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Sheepshead on Artificial
 Keith Lusher
When it comes to catching sheepshead, live bait is is unarguably the preferred bait to use. Max Patrucco of Slidell agrees. Patrucco fishes the Trestles for sheepshead and has had success using a drop-shot rigged with either a cocahoe minnow or live shrimp. He was fishing this way on his latest trip to the northern end of the bridge.
 Max Patrucco with his first sheepshead on artificial
He managed to catch a few channel catfish along the pilings but as far as sheepshead go, “I could not buy a bite,” he said. The previous day’s west winds had the area muddy but one good sign was that he saw plenty of baitfish. “I saw plenty of shrimp and pogies on the surface,” Patrucco said. As Max was dead-sticking a Gulp Curly-tail grub while paddling through a set of concrete pilings he felt his kayak slow down. I thought I had snagged something. I flipped the bail and turned around to free it. Then I noticed my line moving. I reeled up the slack and was greeted by a face only a mother could love,” he joked. While his trip didn’t yield the results that he was hoping for he did manage record a first. “The only shining light of the day was catching my first sheepshead on an artificial,” he said.
Southern Flounder
One of the most delectable fish that inhabit the gulf coast waters is the southern flounder. But over the last decade flounder numbers have plummeted. Some states have already taken action to make an attempt to improve flounder stock. Last November Alabama implemented a month-long closure in November. This year Texas is joining in as they close down the recreational and commercial season for six weeks. These closures are part of a ten-year plan to improve future harvests. Here in Lousiana the recreational harvest has dropped 80% from approximately 624,000 pounds in 2013 to a low of 124,000 pounds in 2017. State wildlife officials and researchers suspect the declines have more to do with the population becoming increasingly more masculine. Studies show that juvenile founder that develop in warmer water turn out to be female while cooler water produces more males. 
Chart courtesy of LDWF
They cite environmental changes, especially warmer water temperatures in the marshy estuaries where they give birth and grow before swimming into the ocean. But much like the speckled trout study they conducted in 2019, in which the department left out the most obvious reason for reduced trout numbers, freshwater diversions, the department fails to even mention the oil spill and dispersants as a possible reason for the low numbers. As for now anglers will have to wait and see what LDWF doles out as a solution for the reduced numbers in the future.
Tournament Results The Liar's and Lunker's club held their tournament on Halloween day at the East Pearl River. The 17 teams that came to battle for cash prizes were not scared, but it looks like the bass were. The bass managed to hide from most of the anglers as only six limits were weighed in. At the end of the day, Mark Mohr came away with the win after weighing a 9.63 pound 5-fish limit of bass. Second place went to the team of Scott Mitchell and John Andrews with 9.23 pounds. Steve Hadley and Dwain Crumby came in third place with 8.37 pounds. The days biggest bass, a 5.43 pounder, was brought in by the team of James Harris and Chad Hartzog. The Double Nickel Bass Club fished the East Pearl River. The weather was fantastic with a high of 74 degrees and a slow outgoing tide. Out of the 20 anglers who fished the event Rob Roberts managed the heaviest stringer with a 3-fish limit of 6.86 lbs. Roberts also caught the big bass of the day: a 2.98 pound bass. In second place was James Harris with a limit weighing 6.09 pounds. Rob Watson won third place with a limit weighing 
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 Keith Lusher
I created NFR.com in the spring of 2012. Since then it has helped link Northshore fishermen to valuable information and has filled the void of absent information on the web about fishing on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Northshore Fishing Report has morphed into a brand name and can be found not only on the web, but on radio and newspaper. As NFR grows I will continue to work hard at keeping NFR local focusing on local anglers, reports, seminars, and fishing tournaments in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parish. I hope you enjoy the website and If you have any questions please email me at: Keith@NorthshoreFishingReport.com
Look for the Northshore Fishing Report publication every Thursday in The Slidell Independent Weekly Newspaper!
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Corey LaBostrie and Dennis Adams join the studio by phone to talk about their trip to the mouth of Bayou Lacombe where they caught a bullshark and numerous bull reds on cracked crab.
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Bass tournament angler Patrick Engerran joins the NFR Studio to talk about the outward movement of marsh bass in southeast Lousiana.
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