Keith Lusher 08.05.24
In-built 1969, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway stretches 24 miles and is the longest bridge within the US. The bridge holds a particular place in my coronary heart because it supplied my complete household with a path to the town when commuting to work in New Orleans. However touring to and from work isn’t all of the bridge is nice for. The bridge is usually known as the “24-mile reef” by anglers who take pleasure in fishing beneath the bridge.
I made a visit with a gentleman who has fished the Causeway all his life. George Patterson was born in Lacombe, LA, and has been pulling fish off the bridge since he was a teen. The 62-year-old has caught speckled trout, croaker, flounder, and nearly every other inshore fish you possibly can consider alongside the bridge. So once I was requested to affix him on his newest fishing journey on the bridge, I jumped on the likelihood.
We began our day at Mandeville Harbor which is positioned on the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain. After a fast 15-minute boat trip in Patterson’s 24-foot Fishmaster, we reached a bit of the bridge the place he had been catching redfish.
The winds had been blowing out of the southeast at 10 MPH which is excellent for fishing the lake. The water was abeatuful clear-green with 3-foot visibility. Patterson threw down his trolling motor and positioned the boat beneath the bridge. I sat and watched him to try to perceive his approach.
Those that fish this bridge know that there at all times appears to be a sample when casting within the concrete pilings. Most anglers use a trolling motor to fish the skin of the bridge. However Patterson fishes the bridge a bit otherwise. He positions his bay boat beneath the bridge instantly in between the 40-foot hole between every set of pilings. Then he casts north and south, in between the 6-foot gaps.
Patterson mentioned the nearer you may get to pilings, the higher. “The reds are circling the concrete pilings on the lookout for meals within the barnacles,” he mentioned. “Many of the fish I’m catching are coming when my lure lands near the piling.” Whereas his sample of casting near the piling yields redfish, there’s one drawback. “When a giant bull purple jumps on I’ve to wrestle him out of the pilings shortly or he’ll break my line when the braid rubs towards the barnacles on the concrete.”Patterson makes use of a 30-pound braid to make this occur.
After a couple of casts, Patterson leaned again and set the hook on the day’s first fish. He battled the fish for about 3 minutes and when the redfish approached the boat, I netted it. It was a 30-inch bull purple which we needed to return to the lake due to LA’s new redfish restriction that prohibits the harvesting of any redfish over 27 inches.
After watching Patterson catch one other redfish I used to be able to strive my hand at it. I tied on a 1/2-ounce jighead and threaded on a 4-inch Gulp Powerbait Bonga Shrimp. I made a solid lateral with the bridge in between a set of pilings and began bumping the shrimp alongside the underside. After a number of casts Patterson put two extra fish within the boat and I started to get annoyed
Then it occurred! After casting up towards a piling, I let the shrimp sink to the underside and went to bump it but it surely didn’t budge. My line drifted sideways and I set the hook. Happily for me, the fish swam away from the bridge and out into the open water. Patterson jumped on the trolling motor and adopted after it. The reel screamed for over a minute and that’s once I realized I had one thing particular on the road. I continued to battle the fish for over quarter-hour with the fish stripping line and me reeling it again in time and again. It made 5 circles across the boat and I needed to dip my pole underneath the trolling motor and the primary motor a number of occasions. Because the beast of a fish neared the boat, Patterson grabbed the web and I glided it into the web on the primary strive. We each grabbed the web and lifted the trophy over the gunwale.
The 42-inch redfish was a private finest for me. Now, I caught redfish within the Gulf of Mexico. I’ve caught them in Venice, and I’ve caught them on the Texas Coast. However to have my private finest redfish come off a bridge that’s solely 10 miles from New Orleans is one thing that I by no means anticipated.
The summer season redfish chew ought to proceed all through the remainder of the summer season. Patterson mentioned he’ll proceed to fish for the large redfish till the chilly fronts start to reach in October. “These fish will likely be right here for some time so there’s loads of time to catch these trophies,” he mentioned.
