Black drum provide fishing success when conditions aren’t ideal
With the strong cool front that is forecasted for this weekend, many anglers will write the Lake Pontchartrain area off for several days.
Not Capt. John Falterman.
As long as the wind doesn’t make the lake unsafe to head out on, Falterman will catch plenty of fish at the bridges in eastern Lake Pontchartrain. But they won’t be the ubiquitous trout for which the bridges are known.”We’ve been smacking the drum,” he said.
And these aren’t the big bruiser drum that are about as edible as bait worms. These are the 16- to 24-inchers whose fillets would cost you at least a Jackson at your favorite restaurant.
The most productive technique, Falterman said, is to fish a chunk of dead shrimp on a drop-shot rig. The amount of weight depends on the current, but anglers should use just enough to keep the weight on the bottom, Falterman advised.
A drop-shot is a rig in which the weight is at the very end of the line, and the baited hook is on a separate leader coming off of a swivel that is “upline” of the weight.
The hottest bridge for the drum has been the Twin Spans, and best location is on the lee side of the lake. In Wednesday’s northerly breeze, Falterman was fishing the north side of the lake.
One of the patterns he’s found to be most effective on sunny days is to cast into the shadow caused by the bridge, and bump the bait back toward the boat.
“The fish will hit as soon as that bait enters the sunlight,” he said.
On days when the lake is too rough, Falterman has been fishing cuts in the Intracoastal Waterway for both redfish and drum, using much the same technique.
Best locations have been Unknown Pass, the cut to the Rigolets and Cross Bay.
“There are also still a lot of fish behind The Wall (in the MRGO),” he said.
For more information, email Falterman at 504-915-0693.
