Is big lake done?
 

Buddy of mine who is a guide had three limits all year. Oysters are obviously struggling, erosion has killed 9 mile. Large ship traffic is out of control with with more lng work coming. Is this thing done?

I don't think so. It looked like a down year for specks, but in our creel surveys, we saw lots of limits of redfish and specks were not a complete train wreck. Catch rates for specks may have been down 30% or so relative to 2017, but the fish are fat and happy, but not so fat as to suggest a sudden population decline.

The 2018 Oyster Stock Assessment showed that oysters were up in Calcasieu compared with the past few years, but have not yet returned to 2011 levels. If the dredging ban remains, I expect continued improvement but it will take a few years.

More likely, we're just looking at a normal cycle with fewer specks getting caught and more redfish. A lot of the guides shifted to catching redfish limits early in the season and heading for the dock satisfied with redfish limits without pushing hard for speck limits.

If the dredging ban remains in place, I expect oyster stocks to continue to rebound. If we can get oysters back to their pre-2011 levels, the rest of the lake will follow.

I hope you are right MG.

That's great information. I've been asking and researching online but couldn't find any info like this.

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We can go over it again but if the water is restricted from going into the marsh. The whole Eco system suffers.

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We've looked for evidence of this in our 8 year study and found that the opposite is actually true, at least within the ranges of restriction that are currently in place.

Flow between the lake and marsh is never completely restricted but varies from 20-80% restriction based on salinity measurements and tidal conditions. At least within those ranges, more restriction of flow is well correlated with higher fish condition.

All the evidence suggests that the weirs are well managed from the viewpoint of keeping Big Lake fisheries in good shape.

Why then in years after Rita when the weirs were open and the levees were broke we caught more fish, bigger fish a could even catch shrimp in a trowel. Since they were repaired our fishing shrimping has been on a decline. I'm sure this information available.

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One important source of energy at the bottom of the food web is detrius - decaying organic matter that the small stuff feeds on. Hurricanes like Rita put tons and tons of detrius into the water, and this creates a significant boost in production. In the years following Rita, saltwater intrusion into the marsh also killed many, many tons of vegetation creating detrius. But this is not a sustainable situation - one gets a short term boost in production but pays a high cost in terms of lost marsh.

A second contributing factor to the boom years after Rita were high oyster populations in the estuary. Oysters provide a variety of essential ecosystem services ranging from filtering water (increasing light penetration and primary production) to improved habitat and structure. Abundant oyster reefs also tend to hold fish in easily identifiable locations making them easier to catch. A few years after Rita, oyster overharvesting hit big lake really hard (high harvest pressure, mechanical dredges, etc.) resulting in a steep decline in oyster populations. This also had a negative impact on production at about the same time that the weirs were rebuilt and restored to their original management plan.

Thanks for all your info! FACTS over Feelings!

Every bay system goes through cycles. 2018 was by far the worst trout fishing in my three years of guiding. Think of the freeze we had and also the multiple floods bringing millions of gallons of fresh water into our bay system. Not to mention the near complete depletion of our oyster reefs. I am proud to report that I guided Tuesday and Wednesday this week and only saw one oyster boat in two days. We caught some really nice trout and did not have to measure any. I am very optimistic about 2019 and without any major flooding I think we will see a strong rebound in our near future.

That is encouraging brother.

MG,

Thank you the detailed data and facts shared with all concerning Big Lake. I know there are many people working to keep the ECO systems alive and well and it sounds like you know much that is going on and keep all informed. That said, we are not God and things do happen and we must adjust and wait.

I agree that FACTS before Opinions is always appreciated!!!!

Thanks for the Post!!!!

I can remember Grand Bayou winding thru a beautifull marsh. With carpet of pink eyes moving out of the marsh. I can remember dragging a trawl in big lake and catching hundreds of pounds of shrimp. Then we get the weirs you can't catch a dozen shrimp in an hour. I know the duck hunters love the weirs for the weigeon grass ect.
But we had more ducks then in that marsh than I've seen in a decade of the weirs. Engineers will never be God. Let the marsh be.
Where exactly are you getting all these facts I'd like to look at them myself.


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But the problem is big lake historically was never a full saltwater lake. It was brackish at best. The ship channel changed all that. And now with that big gaping opening from 9-mile cut southward, the weirs are needed more than ever to keep that marsh from turning into saltwater marsh. The ecology was changed forever with that ship channel. So no one should be complaining about the weirs.

