Anybody been to the spillway lately and could give me some info about what the fish been doing and how the water looks? I've got a club tournament out of Adam's Landing this Saturday. I haven't been out to the spillway in months unfortunately. If you don't want to share the info here, you can email me at justin.mayers@gmail.com..thanks in advance!
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Justin Mayers
I don't have any, but pls post your results as I've got a club tourney next weekend that may be down there!
fish are biting. Cant say too much got some big tourney's coming starting now thru march 1 over there. Caught 17#'s earlier this week. best advise jig jig jig!
Tough bite this past Saturday in the tourney...only took 11.5 lbs to win it...we had 9.5 with only a 2.85 lb kicker.
We made a mistake and decided to make a long run and wasted a lot of time. We caught all 5 of our keepers within a 30 yard stretch of bank in the Shell Cuts. We went there first thing in the morning and didn't find that specific area until about 8:15. We pulled 4 keepers and about 4-5 other short fish from the area by 9:30-10:00...and then decided to make the long run to our "normal areas". Well...we made that run and only caught one 12" bass the whole time we were there. So we went back to our original area and caught another 5-6 fish and 1 more keeper. Then we ran out of time. If we had stayed in our first area the entire day, we probably could have culled up a few times, but..that's the way it goes sometimes I guess.
We ended up in 6th...all 3 top spots had a little over 11 lbs.
Caught all of our fish on plastics in 4' - 7' of water...couldn't get em to touch a moving bait.
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Justin Mayers
Lots of fish caught down there sunday while i was working. I slipped off monday caught 17 keepers and a few short one all on the jig. fish were caught all thru the pigeon areas. has a buddy i work with fihes further south monday said he had 9 keepers and his best 5 would have went 19 lbs on spinner baits and jigs. i think he was back of duck lake somewhere. my best five might have made 14lbs. I just gotta find the bigger ones that i can stay on.
Just heard a report today. Two men caught 20 keepers on worms and jigs but they wouldn't tell where. Said one was border line making the length but the rest were over 3lbs each. Just wish I could have gotten out where. Oh and someone else caught over 100 sacalait last week.
All sheep are eventually led to slaughter
yes everybody i talk to is catching in the basin, the marsh and verret.
hopefully they're releasing the fish they catch...especially this time of year when the fish are getting ready to spawn(some already have)
people always want to complain about the fishing when it gets slow in the spillway...yet people still go out there and keep bass...
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Justin Mayers
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by frogpond11 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
people always want to complain about the fishing when it gets slow in the spillway...yet people still go out there and keep bass...
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Well, some do have to eat you know. Especially with the rising prices of groceries.
I'm with frogpond on this one this is not the time of year for catch and eat. I have nothing against anybody keeping a few but people should be sinceable about when and what they keep. otherwise with the rising gas and boat prices our kids and grandkids want think it's worth it to fish!
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DOUGMCGEE187 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm with frogpond on this one this is not the time of year for catch and eat. I have nothing against anybody keeping a few but people should be sinceable about when and what they keep. otherwise with the rising gas and boat prices our kids and grandkids want think it's worth it to fish!</TD></TR></TABLE>
I was just joking a little you know but with the rising prices of gas (along with boats, groceries and most everything else) our kids probably won't be able to fish whether they think it is worth it or not. They won't be able to afford it. Hell, I'm just about there now.
Depending on your age, think of what things used to cost when you were a kid and then what the same item costs now. Just imagine what it will cost when your kids are your age. With the rapidly rising prices and not so fast rising salaries their quality of life might not be as good as ours is now. That's kind of a scary thought.
I with Frogpond all day on this issue. In fact, i think the basin should be catch-n-release for bass this year and perhaps a few more years. it's obviously been hurt by the dry years and hurricanes. perhaps the lack of pressure last year is why fishing seems to be so good right now........and we were blessed with some water too.
i hear stories about how the basin used to be and wish i could experience it. if you want to eat some bass go to the marsh.....better yet.....go load a cooler with specs. call me whatever you want but i don't agree with keeping bass from the basin right now.
2005 Ranger 185
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No thanks! I think I would rather eat my fish closer to home. Blame it on the high price of gas if you want to.
I do remember the Basin as it used to be, It'll probably never get back to what it was. Too many people fishing there now as compared to those days. As far as mandatory catch and release, it'll never work. Still too many outlaws in the basin for that to do much good.
Maybe we would be better off just banning fishing in the basin totally. Maybe just ban bass fishing? Nah, neither would really work. Also it is not just the bass that we should be worrying about it is the other fish too. Seems you are only really concerned with bass in the basin, at least from your comments. The events you mentioned also affected the other fish species that live there too. Keeping 100 or more sacalait or bream is not acceptable to me either. So let's not worry about just our precious bass but all other species when talking fishing rules and/or conservation.
