Latest info from telemetry study shows how speckled trout use Lake Pontchartrain

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The yellow buoys spread out across Lake Pontchartrain like giant popping corks have already detected more than half a million pings from speckled trout swimming in the lake as part of a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and Louisiana State University study.

LSU graduate student Ashley Melancon, who is analyzing the data, told the Northshore chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association Tuesday night that the study has already been a smashing success, even though it's far from complete.

"We've seen a 92.5 percent survival rate for the fall 2013 release group (of speckled trout)," she said. "That's pretty good given the invasive nature of the procedure and everything we put the fish through."

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Researchers installed buoys and other detection devices at the major passes in eastern Lake Pontchartrain to determine when fish emigrate from the waterbody. What they found is that many of the fish left in the late spring.

Of the fish detected leaving the lake, 58 percent passed through the Rigolets, 31 percent used St. Catherine Pass and only 11 percent used Chef Pass.

Nearly 20 percent of those fish were detected coming back into the lake, Melancon said.

"That number could be larger, but because the tags only have a life of about a year, we can't determine whether or not a fish returned after the tag died," she said.

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