Quote:
Originally Posted by Reefman
But that dredging destroyed complete reefs that sustain fish populations of all sizes. Trout relate to structure just as bass do. Deplete the lake of reef structure and the fishery depletes no matter how many schools of mullet are in the lake. I have a hard time understanding your postion of catch more fish out of BL in order to produce larger fish. I do believe for a few short years this may be the case but in the long haul I see this as adversely affecting the dynamics of the trout population. If this was the case then Cocodrie eastward should be overflowing with 9lb trout.
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We have a super estuary that is made for big trout ...all signs point straight to limit reduction. Also in the areas where oysters were harvested we have several atrifical reefs along with rock jetties up and down our channel with marsh flow from even angle .
When you don't take enough trout out of a given area you start having more smaller trout hog your food source . As you know big trout will not compete with school trout for food . Places where you target bigger trout you can now catch limits of trout . And if you look at WestCove the hardest hit of oystering every year buy yields the biggest trout in the lake every year !
So the 2-3 years of dredging would of depleted West Cove the most but West Cove is the strongest area of big trout
Our big trout decline started year after limit change and has fallen lower and lower of big 9-11lb trout caught
Don't get me wrong we still have lots of 5-8lb trout but no where close to 2006 and before