Now I do agree with that. Why dont they close 9 mile and turners bay. Like it use to be. That would help more than anything to bring the lake back to near historical catches.

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That would be easy to do. Don't know why it hasn't been done. Maintaining a lower salinity in the lake would allow the weirs to stay open longer.

Yes, this is true. One could increase flow restrictions between the ship channel and lake and this would allow decreasing flow restrictions between the lake and marsh while maintaining the same salinity levels in the marsh.

Do you think Ducks Unlimited is short stopping trout from reaching Big Lake?

It is interesting to hear Year after year that permits are in place and funding has been approved to rock the spin channel. One side says it’s the worst thing that could be done to our fishery and others can’t wait to see it happen. One thing is a fact. If something isn’t done long point needs to be changed to short point because it is eroding from ship traffic daily. And, while guiding yesterday on a low tide west cove is covered with tree tops which are washing off the ship channel banks.

And ship traffic is only going to get worse.

These new LNG companies need to foot the bill for rocking up the ship channel. That should have been a requirement for getting their permits and approvals from the state.

4-6 ft. waves from "Work Boats" at full steam, are very damaging (and dangerous to affected smaller craft), yet most Boat Skippers and their Employers, don't "give a hoot". "Point A" to "Point B", in the least amount of time, is what it's all about (but yet they have safety meetings all da time..., and mumble that everyone has the "Stop Work Authority"). Need more rocks everywhere there is boat traffic. More money is spent on dredging canals for Commercial Boat Traffic, and Oysters, than for "real" Coastal Protection.

And now believe it or not they are trying to make Cameron parish residents property tax dollars take over maintenance and dredging of the ship channel. The channel does generate a lot of money but I bet 95% of it comes from industry north of Cameron parish. Please vote against it!

Been going downhill since they lowered the limit to 15, that is the main reason

that is exactly what I was thinking. lol:work:

When’s the last time government hasn’t messed something up...

That sir is an excellent point. The lng companies do not even pay fair market value property taxes they just build the community a new center or softball field when asked so everyone feels like they are such a blessing.

Back in the early 90s as a kid I can remember going out to the Pryors camp out there by the public wharf and walk out in the water with a dip net and scoop up shrimp!!! Now it wasn't that way everyday but when we knew they were there that's all it took!!

That is very hard to argue with!!

Place has been a garhole. I blame it on the Texans.

Interesting stuff on this one.
One thought I had was about property value on the water: why are camps listing at $200+/sqft on the lake if things are as bad as people say? Is there a govt aspect preventing any more waterfront property from being allowed for homes? Just absolutely asinine listing prices for camps at Big Lake and when people say it is because the LNG companies, I don?t see how that affects it (a guy working on building those facilities is not likely to buy a $600,000 Camp on the lake, nor is an owner of a camp ?valued? at that price going to rent it out). What is the deal?!

Ain't got nuttin to do wit fishin. Same thing is happenin on Goss Ferry Rd. Nobody on Goss Ferry Rd payin dat kinda money cause da fishin is so good. Most of em don't even fish

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. We had a great time with the big gar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrcvjXPYrfQ

But there were still plenty of redfish and other fun stuff. Learn how to love what the day provides if you can't find the trout.

Capitalism works. Supply and demand. My brother owns multiple properties in Cameron, and they are bringing in top dollar. Other than staying with my bro, we can't afford space down there for fishing trips. In the next year, it's looking like rentals at Grand Isle are cheaper than the Big Lake area.

But frankly, we'd prefer Cameron. Fishing has always been better, even though 2018, and we expect that to continue for many years.

So what are you saying

Come again

I am in the process of building a new home now on the water in Hackberry. The building codes after the hurricanes have driven up construction costs astronomically. These costs have nothing to do with LNG?s. The demand for housing due to the LNG construction has caused rental rate increases and workers have made leases on camps that were historically fishing camps rented by the weekend. The reason for high prices on vacation type rentals has a lot to do with rising property tax rates and insurance costs. If you pay cash for a $500,000 camp the taxes, insurance, maintenance, and utilities can easily cost $1,500 per month.

Good to know thank you for the info

Explain the rationale behind this.

