Crawford’s Landing in Slidell. For more information, please contact Chad Hartzog at 985-502-3217.
The Double Nickel Bass Club is holding their next tournament at the East Pearl River on Tuesday, Nov. 1. For more information, please contact Joe Picone at 985-630-4170.
The next Bass Assassins will be held at the Tchefuncte River on Nov. 6. If you have any questions you can email bassassassinsla@gmail.com or call Chris Basey at 985-707-7857.
Pearl River Team Trails is holding their next tournament at Crawford’s Landing on Nov. 12. 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.)