How would you rank 2012 spec trout season?
 

That's exactly what we don't need.... Guides trying to lower the limit

There is no shortage of trout in BL..... As far as the pole that could vary on what you target.... Big trout or numbers....ive seen both good but from the past it seemed that the big trout population has gotten smaller andyou dont see the 9-10lb trout like ive heard about in the 90s and early 2000s....jmo...

Not to open this can of worms again becuse I could care less but the statewide limit was being lowered to 15 before the spill and they decided to take a wait and see approach. Two people on this site in the know have already confirmed this....

Should be intresting.

I think the Big Lake area wasn't hit as hard as Breton Sound, Barataria Bay, Terrebone Bay, Shell Beach, Lake Borgne, Grand Isle, Venice, Louisiana Marsh WMA, etc. The menhanden fishery is noticeably absent this year as well. Areas were we have cast-netted for adult menhaden for the last 40 years were completely barren this year which is troubling to me.

Nobody has any "proof" to support whether it's because of the oil spill, or not, because there's not even "proof" that the fishing is down. Like Marshall noted....it could be the fishermen. If they push this....the guides will end up getting a reduced limit. Book that!

This is gonna go on forever and we will never have all the answers, I personally feel like the dispersant was worse than the oil. There are studies out there showing this as well. Our government ordered the spraying of dispersants, not BP

I would like to hear more opinions from other guides, it seems like just down the road in Dularge they are having an incredible year. If there is going to be something done I hope it is done with some scientific merit

Yep

Agreed.

x2 on dispersants

#1 BP oil spill has had ZERO Effects but hell we all know scientific data dont count
#2 Hurricanes have tripled our fishing on our side
#3 Big Lake is over populated by the number of small trout soon to be Grand Isle little brother soon with millions of baby trout
#4 This is not Texas

I don't want this to go into the Gill Net but this is just ridiculous:)

There is STILL oil in La marshes RIGHT NOW, going to a conference Thursday and one of the speakers is talking about it, I will let you know more on it. Its scientific data also

Really.....Damn there is oil on Hollybeach....Cameron Marshes and all of Hackberry Marshes...

SO your saying what????

Stop..... This is going in a positive direction right now.

110% scientific Stated FACTS....JUST SAYING

There is oil from the BP Macondo 2010 oil spill in portions of Barataria Bay RIGHT NOW, that is scientific fact. Don't want this in the gill net, be nice:)

not talking a few tar balls

What areas? I saw huge schools of big menhaden in Barataria in the beginning of June and July. It is my opinion that everything is early this year due to the weather. The guides know this but they see this as a way to A) get more BP money or B) try to get the limit reduced or both.

I think the guides that aren't catching what they are used to are either lying or they don't know how to adapt to changing weather conditions.

I agree with both your posts, we had a good haul of trout in the marsh while we were targeting reds in July. There were huge schools of pogies in the deeper canals of the marsh and on the west side of Caminada Bay.

I say it's same mon thru thurs! Fri sat sun Slows from boats a lil but usually still get en just takes longer

I don't think the oil had crap to do with it. Breton island sucks because of Kevin ford , thophile bougsious sp? , lsm ect not bp but because of 38' fountains w 3 275's trying to "stalk " big trout at te islands l m a o. It's a freakin circus over there . My Mahoney hole in fourchon sucked this year not b cuz of oil but it got silted in

I love twin motors who back down on anchor

Louisiana Sportsman raises real concerns in this months issue. Great read

Wow not sure what to say, other than all post I see from guides over on East side of state on SC or La Spts all stating they tearing up the trout and filling their chest and satisfying their guest! Sounds contradictory to me on this article, JMO.


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Its all politics .....

Yep.... Shady bastards

Haven't been a single time this year, therefore it sucks.

The New Orleans Times Picayune's Bob Marshall talks again about this years Speckled Trout season.
http://www.nola.com/outdoors/index.s..._river_default

It really doesn't matter if the problem is corexit , lake of water lack of salt or lack of skills. I said from day one that the reduction in speck limits over on the west side was just the foot in the door for a statewide reduction!
EVERY TIME i asked anyone that had anything to do w/ the reduction if this was true?
I got the same pat answer. We have no plans to reduce the trout limits statewide AT THIS TIME! It's coming and just like the west side It will be rammed thru w/ no scientific basis and there's not a damn thing we as fishermen will be able to do about it!

I agree that there are lots of politics involved and the oil/corexit is easy to place blame on for lack of fishing success by certain areas this year. Fish can get out of polluted areas and swim further into the marsh/bay or wherever, the problem is that their eggs and larvae can not, we may be missing entire age classes of fish and crabs and shrimp, all the way down the food chain. The brown shrimp season that just closed was the worst in 24 years (blame it on oil? who knows). I listened to Secretary Barham say this and he is very adamant about not settling with BP right away because the effects may be well drawn out for many years. He is not mad at them, but wants them to make it right. LDWF can not speak openly about other facets, the lawyers have issued a gag order, he wanted so bad to tell the facts about what he has seen these last 2 years related to our fisheries but was not allowed to. He did say we will be seeing many more negative effects for years to come. Alaska once had a thriving herring fishery before the Valdez oil spill, now you can not catch enough to warrant fishing for them (I know its a completely different system and we have oil eating bacteria blah blah). Their is still a considerable amount of oil in our marshes, Sec Barham went out and personally went into a marsh that was declared 'safe' and stuck a jar in the mud and pulled up oil and mud. Their are studies (I will find the link later) just published about the effects of Corexit on the food chain and its horrible, they used the same concentrations that were found in the water after the spill and the results are not good for us.

As far as the lack of trout, I don't believe that, I think they are further up in the bays and marsh because they can get out the way of polluted water, its that the trout need good places to spawn and may not find them in that type of system.