Fringe of Bayou Sauvage WMA Site of Marsh Fishing Bonanza To Come!
Frank Davis

Promise me you won’t blabber this to a whole lot of people, but my fishing team and I this past Thursday got a jump on the upcoming fall fishing season!

“We got back into the network of deadends and pipeline canals that run perpendicular to U.S. Hwy 11 near Bayou Sauvage on the south shore of the lake [Pontchartrain] and found a virtual menagerie of hungry mixed fish just waiting to be caught--drum, reds, flounder, sheepshead, croaker, and just about everything else that swims back in the marsh,” Capt. Kenny Kreeger, owner-operator of Lake Pontchartrain Fishing Charters openly admitted unashamedly.

“I know that we’re premature in going back into the marsh right now because it’s still early—most of the fall fish migration into the deadends and pipelines usually doesn’t occur until late October or early November. But, hey—I don’t make up the Grand Scheme of things! Mother Nature calls those shots! I just watch observantly, take all of her queues, and respond to them accordingly. The rest all happens naturally!”

To be specific as to marsh location, my fishing team today sampled just about every cut, slough, canal, bayou, and trainnaisse either going into or out of the Chef Menteur wetlands. Degree of activity was based entirely on ecological habitat location but—we did catch a number of game fish species at every spot we tried.

“And, Frank, the best part of it all is this fall inside run is just now beginning!” Capt. Kreeger reiterated. “Wait, Bubba—just you wait.

Simplicity is the keyword to catching fish right now. Live shrimp worked flat on the bottom off a Carolina rig is the preferred bait of choice; but good, fresh market shrimp will also put lots of fish in your boat. Most are being caught right at the intersections where two or more converging bayous shoot off the Textron Straight Canal, parallel to the length of U.S. Hwy. ll.

Kreeger insists that early morning or late evening fishing is the ticket this week solely because of the phase of the moon right now (it’s full, y’all!). The old timers readily tell you that fish feed all night long on a full moon, so if you fish early morning or late evening you’ll catch them either at the beginning or the end of their feeding cycle. I don’t make this stuff up! I just hear it and pass it along to you, for whatever it’s worth!

Now if you want to try these marshland locations for yourself, you can either call Capt. Kenny at 985-643-2944 and book a personal charter, or you can trailer your own boat down to Chef Harbor Marina, launch it there, pick up a bucket full of live shrimp, and head off into the marsh on your own on a fall fish excursion.

Either way, I wish you tight lines and good times!

Frank Davis