1 week Ago
Mike Gallo is fishing deep under a cork to take this speckled trout from the lower reaches of the Pontchartrain Basin. Gallo, a veteran charter guide, joined other guides to say it's too early to know if last summer's new speckled trout regulations have had an effect on overall trout numbers. And, like the others, he said most fishermen are battling muddy waters and winds to catch trout lately.
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save May arrives Thursday and, in addition to the opening of the private recreational red snapper season, the hundreds of thousands of inshore fishermen are seeing speckled trout in their future. This small-boat fleet, which takes in most of our state’s charter-fishing operations, will be entering a second fishing summer under new speckled trout regulations. Need a refresher on the new rules? For speckled trout, the daily creel limit is 15 with a “keeper” slot limit at a minimum measurement of 13 inches up to 20 inches.
You’re allowed to keep two specks longer than 20 inches among your 15 keepers. Other stipulations bar the charter skipper and his crew from keeping fish, and you’re allowed to have a two-day limit on land, but not while fishing. What’s more, this will be the first summer with new redfish catch rules: a minimum “keeper” length of 18 inches with a maximum of 27 inches; four is the new daily limit; redfish measuring longer than 27 inches must be returned to the water; and, there are the same two-day and charter-crew restrictions as for speckled trout.
Now, the bigger question. Has there been a discernible difference in trout catches since new rules were implemented last summer? It’s too early to tell was the consensus among the four charter skippers from the Grand Isle, Buras and Lake Pontchartrain areas. To a man, these always-on-the-water guys said it’ll take a minimum of 3-5 years in Pontchartrain and as long as 5-8 years in the Grand Isle-Barataria area to know if there can be a full recovery to the numbers state Wildlife and Fisheries marine biologists believe for speckled trout to reach a “sustainable population.
” Then you can reference what Chas Champagne said about is experience in Pontchartrain waters last summer. “Last August and into September I threw back a thousand 12-13 inch trout. Yes, a thousand,” Champagne said.
(The new regulations raised the minimum size limit from 12 to 13 inches.) “By November and December, we had the best (trout) catches we’ve had in eight years,” he said. "You have to know the seasons for trout here and know our peak times are late in the year.
" Veteran charter skipper Mike Gallo said the lack of storms and hurricanes helped stabilize the catches in the lower Pontchartrain and in his main targets in Lake Borgne. “Depending on the day, a lot of fish are being caught, but I don’t know if that’s because of new size limit,” Gallo said. “It’s much too soon for us to tell.
What’s helped us over here is that we’ve not had a hurricane on the east side (of the Mississippi River) in three years, and that’s three full spawning cycles, which might explain why we’re seeing a bunch of fish. “I know one thing. If a 12-inch trout is released when it has not spawned and it grows, then it will spawn in the next cycle, and we can hope, without storms, to get a fourth, fifth and a sixth uninterrupted spawning cycles, then we’ll be in great shape.
” Moving closer to the Mississippi River, longtime charter skipper Ryan Lambert , who calls Buras home, said it’s much too early to predict the effects of the new rules, but said the river dictates the fishing production in his area. “When the wind dies, we’re catching on both sides of the river,” Lambert said. “Earlier this year there was the fear the (January) freeze would hurt, but the freeze did not do much damage.
“There are still plenty of fish, but here we have to keep an eye on the river. If the water is muddy and the wind blows wrong, well, but the days when the wind blows right (from the southeast) and we get clean water pushing up against the muddy water, then the fish will hold in the crystal clear water and we catch fish. It’s that simple.
” The Buras area, especially the east side of the Mississippi River, holds redfish and trout, and it’s redfish that has put this area southward to Venice on the world fishing map. “We are seeing a lot of 17-inch redfish right now,” Lambert said. “Every boat of ours (on Wednesday) released between 50 and 80 rat (undersized) reds.
That’s what we’re seeing and we know those fish will grow.” Redfish are not the main target in Grand Isle-Barataria waters, at least not for Frank Dreher , who said most of the charter skippers operating on the island and north up La. 1 to The Fourchon.
“We’re catching larger trout right now, but we’re having to find clearer water to do it,” he said. “Just this week, the fish (trout) began to take croaker, and that’s good for us. There are a lot of (brown) shrimp, too, and that means plenty of food for trout.
We just need for the wind to lay. It’s been blowing 20 knots from the southeast here for several days and that means lots of dirty water.” Dreher said he bases his optimism on increased speckled trout numbers to the action taken by Wildlife and Fisheries staff and the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission three years ago for a closed season on taking flounder.
“Now, this year, from February to today, I’ve caught more flounder near this island that in the past eight to nine years,” he said. “As for the trout regulations, the only difference is what we’re seeing are larger trout, just not the numbers we have had, and the customers don’t seem to mind catching fewer, but larger trout.” Dreher said most of the redfish catches in the lower Barataria Basin come from fishermen running far north of Grand Isle into marsh ponds.
The redfish showing up along the barrier islands either don’t make the 18-inch minimum size or are longer than the 27-inch maximum. Another concern with the downsizing of the daily limit was the effect on marinas and live-bait sales. Buggy Vegas , at Bridge Side Marina on Grand Isle, said the live-bait business is booming.
“We don’t hear complaining about the limits,” he said. “It seems customers think 15 is plenty enough, and everybody is still buying live bait. “Right now, we’re seeing a lot of brown shrimp and that’s good for us, good for the fish and good for the fishermen.
” Brown shrimp are the main target for Louisiana’s spring inshore shrimp season. They’re smaller than white shrimp but equally tasty, but catch numbers have fallen in most of the last 10 spring seasons. The opening of the spring inshore shrimp season throughout Louisiana’s coastal marshes will dominate Thursday’s Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting set for 9:30 a.
m. at state Wildlife and Fisheries headquarters on Quail Drive in Baton Rouge..
