According to the officials at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, water flow out of the river and into the lake via the Bonnet Carre is equivalent to emptying an entire Superdome full of water into the lake every 15 minutes!

Whoa!  That’s a lot of water, yeah!

So now that you got a good idea of precisely how much river water is going into Pontchartrain, what, pray tell you ask, is all this polluted freshwater going to do to all of the resident saltwater fish that 24-hours a day call the lake home?      

“I certainly don’t want to be the bearer of bad news,” Capt. Kenny Kreeger spoke, “but that polluted water can’t be doing coastal Louisiana any good!  And there’s a darn good possibility that the silt it carries with it will clog up practically every fish’s gills.

“That means the fish won’t be able to breathe properly, fungus and algae will multiply on its gill rakers, and it won’t feel well enough to feed.  Which in turn means it will probably die.  What a shame.”

But the scenario Kenny was describing, contrary to popular opinion, is not taking place now.  The dirty, milky, river water is not all the way across Pontchartrain and it’s not taking it’s freshwater death toll at this moment in time. It could very well reach all the trestle and bridge and shoreline spots that most fishermen race to almost every fishin’ weekend if the spillway continues to flow willy-nilly for the next 4 or 5 weeks. 

“But both fishermen and fishing guides are hoping and praying that the river falls to a safe level and the Corps closes the 150-plus bays they have open in the spillway,” Capt. Kreeger pleads.

But so much for the biology, ecology, and hydrology issues.  What readers to this column want to know is. . .”Frank, tell me if there’s a spot in the lake that has escaped the ravages of river water and where I can go this Saturday and Sunday to catch a few trout!  Can you do that for me?”

And the answer is. . .”Yes, I can!  It’s along the northern section of the Lake Pontchartrain railroad trestle.”

“But tell ‘em the best part, Frank,” Capt. Kreeger volunteered excitedly.  “ That spot you’re referring to has clarity down to at least 20 to possibly 24 inches.  That’s how much visibility you have there! I mean, the fish have! And, y’all, because game fish, the biggest and most popular of which are speckled trout, are staging just barely ahead of the river water, this is where you can come to catch ‘em.”

Now just about every one of my fellow fishermen who fished out of The Dock Boat Launch and Marina just off Rat’s Nest Road on the North Shore this morning, didn’t want me to pen that last paragraph.

“Frank, you write that and there’ll be a zillion boats out here tomorrow morning, and come Saturday you won’t even find a place to park your boat trailer here!” was one lament.

“Can’t you just write or broadcast that a few trout can be caught if you work hard enough at it, but only until the river water comes roaring through the trestle?  Can’t you be, like, just that vague?” was another suggestion.

“You do know, Frank Davis, that your name will be blasphemed up and down this trestle for the next couple of weeks by both weekend fishermen and guides alike if you decide to be this precise in providing the exact trout fishing area along here?  You are aware of that ain’t ya?”

“But what you could do, Frank, and feel honest and ethical about,” Capt. Kreeger recommended, “is tell the fishermen who watch and read your report that the trout are, indeed, at the trestle though not at just one spot but all along the trestle because they continue to move back and forth. 

“And you could tell them that they’re all, every one of them, big fish, most running 2 to 4 pounds and more. 

“And you could tell them that the best action comes on a sunrise bite and that it will probably all be over with by 9:30 am, just like it was for us today. 

“And you can tell them that they’re really slamming plastic only, fished flat on the bottom on a three-eighths or half ounce jig that you absolutely must pop really hard to get their attention, obviously. 

“And you can tell them that the lure must have chartreuse on it somewhere, most likely on the tail.

“You could tell them all that and not feel like you gave away a fishing secret!”

Lemme think about it!

Meanwhile, if you are interested in this trout pursuit, you can go it alone by launching at The Dock and heading for the trestle, using the trial and error approach to finding these monsters.  But I also want you to know that Charter Captain Kenny Kreeger knows exactly where these fish are!  His number is 985-643-2944.

Now next week I’ll venture down to meet with Johnny Glover’s guys at Cocodrie.  And if we get any decent kind of break in the weather, like no gnats and good tides and smooth seas, there should be a whole bunch of summer transition hotspots down there that I can blab about.  So I’ll see you right here next Thursday and, hopefully, have some good news to pass along.

Until then. . .good times and tight lines, y’all!

Frank Davis