Seriously, I rarely keep any bass. As I said earlier I was joking in my post above. If the fisherman mentioned in the posts above caught and kept 17 to 20 something fish then shame on them. I do not fish for bass for my freezer. I am not a tournament fisherman except for when my work puts one on for employees. I rarely fish for bass at all. However, if I am back at the camp and want to keep a couple for the frying pan then I will. I prefer catfish but I have no problem keeping a bass or two if that is the only fish I catch. That is my right as a taxpayer and as an individual. I do not feel that I abuse the system if what I catch is legal. Nor am I depleting the supplies.
I do respect your opinions and concerns but let's just not be concerned about bass but all of the other species too. Let's also be concerned about all of the silt problems in the basin where we are losing or already lost accessible waters and the poor water management that causes or contributes to it. There are many bayous and canals that I used to fish when I was a kid that are nothing but dry land now. Most of the basin in the Pigeon area has gotten very shallow. Try running in Grand Lake when the water is at normal levels. Same all over the the basin in other places too. You're lucky if you don't run aground at one time or the other. Places that I remember being 20 feet deep are now only 3 or 4 feet deep.
Lots of issues still not even mentioned here. We can only hope that something can be done so that our kids and their kids and so on will still have this precious resource to use when we are long gone.
Well, I guess we have really hijacked this post now for sure. For that I apologize. Hope you all have a great fishing season this year.
I think alot needs to be done with our fisheries, as you mentioned, I am a tournament fisherman and choose not to keep bass. I think there is nothing wong with keeping fish to eat, but I have the problem with the guys who constantly pound the fish and keep everyhing they catch (all species). You can only stock pile so many fish in the freezer before some will start to go bad and end up being thrown out.
That's the waste!! and these are usually the guys that brag on how many fish they catch-- if they only knew that nobody really gives a rat's a** about how many fish they catch.. I see guys in Des Allemands do this regularly.
I much more impressed with the guys who can be both a fisherman and a conservationist, so we can have good fishing in the future, (all species)-- thats my soap box!
[FLASH]
You guys are really dreaming if you think all these guys that fish in Louisiana are going to catch and release. I know of countless guys who go scout for tournaments and keep fish. The mentality will never change here. It is catch all you can catch, and keep everything. That goes for saltwater, and freshwater. I am originally from Texas, and moved here in the late 90s', and used to love to go fishing down here, but after I see how everybody keeps everything, I started traveling to FL, OK, MS, TX, AL, and MO to fish. It is depressing seeing the possibilities this area has, and the fish just getting thrown in ice chests. The saltwater limit on trout is going to go down for this very reason. People are too greedy when it comes to fishing. I also know this goes with the hunters here. I know alot of guys that hunt here also that kill over 10 deer a year, and are always wanting more. I don't understand it. I am not saying this is the way everybody here is, but the majority. I know most you guys on here want to have a awesome fishery, and would like to see it get better, but we are outnumbered.
I think keeping some fish is good for the fishery, the key is kkeping the right fish, and your right, in LA, especially South LA, the mentality is if you can catch and clean 1000... fish, that makes you a good fisherman, the fact is all it makes you is an irresponsible fisherman. What's funny is that I know alot of these fools and they are usually the first ones to complain when fishing is tough in the area, or why it seems the fish aren't in an area this year like they were last year! The mentality of these guys are that if they don't keep all what they catch that the next guy who comes behind them will-- which down here might be true in alot of cases.
I wish limit laws ... would be more strict(on all species) and that Wildlife and Fisheries could enforce MAJOR penalties for violations. If you take their boats and equipment, its a LITTLE harder for them to destroy what we love.
[FLASH
case in point -> click on over to louisianasportsman.com and look at the most recent bass fishing reports. there are SEVERAL reports where guys have 10...15...up to about 35 bass laid out on concrete or a table getting ready to clean them. That just gives me the reds...I can't stand that crap...
I know keeping some of the smaller keepers will allow some of the larger fish to grow even bigger...but what a lot of these LA fisherman are doing is just absurd...especially this time of year...
Justin
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Justin Mayers
You guys are right, and I agree. I sometimes wonder what the fishing will be like when my 13 month old boy is 20?
i think as tournament anglers we share in the irresponsible fishing practices. especially in the spillway where it is in desperate need of a good spawn. we go out in the spillway with a couple hundred of the most successful bass fishermen in the area in 100 boats or so during the spawn,,keep the biggest 5 we can catch, ride them around for hours. then some tournaments release them in a different body of water. at the best they are released miles from where they spawn. (how many people fish in the intercoastal during the spawn) none......its not like a cove in toledo bend where they can get back to a good spawning area easily. its better than lake crisco,,but it has to hurt the fishery especially in the fragile condition it is in. in my opinion, we're just as bad as the guy that keeps a couple to eat. i would like to see a slot from jan through march,,, 12 - 14 inches with one over 14 til the basin recovers, if it recovers.
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