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The days of 25-fish trout limits are numbered

By Todd Masson

July 1, 2005

When was the last time you caught a limit of speckled trout? Think about it. When was the last time you and your buddies pulled slime-coated, contorted trout, one by one, from the ice chest, counted them and then picked up your rods to catch the number remaining?

Guides, many of whom are on the water 200 or more days a year, probably caught too many limits over the last year to count, but few weekend anglers, I’m certain, came anywhere close to equaling that level of success.
I include myself in that number. I fish probably a fair amount more than the average angler, and I could count on one hand the number of limits I caught over the last year.
That wasn’t the case 10 years ago. Back then, I truly expected to catch a limit every time I went fishing. Things didn’t always work out. Sometimes the wind blew too strong or the tide didn’t move, and I went home with fewer than 25 fish per person. But more times than not, I quit fishing not because I was tired of it but because I couldn’t legally harvest any more.

Now, my expectations are to catch less than a limit. If a buddy and I return with 25 or 30 fish, I’m thrilled. Fifteen or 20, and I’m satisfied.

Ten years ago, I would have kicked the dog if I got home with only 15 or 20.
So what’s changed?

According to Horst, there are a number of factors, probably the greatest of which is fishing pressure, and that means that Louisiana will soon have to lower its trout limits, which are the most generous in the country.
“If the economy continues to boom, and boat dealers continue to sell so many boats, and we continue to add rod pressure, we’re very soon going to reach the stage where the resource will be below the SPR threshold,” he said.
The acceptable minimum limit for trout SPR in Louisiana is 18. That means that Louisiana’s fishery could remain healthy with 18 percent of spawning-age trout compared to an unfished stock.
The most-recent stock assessment, according to DWF’s Harry Blanchet, places Louisiana’s trout SPR at 15. That’s a full three percentage points below the conservation standard.
If trout SPR doesn’t rebound in the coming years, the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission will be forced to lower the creel limits on speckled trout, and according to Horst, the reduction won’t be subtle.
“It will be a seismic jolt,” he said. “We’re not talking about a minimum drop. You need to do something that’s impactful.”
Not only is increased fishing pressure to blame, but so is the rapid erosion of the Louisiana marsh. Like an economy being bolstered by borrowed money, the speckled trout fishery has been fed by the degradation of the ecosystem.
“As the marsh erodes, it’s like fertilizer entering the system,” Horst said.
But as the marsh vanishes and, consequently, the erosion slows, the system collapses.
“There’s not a scientist alive,” Horst said, “who doesn’t think we’re going to experience a dramatic decline in productivity in Louisiana’s marshes in the very near future.”