Ponchartrain tough to beat during mid-fall

• By JOE MACALUSO
• Advocate Outdoors writer
• Published: Oct 29, 2009 - Page: 12C

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Greg Schlumbrecht and Robbie Johnson are quick on setting a hook and, these days, even quicker on their choices of fishing locations.

Schlumbrecht: “They’re on all the bridges.”

Johnson: “The lake.”

No matter if you’re a weekender or have the chance to head out on weekdays, the two men are talking about one and the same place — Lake Pontchartrain.

The “bridges” are usually enough of a description. The spans? The old I-10 “twin spans,” the U.S. 11 bridge and the L&N train bridge that run from Orleans Parish to the lake’s north shore in St. Tammany Parish. The other bridge is the 24-mile-long Causeway.

Aside: The old twin spans, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, are being replaced with a new bridge. The middle of these old spans will be removed and the material will be used for artificial reefs. The ends of the spans will be reworked into fishing piers.

Johnson likes to concentrate his efforts around the Causeway. On Wednesday, his boat held 31 keeper trout — “When I say keepers, I mean we don’t keep anything under 15 inches long,” Johnson admits — and some of them hit four pounds.

“The bulk of the bite came north of the eight-mile hump on the north end (of the Causeway),” Johnson said. “We went out to the mid-lake area (12 miles out from the north end; the Causeway is 24 miles long) and caught a few better trout, but there were more fish on the north end.”

Johnson, like Schlumbrecht, said he’s catching fish in rough water: “I had only one roller come over the bow of the boat today. I had maybe 10 Monday,” Johnson said.

Schlumbrecht said that’s normal.

“Fish still bite in the choppy conditions, but you have to have a big enough boat (his is a 24-footer) and a big enough trolling motor to deal with it. You have to be cautious,” Schlumbrecht said. “I have a 101 (pound thrust) trolling motor and I had it on 50-to-75 (percent) all day.”

While other south Louisiana waters are taking a pounding from cold front-produced winds and rains, the north winds followed by south winds, followed by north winds have sent baitfish and shrimp into the depths and within the mouths of hungry speckled trout, redfish, flounder and black drum.

Yes, like all south Louisiana waters these days, finding clear water is a must.