you were complaing about 15 fish limit

[BIGV]

I agree on dropping the size limit on reds since they are just better eating below 16"s and either way you kill 5 fish. Messing with the creel limit simply because another state does... That's just the stupidest thing to do. He'll, why not just go ahead and let texas or Mississippi run our wildlife department!

[Pull n Pray]

Texas guides used to buy a Louisiana license and fish Calcasieu hard because it had more liberal limits and you could get better clients and theoretically a better fishing trip,” Pausina said. “So the voice from the western part of the state was to change that.

“And the position of the department was it’s not a biological issue, so the compromise was to do it in that part of the state as a social issue.”

So they even acknowledge that it has nothing to with biology. Its a social issue?? What a joke!

[OnePunchRex]

Originally Posted by "W"

Casey how much money do we need to raise to place a billboard sign on 1 10?

Bet we can get that amount in a day

What happened to use your own $$$? Isn't that what you said in your email?

[lil bubba]

Redfish need to go to 18 inches. You want less than 16 go fish bass. Theres no meat on a red less than 16.

[Montauk17]

Originally Posted by meaux fishing

because will drost said so...

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will present data to its regulatory board on Thursday that could impact recreational-fishing limits on speckled trout and redfish.

Part of the agenda for the monthly meeting of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission calls for a "discussion on what effects changes to the current management regulations will have on red-drum and spotted-sea-trout stocks."

The item was added to the agenda at the request of two commissioners, according to Randy Pausina, assistant secretary for the department.

Pausina said he had received a request from commissioner Will Drost for information about the health of speckled trout stocks in the state, in light of Texas' recent decision to reduce daily creel limits to five speckled trout along a large section of its coast.

The department manages speckled trout by monitoring spawning potential ratio, which is a number that indicates how abundant a fish stock is compared to estimates of what the population would be if that particular stock were unfished.

The last time the department calculated SPR was in 2011, and it was found to be between 8 and 14 percent, biologist Harry Blanchet told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune in 2013. That number is substantially below the 18 percent that stood for many years as the conservation standard.

Interpreted biological data has barely trickled from the department since 2010 because of the state's ongoing litigation with BP after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. State lawyers have clamped down on the flow of information for fear of weakening the state's case.

But Drost said he wants to know, among other things, where SPR stands today.

"I know that they'll give me the picture that I ask for as a commissioner," he said. "I want to know everything there is to know.

"I feel like it's our responsibility to properly manage the most important species in our state. I think we're currently managing it properly, but it's an ongoing job. It never ends."

The discussion of potentially changing redfish regulations was precipitated by requests from commissioner Ann Taylor, according to Pausina.

"She was receiving some feedback about red drum," he said. "With this hard and long winter, there was a lot of redfish up in canals and bayous, and people were catching a lot of fish that were an inch or two under the 16-inch limit, which created some problems for some people. (Taylor) wanted to know if we could look at dropping the size limit."

Redfish, Pausina said, are managed by looking at escapement, which is the percentage of juvenile fish that mature and "escape" the interior marshes.

At Thursday's meeting, the department will present the commission with some biological data and then seek guidance on how to proceed. Biologists will then rerun the numbers to show how management changes would impact populations.

"Depending on how they want to move those numbers around, we can calculate the change, and it will allow commissioners to make an intelligent decision," Pausina said.

That needs to be done before any regulation changes are made, according to Pausina, because alterations for social reasons in the past have had negative consequences.

"Some of these decisions are not biologically based," he said. "If you want to go with a more conservative limit on spotted sea trout, common sense tells you you're going to positively affect the population numbers, but that could be counterproductive. You may have overpopulation or you may be just leaving fish on the table that will just die or Flipper will eat them or whatever."

Based on the guidance the department gets from the commission, they'll rerun the numbers showing how the regulation changes will impact the stocks, and then they'll report back to the commission. Pausina said they'd likely have the trout stock assessment done by August and the redfish assessment complete by September.

Drost said most anglers in Southwest Louisiana fully support the special regulations in that area for speckled trout. Anglers in the rest of the state may harvest up to 25 speckled trout each per day, with a minimum length limit of 12 inches. In Southwest Louisiana, however, the daily limit is 15 fish with an angler allowed to harvest no more than two measuring more than 25 inches.

If anything, anglers in that part of the state are alarmed about how increased pressure is impacting the fishery there, Drost said.

