View Single Post
  #2  
Old 02-05-2019, 06:24 AM
MathGeek's Avatar
MathGeek MathGeek is offline
King Mackeral
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posts: 2,931
Cash: 4,452
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ckinchen View Post
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.
Reply With Quote