Even a thick ground fog yesterday morning all over Southeast Louisiana couldn't conceal the exact spot where my fishing team and I wanted to cast for a potpourri of fish.

At almost 10 a.m., after waiting out the fog bank over Lake Pontchartrain for more than three hours, Captain Kenny Kreeger, my guide, Bob Parkinson, my cameraman, and I inched our way through the water-soaked mist to the south side of the L&N trestle… and immediately, with the very first cast, the action turned on fast and furiously. 

“This has been the case every time I’ve come out here lately,” Capt. Kenny confessed, coaxing yet another monster sheepshead into his waiting landing net.  “See, ordinarily this late in the year white shrimp season would have closed by now.  But the wildlife and fisheries guys say there’s a whole lot of shrimp still in our marshes and lakes—including Pontchartrain—because we haven’t had any fall fronts strong enough to push them out.  Consequently, the season stays open, there’s lots of bait in the water, and the fish are chowing down on them.

“And since we’re using them for bait, we’re catching fish hand over fist!”

It would come as no surprise that angling action in other places around the Lake Pontchartrain/Borgne are also producing braggin-size wintertime catches, but Capt. Kenny says he’s had to go no further than the trestle in Pontchartrain. 

“I got no doubt that a good fisherman could move all along the entire five-mile expanse of trestle and pick up fish all along the trip.  But, Frank, I haven’t moved around hardly at all because just about every this I’ve put in the boat the past couple of weeks has come from the section that at one time used to be referred to as the ‘second fire breaker.’  And about 25 yards on either side of that fire breaker is as good as sitting right on it!”

Capt. Kenny divulged precisely how the fish were being caught (and how we caught them yesterday for “The Fishin’ Game Report”).

One more time, the Carolina rig is the big producer!  So what a fisherman this weekend needs to do is tie on the rig, bait it up with a live shrimp, and toss it out so that it settles about 3 feet from the bridge structure.  Then wait about a minute or two.

“I want folks to know that these fish are not very aggressive right now,” Capt. Kenny keep talking while he fished!  “So it is absolutely imperative that they wait until they’re certain that the fish has the bait well in its mouth.  As we’ve been noticing today, you’ll miss about 35 to 40 percent of your strikes attempting to set the hook too quickly.  You’ll feel the bump, then you feel almost a vibration, and then the bump comes again.  Then. . .the line tightens and the fish attempt to swim away with the bait.  That’s when you make your hook set!” 

So what are you fishing for like this?  What’s holed up along the trestle?  A complete potpourri of species, that’s what.  Sheepshead, drum, redfish, trout, flounder, and freshwater catfish, mostly.  And I’m talking fish big enough to win boats and motors in the Star Tournament (if it were open now).  That’s big, y’all.

Now here’s what’s probably the question you want me to answer most. . .does Capt. Kenny and all his colleague guides offer charters at Christmastime?  Mais oui, cher!  In fact, it’s the one way to make sure that you finally get a good Christmas present, one that you’ve always wanted.  And if Santa doesn’t bring it to you, buy it for yourself!

All you do is call 985-643-2944 and set up a trip.  But don’t be duped into thinking that you can wait and call anytime. . .because you can’t.  The real fishermen among us know how fantastic wintertime fishing is, and they know that Capt. Kenny is on top of the Pontchartrain action.   So don’t be surprised it they fill the pages of  his reservation book quicker than a hardhead can steal a piece of dead shrimp off a 3/0 hook! 

So lemme ask you this—do you know where you left your cordless phone?  Okay—then go get it, call Kenny, and give yourself a great Christmas gift. 

In the meantime, since I’ll be playing Santa to my grandkids for the next 10 days, this report will have to hold you over till I get back in about a week.  Just don’t catch ‘em all while I’m away!

Have a very Merry Christmas,

Frank Davis