Lake Pontchartrain

A Sportsman’s Paradise, Once Again

By Lisa Hoogerwerf Knapp

A sailboat motors home to Mandeville on Lake Pontchartrain’s north shore against the silhouette of the 24-mile Causeway Bridge. The satellite photo, right, shows the narrow lowlands and the Rigolets pass that link the lake first to smaller Lake Saint Catherine to the east and then to the Mississippi Sound. The salinity of the lake is near zero on the north and west sides, and about 50 percent of seawater on the south and east. The lake is named for Louis Phélypeaux, Le Comte de Pontchartrain, who was the French Minister of the Marine and Chancellor under Louis XIV, for whom Louisiana is named.

Lake Pontchartrain has really cleaned up its act. This brackish estuary’s water, which is actually the country’s second largest inland bay, used to be so polluted that no native New Orleanian would dunk their head under. But a decades-long “Save our Lake” effort by the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation means this lake is once again a thriving ecosystem with exceptional fishing and water sports.

“When you get indicator species back, it says this place is healthy again,” says Anne Rheams, executive director of the foundation. “The brown pelican is back in record numbers,” she says. “It is no longer on the endangered species list and that shows the ecosystem is coming back.”
Recreational boaters, Eric and Barbara Green, are out on the lake every weekend. While Barbara was warned as a child not to swim in it, she lets her young daughters jump in at every chance; there’s nothing to be scared about anymore.
“Ashley is only nine, but she has the patience to sit and fish on a hook for hours; you should see what she catches,” says Barbara. “I’ve cooked everything she’s caught, except for one small catfish, and it’s good eating,” Ashley’s last catch was a huge flounder caught recently while the family boat was docked at Landry’s, the south shore’s most famous waterfront eatery.

The Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans has a brand new building to replace the one lost to Katrina.The club’s  history dates back to 1849. An annual race from New Orleans through the Rigolets to Pass Christian, Mississippi, on the Gulf began in 1850  and is one of the oldest regattas still regularly contested in the U.S.
The north shore is home to all manor of flora and fauna from wary aligators and osprey to stunning swamp lillies.
Mandeville’s Pontchartrain Yacht Club (right) was rebuilt after Katrina. Below,the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum takes you on a historic journey through maritime Louisiana in exhibits and also through its annual wooden boat show.
The Tchefuncte River Lighthouse was built in 1838 and was badly damaged during the Civil War. This tower sits on the site of the original, but is 10 feet taller. It was automated in 1952.

“It is cleaning up, slowly but surely,” says Eric. “The fishing is great. There are redfish, speckled trout and flounder. They’re not dredging anymore for oysters and clams, nor are they drilling for oil, and there are three or four artificial reefs created near the Causeway Bridge. The more marine life in the water, the cleaner it will be. We’ve seen many dolphins and manatees. It’s breathtaking.”
When they’re not drifting or watching a picturesque sunset, the Green’s cruise Lake Pontchartrain’s scenic shoreline. They often raft-up with other boats where the old Pontchartrain Beach amusement park once stood. Now, this iconic, baby-boomer “beach” site of yore really is a beach with a designated swimming area.
Pontchartrain is a huge—630-square miles—lake and home to the world’s longest bridge at 24 miles. Dubbed “The Causeway,” it is somewhat of a mental dividing line for boaters. The Causeway connects New Orleans to the north shore suburbs of Mandeville and Covington, where many New Orleanians, left homeless by Katrina, moved in droves.
In spite of its burgeoning population, the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain is decidedly less urban, with scenic wildlife. As one meanders from Lake Pontchartrain up the Tchefuncte  River, pronounced “cha-Funk-ta,” the waterway leads to beautiful bayous.
“You may not see the alligators, but they’re around,” says Dave Bollyard, former commodore of Mandeville’s Pontchartrain Yacht Club. “This is a real sportsman’s paradise, like our old license plates used to say. Two otters live across from our yacht club, and there are eagles and ospreys, too. The wildlife is on the north shore of the lake where the water is especially clear. Fishing is incredible in the spring and fall.”
A short distance up the Tchefuncte, Madisonville is the real hot destination in the summertime, with many well-marked channels and marinas leading to its waterfront restaurants.
“You can beach your boat near the best restaurants, Morton’s and Friends,” Dave  says.
At the other end of the lake’s north shore, Slidell is connected to New Orleans East by the six-mile, I-10 bridges.  Slidell is home to Tammany Marina on Oak Harbor. You can fuel up while getting a burger at The Dock, or savor the menu of local seafood served raw, fried, baked or broiled at Phil’s Marina Café.
On the south shore, in a recovered New Orleans, the nation’s second oldest yacht club, Southern (SYC), is totally rebuilt. SYC thrives on races, especially team racing, a post-Katrina development due to many lost sailboats.
Bob Maher photographs most SYC races. He says the new Southern Nichols Cup in early March is the most popular race, with competitors hailing from New York Yacht Club, Boston Yacht Club, and Royal Cumberland Yacht Club of Great Britain.
“The Nichols Cup trophy is the one donated by New York Yacht Club to Southern after Katrina, after so many of ours melted in the fire,” Maher says. “We race ten months a year, about forty races, excluding Wednesday night races. The wind can be quite shifty and is more challenging in summertime with the thunderstorms.”
“The wind puts a lot of sailors to the test with it changing so much,” agrees Bret Maxwell, a local sailor. “There are dead spots in the middle of the lake. I once had to light a cigarette to see where the wind was going. If you sail toward The Causeway, you catch wind tunnels from under the pilings. Then there’s always a breeze from the canals on the shore.”
New Orleans was founded on and by petulant Lake Pontchartrain. Before there was power, wind and current were a sailor’s tools. Locating the city on the Mississippi River was very desirable, but it was impossible for ships to move up the mouth of the river against the current. Native Americans led the French through Lake Pontchartrain to the city, portaging where they couldn’t row.
Three routes lead into the lake from the Gulf of Mexico. The easiest and most scenic route is crossing Mississippi Sound through the Rigolets, pronounced “Rig-ga-leez,” (which means trench) into the lake. Or, one can motor from the Gulf to the Mississippi River, passing through the locks to the Industrial Canal, which leads to Lake Pontchartrain. Smaller sailboats take note: the current can run at five or six knots. The third route from Mississippi Sound uses the Intracoastal Waterway to the Industrial Canal and then to the lake.
For years, the squat, historic 1800s New Canal Lighthouse, which was destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, guided sailors to New Orleans’ west end. The Basin Foundation is also charged with restoring the iconic lighthouse. The foundation has already raised $350,000 of its $600,000 goal, which will rebuild the lighthouse as a maritime museum offering programs focusing on the ecology of the Pontchartrain Basin.
Anne Rheams says the “Save our Lake” campaign is almost passé. “It’s a reality now,” she says. “It’s time to enjoy our lake.”