Exactly, the spillway will cause the fish to concentrate in the pockets of clean, salty water. Satellite imagery is a beautiful thing when it comes to finding the clean water. I've never found the Spillway to do as much damage to the fishing in Lake P as people claim it does. Except for the one year when there was a huge algae bloom across the entire lake, it usually cleans itself out quicker than expected.

Sailfish, can you be more specific about how the spillway opening negatively affects the marine ecosystem? I've always thought that the long term effect of the river water was a good thing for the Pontchartrain Basin. If you're specifically talking about catching fish in the lake, it seems to me that opening the spillway does nothing more than concentrate the saltwater species into smaller areas, thereby making them easier to catch. I can see the problem if you enjoy fishing the SW quadrant of Lake Pontchartrain, but as a Northshore Lake fisherman, my experience has been that the spillway opening doesn't have the negative affect that people claim it does each time it opens.

Nice fish too! Excellent work ladies!

I have the Elite HDI 7 and run Standard Mapping's LA One card. It is unbelievable how great it is. My unit came with Navionics Gold and it doesn't come close to comparing with the satellite imagery. I have been able to go deep into the marsh and find ponds, lagoons etc. that you'd otherwise have no way of finding. I cannot recommend their product enough. Plus, when you're running down a bayou, the screen shows your position in the middle of the bayou. Not cutting across land half the time. That's my two cents.

Looks good Cap! It should have stability like no other boat when you're up in the tower.

Another vote for gold spoons, reds love ponds with vegetation and the spoons are weedless. The Johnson is my personal favorite in 1/2 or 3/4 oz.

Quietly sneaking through the woods on public land sounds like a good way to catch a bullet. You'd better be wearing orange from head to toe and it's still a dangerous proposition.

Check out Port Eads Lodge. It ain't cheap, but it fits the bill of what you're looking for. Your other option is pitching a tent downriver.

http://www.highadventurecompany.com/port-eads/

The force is strong in this one

First of all, if your reel is not performing when under tension, then you need to check and make sure the drag is set correctly. It sounds like that could be your problem. Abu Garcia is a reputable name in fishing reels but they have really good stuff and some crappy stuff too. Most manufacturers will have low end affordable gear and some higher end gear too. I'm not saying you have to spend a ton of money but I'd probably be wary of a $19.99 rod/reel combo that comes pre-spooled with line. You don't want your equipment to fail when you have that fish of a lifetime on the line.

I would say to take a look at some of Shimano's offerings in the $70-$90 range. I know a Sedona is a decent mid grade spining reel. Also, take a look at the Penn Battle spin reel, it's a great little reel in a 2500 or 3000, perfect for trout or even reds with the right line and drag setting.

That's my two cents. When it comes to fishing you'll likely get as many different opinions from as many people you ask.

There are blinds on every square inch of Catahoula Lake. There really is no place where you won't be close to a blind, and some of them have 200+ decoys. However, there are plenty of blinds that are empty, especially on a weekday. You'll just have to go and try to find an area where there aren't many hunters on that day and set up. Aside from the break of dawn flyers, lots of birds fly later in the morning. So you can get in after daybreak and still have a good hunt. DO NOT GO ON OPENING WEEKEND!!

Main Pass is very easy to navigate until you reach the mouth. I went down it once a few years ago and when I got near the end I could see vegetation growing in the middle of the mouth and took the last cut to the right, BIG MISTAKE. Took about an hour to move one mile over a sandbar and that included getting out of the boat at one time and pushing it. I realize that this post isn't very helpful, but I am also curious about a passable route to go East. You can always go out of Batiste Collette and then loop around to the South, it's long but safe. Good luck.

That's awesome, very unselfish of you to do that. You're a very good brother, your sister is lucky.

I've even caught juvenile mangroves in Lake Pontchartrain a few times. They definitely don't venture offshore until they're big enough to stand a chance at survival.

Congratulations, nice buck!

You really should notify Wildlife and Fisheries about your sighting. Manatees are endangered species and are very vulnerable to being hit by propellers. W&F will post signs all over that say 'Manatee Zone' and remind people to go slow and keep an eye out for the Chalmette Mermaids.

JB, to answer your question about what CCA has done in the last 20 years, the most obvious answer would be eliminating gill nets. Those things were atrocious and nobody needs to kill that much marine life. Math Geek, as for CCA spending more money in TX, you do realize that GCCA began in TX and probably raises 10X the funds that LA CCA does? I too would like to see most of the funding for projects be directed at our coastline but the reality is the dollars are going to be spent close to their source. LA can not compete with TX in anything related to fund raising. They may actually have 5X the number of SW fisherman than we do.

It's either a shadow effect or the deer is pie bald(sp). Nothing weird going on here.

Easy Rider, last fall we loaded the boat up with cobia right out of Fourchon. The fish were in close at what I call the Satellite Rigs. These are the small platforms about 4-5 miles south of Belle Pass. There seems to be a couple hundred of these right out of the pass in 30-45 ft of water. Of course it's always nice to pull up and find cobia just hanging at the top. But if not just idle around the rigs and toss buck tail jigs, trying to get a cobia to bite. If you don't get a bite after casting on all sides of rig then just move to the next one. Fish from platform to platform down the line and then go back and start again from the first one. Cobia are constantly on the move and a rig that you fished 30 minutes ago might have 5 fish circling it now. I normally like to throw Williamson bucktails anywhere from 3-5 oz. Try using different color combos with jigs and curly tail grubs. I use a large spinning set up so I can cast my jig towards the rig.

Hope this helps and good luck.

I hate to be the one to burst your bubble but you didn't win a new bay boat. I have caught two tagged black drum in Lake P, one at gas wells in Lacombe and the other on the causeway. I was ecstatic when I caught that first one and saw REWARD on it. Basically, you leave a message on phone number and a bioligist will return your call in a few days. They'll want to know the location where fish was caught and size and condition of the fish. They will then send you a report that tells you when and where the fish was released. Both of my drum were released about a week earlier at or near where I caught them. Also you will be mailed your reward......a CCA fishing towel, not a 22' bay boat. Oh well,its still cool to catch a tagged fish. Congratulations!