Share your catch
US

Lake Pontchartrain Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Lake Pontchartrain: a shallow, brackish estuary of almost 630 square miles north of New Orleans, fished for speckled trout and redfish.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Next tide
Low 11:26 PM
Air / High
77 / 79 F
Wind
SSE 2 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8761927, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

4/5Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Lake Pontchartrain offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. Today brings clear skies, wind SSE around 2 mph, falling pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 79. Tides: high 8:23 AM and 4:35 PM, low 1:23 AM and 1:03 PM and 11:26 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 78 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:37 AM-11:37 AM and 10:04 PM-12:04 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Redfish (red drum)Excellent

Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled troutExcellent

Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

Tomorrow: Similar at 75 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Louisiana requires a fishing licence from age 18, from $17.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a Louisiana licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing redfish (red drum) here? Check the size and bag limits with LDWF before you keep anything. The season dates for Louisiana, read off the agency, are on the Louisiana seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8761927 (New Canal Station). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
LOW1:23 AM0.6 ft
HIGH8:23 AM0.7 ft
LOW1:03 PM0.6 ft
HIGH4:35 PM0.7 ft
LOW11:26 PM0.6 ft
Sat
HIGH6:49 AM0.7 ft
LOW7:15 PM0.6 ft

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp77 F
High / Low79 / 68 F
WindSSE 2-8 mph
Pressure1018.4 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:08 / 18:21
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~78 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Lake Pontchartrain this week

Today is the pick of the week on Lake Pontchartrain, at 4 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Good

Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Solunar majors
9:37 AM-11:37 AM and 10:04 PM-12:04 AM
Minor period
3:58 AM-4:58 AM
Sun
07:08 to 18:21
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 14 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Pontchartrain: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Redfish (red drum) illustration

Redfish (red drum)

Best: late-summer and fall bull run; inshore all year

Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), called redfish across the South, is a bronze inshore drum with a black spot near the tail, fished on grass flats, oyster bars, marsh creeks and beaches from the Chesapeake around Florida to Texas. Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled trout illustration

Speckled trout

Shallow bays spring and summer; deeper water in winter

Speckled trout is the anglers' name for the spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), a spotted member of the drum family that lives in shallow bays and estuaries from the Chesapeake to Texas. Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

When to come: the Lake Pontchartrain calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Redfish (red drum)
Speckled trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 78 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~78 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Pontchartrain today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 80 F, wind to 8 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 76 F, wind to 12 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 75 F, wind to 22 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

Louisiana requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Louisiana recreational fishing license. Spotted seatrout 13–20 in., 15 a day, no more than 2 over 20 in.; red drum 16–27 in., 4 a day, none over 27 in. (LDWF rules via eRegulations, updated Oct 5, 2026).

Access

No launch list verified for this page; check LDWF or the parish before going.

About this water

A brackish estuary of almost 630 square miles (USGS) between New Orleans and the north shore, Louisiana; NOAA tide station 8761927.

Fishing Lake Pontchartrain: the full guide

An estuary more than a lake

USGS describes Lake Pontchartrain as formed about 5,000 years ago, covering almost 630 square miles with an average depth of 12 feet. It is brackish, taking fresh water from Lake Maurepas, the Tangipahoa and Tchefuncte rivers, Bayous Lacombe and Bonfouca and drainage canals, and salt water from the Gulf of Mexico.

The Bonnet CarrΓ© Spillway

The Corps of Engineers' Bonnet CarrΓ© Spillway, 32.8 river miles above New Orleans, diverts part of the Mississippi River's flood flow into Lake Pontchartrain, with a design capacity of 250,000 cfs; the Corps estimates it operates about once every 10 years.

2026 trout and redfish limits

Louisiana's 2026 rules (eRegulations, updated October 5, 2026): spotted seatrout 13-inch minimum and 20-inch maximum, 15 a day with no more than 2 over 20 inches; red drum 16 to 27 inches, 4 a day, none over 27. Captain and crew on a charter may not keep either species.

Tides on this page

Tide predictions here come from NOAA station 8761927, New Canal Station, on the New Orleans lakefront.

Common questions

Is Lake Pontchartrain fresh or salt water?

Brackish: USGS says it receives fresh water from rivers, bayous and Lake Maurepas and salt water from the Gulf.

What are the speckled trout limits in 2026?

Fifteen a day between 13 and 20 inches, with no more than two over 20 inches.

Is fishing good at Lake Pontchartrain right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Nearby waters

Barataria Bay57 miGrand Isle64 miBiloxi75 miAtchafalaya Basin89 miPascagoula River101 miDauphin Island120 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8761927 β€” New Canal Station
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 9 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 30.1660, -90.1120 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 6, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 6, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.