A few spotty reports are starting to surface from Lake Pontchartrain as the trout begin to spread out on the bridges to the east, and Captain Eric Dumas (985-705-1244) reported that he and his customers had great trips on Tuesday and Wednesday. With two people in the boat, they caught 45 one day and 50 the next.
“We couldn’t to anything wrong on Tuesday or Wednesday,” Dumas said. “But on Thursday is was like there wasn’t a fish in the lake. Not sure what happened to them, but it should bounce back by this weekend. Right now, the fish are on all the bridges… train trestle, Highway 11 and the Twin Spans.”
Dumas has found the trout are biting best during the morning and later during the evenings. There isn’t much difference between the morning and evening bite, though, except for moving from one side of a bridge to the other.
“In the morning we’re catching the falling tide, so we’re fishing the east side of the bridges,” Dumas explained. “I’m throwing the Opening Night Dudley Bay Chovey with a chartreuse tail right now, and the fish are picking it up anywhere from right at the bottoms of the pilings all the way to the boat.”
Rather than pitch directly at the outside pilings on the different bridges, Dumas says he’s been casting under the bridges in such a way that he can hop his Bay Chovey by the bottoms of all the pilings in one row.
“The fish seem to be concentrating more around the northern or southern ends of the bridges,” Dumas added. “A good way to fish would be to start in the middle of the train bridge and fish toward the south shore. You can also get between the train bridge and Highway 11 on the north shore and fish out of both sides of your boat. Fish are on both bridges.”
During the evenings, Dumas has found that there is a flurry of action around 5:30 then another strong bite right before dark. If you’re going to fish the late shift, though, he pointed out that you should move to the west sides of the bridges, as the tide has been coming in during the afternoons.
“Just move to the west side and fish the same way,” Dumas concluded. “I haven’t seen anything over three pounds. Most of the trout right now are running between 14 and 19 inches. The big fish might not be here right now, but they’re coming.
