Flounder Time
As the springtime temperatures set in here on the Northshore, the flounder bite is heating up. With every year that goes by, anglers are seeing more flat fish in their boxes, and this year looks to be the best year we’ve seen in a long time.
Wei Xiao of New Orleans made a trip with some friends to the Trestles in search of speckled trout. The team launched at The Dock off of Rats Nest Road at 8 a.m. and pulled up to the bridge by 8:15. Wei said it was clear that they would have some competition for a spot. “We should have gotten there earlier,” he said. After finding a spot on the western side of the bridge, they came up empty. Then, they were able to pass under and fish the eastern side. The team was jigging various plastics on a 1/4-ounce jighead and finally put the first fish in the boat. It was a 14-inch flounder. “That was a nice flounder,” Wei said. As the team poked around in different spots along the Northern end of the bridge, they slowly put a nice box of fish together. In the end, they ended up with nine flounder, four speckled trout, and one drum. “It was definitely a flounder day today,” Wei said.
Dustin Timmons of Pearl River made a quick afternoon trip to the Trestles. Timmons was hoping to catch a few trout to fillet for a fish fry the next day. “We were having some out-of-town friends over and I wanted to impress them with some fresh fried trout,” he said. Timmons started working the train bridge around 4 p.m. and picked up a 15-inch speckled trout. “I thought it was going to be on after that first trout,” he said. After 15 minutes of jigging the bridge, he snagged a 16-inch flounder and that’s when the flounder fest began. “After picking up 3 flounder in a row, I decided to slow things down and specifically target these things,” he said. “My wife loves flounder, so it would be no problem for us to enjoy some stuffed flounder instead of trout.” Timmons ended the day at dark with seven flounder all over 13 inches. He was using Lemonhead Matrix on a 3/8-ounce jighead.
Tournament Results
The Double Nickel Bass Club kicked off their points season with a tournament at the East Pearl River. Weather conditions were cool with increasing winds throughout the morning. Twenty-four boats participated, with anglers enjoying their usual pre-tournament trash talk.
Most areas featured muddy water with a low outgoing tide. Fishing success varied widely among competitors. Bass were in mixed spawning stages, with some full of eggs while others had already completed spawning. Ralph Dunn took first place with a five-fish limit weighing 7.21 pounds. Dunn also claimed big bass honors with a 4.29-pound catch. Bob Perry finished second with a limit weighing 6.57 pounds and won second place big bass with a 3.71-pound fish. Barry Lee rounded out the top three with 6.26 pounds.
The second Bass Assassins tournament of 2025 took place at Lock 1 with 22 anglers competing. Leading up to the event, a significant warming trend with clear, sunny skies had competitors anticipating a shallow waterbed fishing with limits exceeding 10 pounds.
However, as the day unfolded, the fishing proved tough. Despite good action, there were no signs of bedding fish or shallow water activity. Most bass remained offshore in staging positions. When the scales closed at weigh-in, Zach Barnes had dominated the field with an impressive 8.29-pound limit that included a 3.85-pound kicker. This performance earned Barnes both first place and big fish honors for the day. John Andrews secured second place with a solid limit weighing 7.59 pounds, while Jimmy Dorris claimed third with a 6.78-pound limit. Bass Assassins veteran Gene Perilloux rounded out the top four with a 6.49-pound limit.
Upcoming Tournaments
Pearl River Team Trails will hold its next tournament at Crawford Landing on April 12. For more information, please call Charles Dauzat at 985-960-3260.
FBPA is holding its next tournament at Bayou Liberty on April 13. For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/fpbassanglers.
(Keith Lusher Jr. writes a weekly column. For more info, visit NorthshoreFishingReport.com. Contact Keith at keith@northshorefishingreport.com.)