re: proposed speck and redfish changes

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The problem is the ecosystem is nowhere close to the same and that level of conservation would be pointless. There is nothing Louisiana anglers can do to produce the same size fish found in either Florida or Texas. quote:

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I’m not talking about just catch and release. LA is far behind when it comes to water quality, trash in the marsh, taking care of public ramps, commercial fishing regs, and basically anything else you could think of. Catch and release is just a small but helpful part of that.

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Why not have a website where guides and recreational anglers can go to post their trip details so the wlf can have a better idea?

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This is not a bad idea but it will only account for a small amount of what is necessary. You could run into the argument everyone tried to use to invalidate the ldwf surveys.

People are so quick to look at what is happening right now and not long term trends. I’ve had an incredibly successful past two years but I don’t believe that’s indicative of the direction our fishery is going over the last 10, 20, 50 years. If you have fished that long then you should be well aware of how much it has diminished.

I think there are many factors outside of the rec anglers control contributing to a decline but, to me, I don’t really care what condition the fishery is currently in. I am a proponent of doing whatever is within my control to make it the best that it can be. If it’s currently improving then I’m fascinated with how we can make it even better. That’s just my personality with everything.

TLDR: everyone should find ways to give back to the fishery in whatever way they see fit. I’m ok with that but I’m not ok with a greedy, all take and no give mindset.

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You could run into the argument everyone tried to use to invalidate the ldwf surveys.

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LA is far behind when it comes to water quality, trash in the marsh, taking care of public ramps, commercial fishing regs, and basically anything else you could think of.

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Not really sure what you mean by water quality, but I can agree on the rest of the things you mentioned needing work.

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You could run into the argument everyone tried to use to invalidate the ldwf surveys.

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I can understand your concern, but if you listen to the charter boat guys who are out there every day making their living fishing, I’m sure you can get some fair information. They are out there every day and know what’s going on.

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I’ve had an incredibly successful past two years but I don’t believe that’s indicative of the direction our fishery is going over the last 10, 20, 50 years. If you have fished that long then you should be well aware of how much it has diminished.

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Fair, but there a ton of other factors at play that likely won’t change. Number of folks fishing, diminishing land. It may never be as good as it is now, no matter what.

The river diversions they are about to unleash will completely mess up things from grand isle and to the west.
I think some of these lower limits is to set people up for when they eventually mess up the entire fishery.

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The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission will consider a notice of intent at the Thursday, Nov 5 meeting in Baton Rouge to create a 1-mile buffer off Louisiana’s beaches where pogey boats won’t be allowed to fish.

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Cut the quota in half and the 1 mile buffer. Then we might have something.

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I’ve talked to researchers who say the best thing we could do for trout would be to increase the size limit to 15””.

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They are absolutely correct and this is the quickest fix but it seems nobody has the balls to make that call.

The goal of any correctly managed fishery (LA is Not!) is to have the fish spawn at least once before harvest.

Science says approx 75% of female trout spawn at 12”.

It moves to 100% at 14” with some fish spawning twice.

The push to protect the bull reds is because the average size of redfish spawning is 26”.

My problem w all this is this. If it is set to sunset in 3 years, why not move for more aggressive fix like the above mentioned 14” minimum? Because in my opinion, what they are proposing won’t fix biomass or spr in 3 years.

I have always thought the Clients should only be allowed to take home the fish that they catch, and not a bunch of fish that the guide catches. How often have you seen a guide catching fish after fish, while his Clients only catch a few fish.

I once watched a guide count how many fish had been caught. Their boat was close enough that heard him say that they needed 7 more specks to limit out.

I then watched the guide catch 6 more and a Client caught one. Before the guide counted the days catch, he had been steadily catching specks. I wonder just how many specks that guide caught and kept that day?

Maybe when making any "NEW" changes..... Maybe the GUIDE should be restricted to only catch and release and spend more time showing his Clients how to catch fish.

In the Big Lake area...... back in 2006 the limit was lowered to 15 specks and only 2 above 25" could be kept.

How does the LDWF justify the need to lower the limit to only keeping 2 above 19" size fish? Why not stay with the 2 above 25" limit?

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Maybe when making any "NEW" changes..... Maybe the GUIDE should be restricted to only catch and release and spend more time showing his Clients how to catch fish.

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I really don’t care one way or the other on this, but this is a very strange hill to die on. As long as the customers aren’t taking home the guides share of fish, what difference does it really make? If a guide takes some people out from Oklahoma that can’t catch fish in a bucket, does it really make a difference if the guide catches a few for them to bring home?

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agree that most boats don’t bring back 15pp but My view on this is not really science based as it is practical for my family. 15 trout per person is plenty for me to cook for them as I never freeze fish. Just my opinion.

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We had a 2 person limit yesterday by 7:30. Not my fault people aren't good at fishing
Ended up feeding 6 people and still 4 ziplock bags to freeze and eat during the week

I'm not sure what that has to do with what I'm saying. I didn't even know guides were allowed to take part in the boat's total limit and fully support reversing that.

Right? All you have to do is clean your fish at the marina to see what people are bringing in and it ain't 2+ man limits of any species.

And suppose someone is just that much better at fishing (really, it would be that much better at finding), why do you need to keep so many? Just go back out and catch them some more.