The gist of the rationale is that with lower limits, there were too many small trout in the lake eating too much of the available food, so fewer fish would have enough to eat to be fat and grow fast enough to become true trophies.

For trout to get really big, they have to grow fast, which means there can't be more fish in the lake than the lake can support (carrying capacity).

Conserving ample forage is key for producing trophies in species that don't live a long, long time. Conserving lots and lots of 12-15" trout can be counter productive to conserving ample forage.

and I heard a couple guides say it so I take their word over anyones. They are out there all the time and know more than anyone. Just ask one

No, but I think SaltyCajun.com is.

So, although counterintuitive, I definitely see the logic there.

My main issue is, why does Texas produce so many huge trout with their lower limits? Is it bc they have so many fisherman their total harvest is equivalent to ours with a 25 fish limit?

Could be. Each estuary is really different with regard to the speckled trout dynamics. I've had a very close eye on Big Lake since our fisheries work began in earnest there in 2011 (in addition to growing up in Lake Charles as a fishing enthusiast). I've carefully reviewed every bit of published data relating to specks and redfish in Big Lake, as well as a lot of unpublished data about Big Lake from LDWF and other private sources. My level of confidence in describing the fisheries at Big Lake is simply much higher than anything in Texas due to much greater care. I've spent thousands of hours studying Big Lake.

In contrast, I've spent between 10-20 hours studying most of the estuaries along the Texas coast, so my knowledge is much more limited. I will note that the variation from the different estuaries in Texas is much greater than the variation between Louisiana estuaries (which is also large). The Laguna Madre is a much different deal from Sabine. In the Laguna Madre, for example, speck on speck predation is a significant component of the diets of larger specks. The waters are clear and very salty and lots of 10-12" specks are not strong competitors for the food of the big ladies, they ARE food for the big ladies. That ain't at all how Big Lake works.

A question I would like to ask. In the past there were guides catching and posting. In the past year there are fewer and fewer post. Also I have heard from someone that knows more than I know about big lake. They say that the washout has been blown out and the fishing will continue getting worse until they put out the rocks like they have done all the way down the channel. Can anyone tell me why they are not doing the last few miles to close off the massive hole we have on the washout. Don't make any sense to me.

The whole issue with the rocks probably boils down to one thing--the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). There was a time (we may still be in that time) that NMFS was adamantly opposed to rocking shorelines because it was "bad for fish". If that sentiment still stands, then it will not happen.

Not to mention the cost to rock that likely isn't small.

Last year was by far the toughest year on Big Lake in my life but IMO those two 18 degree nights with 3 days below freezing took a toll on system.

Last year I ended year with 19 full Trout Limits with customers and several more scouting .
Vs over 50 full trout Limits with customers in 2017 season

The new revised SPR # will be released in April this year .

Think the lake needed a bad year because it thinned out a ton of guides . Most had to get other jobs and now only guide weekends.

Guiding became easy money and easy do to for so many because fishing was real easy and consistent. When you have hard times like last year only strong Fisherman survive .

Ones who put in extra hours searching and scouting to find fish made it . Ones who just depend on cell phones and someone to find fish for them didn?t .
Was not a whole lot of sharing info last year with other guides .
I know when me or Chris found trout we keep it to ourselves until our cover was blown .
Learned a valuable lesson last year also about pictures .
When other guides are not catching and you catch limits of trout .
Do Not post pictures because they will find you !!!
Me and Chris found some trout last March .
We had trips 4 days in a row and limited out 3 days in a row then on that 3 day one guide found us and phone calls started .
It was like vultures that 4th day.
I left hour before daylight that 4th day and had two boats on the spot already I had been fishing last 3 days ..
At least 25-30 guide boats in the area [emoji35][emoji35][emoji35]





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Astute observations. Thanks for chiming in. Hope you and yours are well.

I'm no way a guide, but I know what you're saying. Last year during the week I'd see hardly any guides. Weekends, they were everywhere and with no direction. When I could break from work, I'd only come during the week down. Last year I boated 18 limits of reds and one limit of trout. Me, my son and friends that would go down. We caught 4 flounder all year. Haven't been down yet because of bass fishing in east TX but hopefully in the coming weeks will make our first trip. No such thing as luck if you study your craft. Good to see ya post W!

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So if I can only fish on weekends, where exactly should i fish? coordinates appreciated