"Some people have a concern about the increase in guides on Calcasieu from out of state," he said. "That middle coast of Texas went to a five-fish limit, and we've seen a lot of guides now set up shop on Calcasieu, so we're seeing increased pressure, especially in the wintertime for trophy trout."

But Drost said he has no agenda to further decrease limits in the area unless it is deemed necessary through this process.

"I'm merely asking what the latest data shows," he said. "I've not seen the latest data. I have no ultimate goal here. I just want to be aware of what our options are."

[toodeep]

according to wlf the number of fishermen in the state has been on a decline for the last 10 years or so, how are we over fishing the lakes?

[StuBone278]

From the posted article above:

"With this hard and long winter, there was a lot of redfish up in canals and bayous, and people were catching a lot of fish that were an inch or two under the 16-inch limit, which created some problems for some people. "

Man! Some people's problems!!! Outrageous!!!


If they are worried about Texas guides coming over here and putting more pressure on the fish, why not deal with the out of state guide regulations? Why should we have to be involved?

[eman]

The only folks that are concerned about the Texas guides are some of the Louisiana Guides, Who are CCA members and may or may not be or have family members as LWFC commissioners.

[Nickt87]

Is this a joke? Do they really have the audacity to put out an article that says they change limits due to political and social issues(that aren't even from our own state) and not scientific data? Shameless!!!

[T-TOP]

These are the people that will be discussing this issue. We should all voice our opion in a civil and respectful fashion. Sending offending or threatening emails will not help us. I suggest we all send well thought and meaningful emails to these people listed below that sit on the commision.

'ronnygraham@lincolnbuilders.com'; 'annt@heraldguide.com'; 'bbillypb@kaplantel.net'; 'swsagrera@hotmail.com'; 'patmanuel.wlf@gmail.com'; 'ddavis@marlin-services.net'; 'Will Drost (will@TowerLandLLC.com)'

David Cresson is the CCA CEO I would also copy him on these issues. 'David@ccalouisiana.com'

[Riceland]

So how long until east side "liberal limits" are reduced due to pressure from west side anglers?

["W"]

Originally Posted by Riceland

So how long until east side "liberal limits" are reduced due to pressure from west side anglers?

Don't worry you don't have the Lawtons puppets over that away

[youmyboyblue]

If this isn't 20 page or bust not sure what ever will be

[Speckmeister]

Heck, my Facebook page comments are about overflowing on this one. Need a weir on Facebook here!

["W"]

One thing is for sure , there are some pissed off guides on big lake right now !!


I know two that are heading to Baton Rouge Thurs

[mr crab]

I been told ya'll bout this crap!!! Ya'll didn't think it was comin ya'lls way tho. There are already guides on Sabine that advertise LA Limits since TX limits suck. Just a matter of time till it hit ya'll too. I hope ya'll can fight it better than we did. TPWD put out a vote and the TX lic. holders supported the changes ovewhelmingly....buncha dam puppets. If ya'll wanna stop this, start organizing now and tell everybody ya'll know to speak against it.

[hewes]

whos going and why aren't you going w?

["W"]

Originally Posted by hewes

whos going and why aren't you going w?

Poes are going for sure talked to Nick and one of the guys on west side is going


Thur is my only day off of guiding this week and I have some things set up that day

But I might still go

[hewes]

ill go with you im off

[Ratdog]

Originally Posted by TarponTom

Hearing internal debate on Specks at LaWLF being discussed from 25 per day to between 10-15 for trout with possible restrictions on max size kept. Redfish from 5 to 3 per day with none over 33 inches also floated internally. Look for restrictions on other species as well flounder, white trout, tripletail, even croaker in the near future. Supposedly forage base (cocahoes, menhaden, etc) significantly declined in numbers in Eastern Louisiana from the oil spill along with the near loss of the 2010 spawn for many species.

Sadly I'm hearing the various internal state fisheries research projects funded by BP to study the impact on our fisheries (out of public purview due to BP litigation) is not good news for anglers across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. I've heard the spawning ratio "SPR" in some parts of the state have fallen to levels in the low single digits versus the optimal number of 18 SPR.

It's not that bad budy might go out and fish and see the numbers out there. Reds over 33 are more abundant in some areas were non under 30 swim.

K M A if you support this if u heard it I see u did not say any thing against it . I wonder if u got um to do so. What we need is u in there standing up and running your mouth inside not here spreading room ers ? issed:is sed: