Last week’s brush with a tropical system wasn’t a first for the Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo and likely won’t be the last.
In the 30 or so years attending this oldest fishing competition in our country, at least three storms have threatened the thousands annually invading our state’s only inhabited barrier island in the final days of July.
This one didn’t leave scars.
Rodeo weighmaster Marty Bourgeois said the predicted storm surge wasn’t strong enough to cover the lone access road — La. 1 — to the island and there wasn’t enough rain to cover the island’s prone-to-flooding roadway.
“We’ve got a light breeze on the island,” Bourgeois said Friday, the rodeo’s second day. Thursday’s opening-day festivities were postponed until 5 p.m. and Bourgeois said he and his team weighed in only three fish, a speckled trout and two gafftopsail catfish.
Friday was busier, mostly because seas calmed.
“We were able to run everywhere,” charter skipper Frand Dreher said Friday. “Just the fishing’s not that good. We’re worked hard, and ran a lot of water to catch seven (speckled) trout. There’s a lot of muddy water everywhere in the back.”
The “back” takes in Barataria and Caminada bays, vast waters north of Grand Isle.
The final leaderboard for this 99th rodeo is available on its website:
Chasin’ bass
It’s no secret about our weather. It’s hot and the water gets a little hotter each day, and that usually means it’s tough to find bass in a biting mood.
So, let’s let the Junior Southwest Bassmasters show us the way. The club’s July tournament was held from the Amelia public landing, which meant most of the anglers were fishing in the marsh.
While there were no top-weight records broken, there was enough action for the field to boast of weighing in 13 five-bass limits, a sure-enough sign the bass were ready to eat. All the eight young fishermen taking top spots in the age groups weighed a limit along with the top three in the adult division. The youngsters fish with an adult “guide.”
Club reporter Jim Breaux said most of the fish took a liking to crank baits, bladed jigs and a variety of soft plastics.
The club has divisions for anglers ages 7-18. For more, call Breaux at (225) 772-3026.
Red snapper
The latest one-week catch for the private recreational sector is likely a record. In the week ending July 5, offshore fishermen took 217,791 pounds to boost this year’s total haul to 632,882 pounds. That’s nearly 72% of our state's 882,439-pound allocation for thie year.
That record-setting estimate from LA Creel came after the Fourth of July holiday when the daily limit was increased to five for the four-day holiday period, and came after calm seas allowed the June 28 estimate to reach 126,442 pounds. The one-week estimate for the week ending June 21 was 22,229.
More on snapper
Despite state management of red snapper, the Gulf Council continues to, in its words, “gain a better understanding of what’s happening with red snapper in the Gulf,” and want active offshore reef fishermen to provide information through its Fisherman Feedback Tool.
The council has put a 4 p.m. Aug. 21 deadline for this information. You can find the Feedback Tool on the council’s website:
Oh them hogs
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a pool of $35 million to offer to partnerships to control the threat of feral hogs to “.agriculture, landscapes and human and livestock health.”
It’s part of the larger ($105 million) plan in the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program in partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
In the announcement, NRCS boss Colton Buckley said feral hogs' damage to agriculture, ranches and habitat landscapes amounts to $3.4 billion annually, and this new funding plan to control the exploding feral hog population will “expand this effort, giving producers and partners more resources to protect working lands and strengthen the long-term resilience of agricultural operations.”
Louisiana is among 14 states including in this new offering.
Applications will be accepted until 10:59 p.m. Sept. 21. Go to this website: .
For more on the program and to find proposed pilot projects, go to the NRCS website: .