If it ain’t the pandemic, it’s another, a thing like Hurricane Ida.
The combination of the effects of both made the annual Golden Meadow-Fourchon Tarpon Rodeo an off-and-on event for the past four years.
Thank goodness this is an “on” year. Fishing in this 73rd annual celebration begins Thursday.
Ida’s 2022 200-mile-an-hour blast over the southern reaches of Lafourche Parish put hold on last year’s around-the-Fourth of July event. In its wake the Port Fourchon Commission erected a new and very serviceable pavilion near it’s office off Fourchon Road to host rodeos and other port events.
This facility will be the new GMFTR headquarters.
Moran’s Marina will continue to be the weighstation, and scales will open at 1 p.m. both Friday and Saturday. Weighing fish will end at 7 p.m. Friday, at 4 p.m. Sunday for the Children’s Division and at 5 p.m. for all other divisions.
King of the Catch competition returns to Friday’s rodeo schedule. It’s a calling-all-chefs cookoff, and the ticket-buying public gets to judge the winners in a tasting contest. The table with the most tickets by 9 p.m. Friday is The King of the Catch. Cooks must use Louisiana seafood.
Rodeo and “Catch” ticket sales and sponsorship allow the rodeo committee to award college scholarships to deserving Lafourche Parish students, who, over the years, have benefited from $225,000 in college tuition help for high school graduates.
Need more? You can get tickets at the rodeo’s website: fourchontarpon.com.
Spring shrimp
The spring inshore shrimp season will close at 6 p.m. Monday in all state inside waters, except for the area known as the “double-rig line” in Breton and Chandeleur sounds.
Heat and fish
State fisheries folks are warning fishermen across Louisiana to report fish kills resulting from a combination of extra high summer temperatures, cloudy conditions and heavy rains.
This sometimes toxic mix could result in fish kills in both freshwater ponds, lakes, bayous and rivers and nearshore waters along the coast.
The problem is these factors lead to low dissolved oxygen levels – biologists call it “hypoxia” – and it’s so low most species cannot survive.
Heavy rainfall can trigger hypoxia, because thunderstorms’ winds can blow debris into the water and can push nutrient-heavy water into larger waterbodies all of which reduces dissolved oxygen.
Moreover, dead fish consume oxygen to decay, leading to a cycle of a waterbody’s ability to hold enough oxygen for all species.
The state warning stated, “There are often temporary negative impacts to recreational and commercial fishing activities immediately following fish kills, but systems normally recover on their own.”
Wildlife and Fisheries managers are asking for fish-kill reports. Go to the agency’s website: wlf.louisiana.gov, then find the “fisheries” tab, then go to “report fish kills.”
Those youngsters
Jackson Rogers showed bass can be caught in summertime conditions when he brought in 10 bass weighing 21.43 pounds to take the title in the Junior Southwest Bassmasters’ annual two-day Father’s Day tournament on Lake Concordia last weekend.
Club director Jim Breaux said the 36 young anglers with their adult “coaches” fished on a hot and clear Saturday, then a cooler, rainy, windy Sunday.
The morning bite was best both days, although the heavier fish showing up at the scales came near noon into the early afternoon. Breaux said the most productive offerings were frogs, swimbaits and spinnerbaits early, then jigs later.
Call Breaux (225) 772-3026 for more on this club with three divisions divided among young fishermen ages 7-18.
Snapper report
Our state’s private recreational offshore fishermen have taken 138,405 pounds of red snapper according to the latest LA Creel survey through the weekend ending June 11. That’s 14.8% of Louisiana’s 2023 total allowable catch of 934,587 pounds.
Through three weeks of a season that began in late May, the average weekly catch is 46,135 pounds.
The seven-day-a-week state-managed season allows anglers holding basic and saltwater licenses and the Recreational Offshore Landing Permit a three-per-angler daily catch. Each red snapper must measure at least 16 inches long.
For the breakdown, go to the LDWF website: wlf.louisiana.gov/page/red-snapper.
Big fine
Cody Powe, a 23-year-old from Carriere, Mississippi pleaded guilty in a St. Tammany Parish court earlier this month and was fined $8,248 and court costs by Judge Ray Childress for wildlife violations.
The Wildlife and Fisheries’ report indicated Powe was cited for taking over the daily and seasonal limits of deer and failing to tag and validate the deer he killed.
State Enforcement Division agents launched an investigation after Powe took two antlerless deer last November from the Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge, a place where hunters are limited to taking one antlered and one antlerless deer per day. The, agents discovered Powe killed an antlerless deer and an antlered deer on earlier hunts from an area with rules allowing hunters to take only three deer per season not to exceed two antlerless deer.
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