School may be out for summer, but schools of fish make for great angling
School is out for the summer and that means it’s time to fish, fish and fish some more.
The bass have finally slowed down in Lake Cataouatche. Reports state that the spawn has finished, and occasionally, smaller bass are being caught with eggs.
But angling for other game fish has been great. Bream and catfish have ganged up around the cuts on Lake Cataouatche.
Why, you ask? The Davis Pond Diversion usually runs at 500 to 700 cubic feet per second this time of year.
But right now the Mississippi River has been at flood stage, therefore the diversion has been opened to run at its max, around 10,000 cubic feet per second.
That means colder water is reaching Lake Cataouatche with a stronger flow or discharge, causing fish to gang up around all the cuts again.
Last week George Garcia was fishing with cut bait and hauled in a catfish weighing over 40 pounds.
He rigged his catfish line with 50-pound test spider wire and tied a No. 3 hook with a 1-ounce weight.
It wasn’t long before George was fishing the monster. He planned to skin the fish and fry it for his buddies.
Hearing that the catfish had ganged up, Andrew Callais, Jim Neely and I went out to find the fish.
The bream were hitting every cast on earthworms, red, white and chartreuse, black and chartreuse, and blue and white mini jigs.
We started out fishing bass around the bulkheads and caught a few, but action was slow.
We threw white spinner baits, watermelon Baby Brush Hogs, watermelon with red-metal flakes, 6-inch worms rigged Texas style, and the ¼-ounce chrome rattle trap.
We tried the mouth of the Louisiana Cypress Canal and around the Cement Island in the Tank Pond and caught bream on every cast.
Then we decided to fish the cuts where the water was moving.
After dropping the anchor at the first cut on the Northern side of Lake Cataouatche, we set out our catfish lines.
Tying a small No. 6 bream hook ahead of a ½-ounce weight, the first cast was on its way.
We each set out a line and placed the rods in the rod holder.
With the water eddying outside the current, my cast was to try and catch a bass.
The watermelon-colored worm worked its magic like always.
Andrew and Jim were busy reeling in 1- to 3-pound catfish using earthworms.
Not keeping any bass, we caught 14 catfish, and 20 keeper bream.
Mid-week Grand Isle Surf Trip
On Thursday of last week, the tide at Grand Isle was changing in the afternoon.
The wind was blowing out of the west and the tide range was at 1 foot. These good conditions make for a quick surf trip to Grand Isle.
I had to do some camp work at the Captain Quarter’s and figured I would kill two birds with one stone. So, off I went.
When I reached the surf, the water still had a muddy appearance and I noticed the large shrimp boats working the front of the Island.
I threw the usual She Dog Mirror lures in the mullet colors, black and chartreuse, avocado, purple and white, and 2-inch chartreuse sparkle beetle rigged in tandem.
One bait was a big surprise. The electric chicken-colored plastic caught the best on the bottom and under a cork.
After catching a dozen of speckle trout, the fish quit biting. It was now 4 p.m. and the tide had changed.
And it wasn’t until sunset before the trout turned on again. So I decided to stop fishing and headed to the shrimp shed.
At Dean Blanchard’s Shrimp Shed he informed me that the water in front of the island was muddy because of the shrimpers working the area hard.
“In the next week it will be over,” he assured me.
If anyone is interested in buying shrimp, 20- to 25-count shrimp are selling for $2.50 a pound.
This coming weekend we are approaching a full moon on Sunday. Tide range will be greater than 1.5 feet at Grand Isle, which means that fishing conditions are going to be good.
Lake Pontchartrain crabbing still hot
Sunday morning a couple of cousins wanted to go crabbing.
My cousin Ramona Padilla was visiting from Seattle, Wash. and had never been on Lake Pontchartrain.
This trip we had to set out at Bonnabel, because the Treasure Chest launch was closed due to the “Back to the Beach” festival.
We also had 5 to 10 mph northeast winds to face, which caused 1- to 2-foot seas. It made our boat ride of 8 miles back to the Parish Canal a little dumpy, but Ramona was enjoying the ride.
Back at the canal, a lady and her son were checking a dozen drop nets from a jet ski. They told us the crabs were big and quit biting.
I went to my usual location and started dropping the nets.
Norma Lucia baited the nets with catfish heads and leg quarters.
On our first run of checking the droplets, we had 50 crabs.
Each drop net is spread apart around 50 to 75 yards.
The water depth should be between 5 to 9 feet of water.
This allows us to raise the net, dump and reset the drop net before the next one.
By spreading out the nets it also allows us to cover a large area.
By the end of four runs, we had 12 dozen crabs. The winds calmed down for our ride back.
Ramona winked at me when we reached the Bonabbel boat launch and told me, “This was the best fishing trip I have ever been on.”
Take a kid fishing foundation
Anyone wishing to help sponsor “The Take A Kids Fishing Foundation” in any way, please contact Johnny Polk at 504-416-0836.
This foundation is designed to expose kids from a wide diversity to become involved in fishing or the outdoors.
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