If you are wondering what the “Big Bridge” is, well it the 24 mile concrete reef that connects Mandiville and New Orleans stretching across Lake Pontchartrain called the Causeway. This bridge gets neglected and forgotten at times as boats tend to crowd the Trestle in Slidell while leaving the Causeway vacant. The Causeway is arguably a better fish haven than the trestle is. Endless amounts of round concrete pilings setting in 12-16 foot of water out in the middle of nowhere creates a magnet for speckled trout to gravitate to.
Just because you may of heard the trout are all over the causeway, don’t think they just go to jumping into your boat. The 24 mile bridge may be one of the most complicated fisheries in Louisiana. What makes this structure so complex to fish is how the trout glue themselves to the pilings. This makes casting accuracy crucial. Most of your bites in may come within inches of the pilings making a poor cast a wasted cast. Using a bait caster helping casting accuracy is extremely important. The speckled trout get very patterned on the big bridge also. You want to pay very close attention to not only which piling your bite came from but the exact angle and side of the piling that strike came from. The saying one is a fluke two is a pattern holds very true to approaching the causeway.
When I begin my morning fishing the causeway I like to start on the western span as it has two pilings supporting the bridge making a cast in between the poles an easy one. My first cast I like to time it right by throwing in betweeen the two poles trying to rub the far pole first and as my boat drifts past the closer pole my lure rubs the close pole sweeping it around the corner. The as I past that set of pilings I will make a back cast toward the backside of the poles covering a zone that would not have been covered on the first original cast. Once I get a few bites i gernarally notice they are coming from the same angle on the same piling. Once I dial this in I eliminate all other cast and speed up my drift covering more pilings quicker, as I am only making one cast, pinpointing a certain area.covering more pilings quicker, as I am only making one cast, pinpointing a certain area.
earlier in the season trolling can be extremely effective as the trout seem to linger off the pilings when the water temps are between 50 to 60°. But when the trout decide to glue themselves to the pilings, you better glue that lure to them also.
my set up is almost always a half ounce golden eyed jig head. This is much more important than the color of the lure. You want to make sure you are constantly making contact with the bottom. Then I attach my favorite lure at the time, typically something opaque as the water tends to stay clean out there. Followed by tying it to our matrix fluorocarbon as good invisible line is essential. We always use the matrix ride when Fishing the Causeway and other bridges as it was made for jigging deep water for speckled trout.
the time to fish the causeway is when the winds are light and calm. Due to the nature of the way, that part of the lake is set up any type of breeze creates large waves and turbulent weather. Try to focus on the Causeway on the calmest of days as using the trolling motor for boat positioning under stable conditions is essential. These trout will sit in there throughout June transitioning into red fish as the summer goes on. It’s a fabulous place to fish with the most consistent area being from 2 miles to 12 miles off the North Shore.
For more information on Fishing, the bridges of Pontchartrain especially the Causeway. Make sure to check out all of our dockside TV episodes and study them before your next adventure. And until next time good Fishing.
