Mad People today

["W"]

Didn't get on water till 9 am....due to issues...

Boats were stacked at landing...I asked what yall doing



Weirs Closed.........

[FREON]

Originally Posted by "W"

Didn't get on water till 9 am....due to issues...

Boats were stacked at landing...I asked what yall doing



Weirs Closed.........

Issues???? Is dat what U call changing diapers?

[CaptSI]

hopefully it will keep the anchor chunkers off the lake this weekend

[Salty]

Originally Posted by "W"

Didn't get on water till 9 am....due to having to study for the captain's test that Salty forced me into Saturday....

Boats were stacked at landing...I asked what yall doing



Weirs Closed.........

Geaux get 'em, Chief.

[mriguy]

Actually......






They were waiting for you to arrive so they could follow.

["W"]

Some mad peeps....wasted all that gas when they could of called

[ScubaLatt]

why r they closed? I didn't think they closed during the summer?

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by ScubaLatt

why r they closed? I didn't think they closed during the summer?

They are trying to control the salinity back in the marsh. Back this spring Big Lake water was very low salinity so they left the gate at Grand Bayou wier open.

Now that the lake water is saltier, they don't want "lake water" to go back into the marsh unless the marsh water is below a certain salinity.

I guess it has not rained in that area and the salinity got up to the "target" maximum level so the gate was closed.

If it rains in that area, the gate might open back up for a while.

["W"]

Closing the weirs will affect the lake and keeping them closed over a long peoird of time will change the lakes habitat

[Smalls]

Not closing the weirs will further degrade that marsh because the salinities get too high back in there and it kills the marsh. That marsh back there is not supposed to have a salinity reading of 28 ppt, which it did for several months last year. That is not healthy for the marsh and it will kill the grass back there, just creating more mudflats and eventually, more open water.

[toodeep]

heard they were open but there were pipes in the opening going threw. rumor i heard was someone was caught in there at nite.

[Smalls]

Originally Posted by toodeep

heard they were open but there were pipes in the opening going threw. rumor i heard was someone was caught in there at nite.

Not a rumor. They caught 3 guys in there shrimping with a trawl at night. Not good for those guys, they could drop the hammer on them if they wanted to. Violated federal law by being on a refuge after sunset.

[toodeep]

ouch

[SULPHITE]

SHIP CHANNEL...theres your problem

never going away...so its weirs or no marsh...

["W"]

That marsh survived years with out weirs

[Duck Butter]

Originally Posted by "W"

That marsh survived years with out weirs

Freshwater/Brackish vegetation can survive for a little while, but if salinity stays up, the plants die, and more salt tolerant plants move in which aren't generally as desirable of plants.


Fill in the ship channel or bust!

[YellowMouth7]

My friend I was with when we caught all those big trout last weekend called the 1800 # yesterday at spoke to a Ladie who said they closed grand bayou due to an "Over population" of game fish in the reserve due to hi salinity levels. What y'all make of tgat

[Smalls]

Well i'll tell you that's a BS reason. They closed it because of high salinities, not an "over population of game fish". The weirs are operated the way they are today to maintain that marsh as best as possible. It will never be what it was because of the ship channel and increased salinities to the entire system. People who do not have an eye for wetland vegetation will say a marsh is a marsh is a marsh. Well that is simply not true. That marsh there, as well as the majority of the marshes in south Louisiana, were historically fresh marsh. Today they exist, if you're lucky, as intermediate to brackish marshes, but close to the lake, those are often salt marsh.

Now there is not much you can do to remedy that. That is the repercussions of human influence on the environment.

I wouldn't necessarily say that salt marsh species aren't as desirable, but salt marshes aren't as diverse as fresh or even brackish marshes. You have a wider range of salt tolerance, but a major decrease in species, which means once you hit that salinity threshold (which is quite high for some species; 50 ppt for some strains of Spartina alterniflora, or oyster grass or smooth cordgrass for some), you lose everything.

["W"]

Now that its closed....the weirs were producing limits of trout everyday If you knew how to fish them there..(big trick) is knowing the few holes to throw in

There was a 9lber and I know of 12-18 trout over 7lbs

[Duck Butter]

Originally Posted by Smalls

Well i'll tell you that's a BS reason. They closed it because of high salinities, not an "over population of game fish". The weirs are operated the way they are today to maintain that marsh as best as possible. It will never be what it was because of the ship channel and increased salinities to the entire system. People who do not have an eye for wetland vegetation will say a marsh is a marsh is a marsh. Well that is simply not true. That marsh there, as well as the majority of the marshes in south Louisiana, were historically fresh marsh. Today they exist, if you're lucky, as intermediate to brackish marshes, but close to the lake, those are often salt marsh.

Now there is not much you can do to remedy that. That is the repercussions of human influence on the environment.

I wouldn't necessarily say that salt marsh species aren't as desirable, but salt marshes aren't as diverse as fresh or even brackish marshes. You have a wider range of salt tolerance, but a major decrease in species, which means once you hit that salinity threshold (which is quite high for some species; 50 ppt for some strains of Spartina alterniflora, or oyster grass or smooth cordgrass for some), you lose everything.

You are correct, I should have said desirable for ducks, they like a little diversity and saltmarshes just don't have the diversity of a freshwater/brackish system.