I thought trout could never be overfished with a pole?
 

https://www.louisianasportsman.com/?p=67088

In mid-March, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries sent out a press release indicating that an internal assessment of the state?s speckled trout stock showed it was being overfished, and landings had decreased to their lowest levels in recent years.

But Patrick Banks, assistant secretary for fisheries, said trout limits for 2019 ?probably? would not be affected while the results were being reevaluated by department biologists.

?We will have a better sense of where we are when the stock assessment results are compiled, evaluated and finalized,? Banks said in the release. ?But we do know that the stock?s numbers have dropped.?

That news perhaps didn?t come as a huge surprise to some coastal anglers, who have reported fewer and fewer speck catches over the last several years.

But it did raise lots of questions, like when exactly did the department start realizing the stock was overfished.

Overfished???? Where was WLF when we had those hard freezes. Stock assessment should have taken place right after those events....now they're just guessing. Whats left of our fish stocks cannot support the fishing pressure of liberal limits. Weather induced fish kills not over fishing caused the drop in stocks. If WLF continues to hang their hat on over-fishing we will see a permanent reduction in our limits, maybe even a closed season.

They seem to forget that high river affects spawning fish on our coast, salinity plays a huge roll. it's all about pleasing the folks that matter to them. My opinion...

we cant overfish it with rod and reel though that's what my cousin who is a guide told me

10 guide boats will catch more fish on any given day than 100 regular Joe's out there. That's who's putting the hurting on trout.

I find it hard to believe ' overfishing ' is the culprit. According to the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory..... " The spawning season for spotted seatrout in Mississippi is shorter than for other areas on the Gulf Coast, and the number of eggs produced per spawning event is lower. An average two-year-old fish in Mississippi can produce three to five million eggs per year, while an average two-year-old fish in Texas can potentially release 4.5 to 14.5 million eggs per year." This should put Louisiana way above in population ? ONE or TWO fish could actually actually fill all the guide limits for the state ???? I dont think overfishing is the problem. My 2cents

who cares about trout? there is plenty of hardheads to catch in weeks bay.

way less pressure too. :spineyes: