Red snapper, black bears, green-hued largemouth bass, black-bellied whistling ducks along with the white and black varieties of sac-a-lait made for interesting and colorful news and discussion during Wednesdayās Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting in Baton Rouge.
For offshore fishermen, the recreational red snapper season will open May 1 ā the same as last year.
The biggest change, outlined by Wildlife and Fisheriesā marine biologist Jason Adriance, is a reduction in 2026 allocation of red snapper to this sector, which includes the catch made by state-permitted charterboat operations.
Adriance told the seven-man commission that 2025ās 200-day recreational red snapper season mapped out the staff recommendation for 2026ās seven-day-a-week, four-fish-per-day limit. The snapper must measure a minimum length of 16 inches.
Federally permitted charterboats crews must wait until June 1 to open their season.
Adriance said the private recreational season haul was 947,103 pounds in 2025, a catch that was 105.8% of our stateās 2025 allocation, a take that mandates a reduction of the 2026 allocation to 882,439 pounds. The LA Creel system estimate of the federally permitted charters was 147,830 pounds.
Better news from Adriance was the average weights and lengths of red snapper were up over the same 2025 measurements, and even better was his statement that āthere is a pretty stable age structure and there is good recruitment of young snapper.ā
The recreational season will be closed when state fisheries managers, using LA Creel, determine the 2026 allotment has been reached.
Black bears
More good news from the Wildlife and Fisheries biologist John Hanks. The Dec. 5-20 black bear season will expand to all seven ¶¶Ņõh bear areas, up from the three areas hunted in 2025.
Hanks said permits in each of the seven areas will be determined by population studies of the bears in each area.
Hunters took 16 bears ā 10 males and six females ā with an average weight of 341 pounds from the 26 tags issued for 2025ās December season.
Hanks outlined other changes, notably to move all of Franklin Parish into Bear Area 4, and the chance for nonresident landowners to get a tag.
Public comment on this proposed season will be accepted until 4 p.m. April 28.
Amendments
Marchās meeting is the final one for amendments to the next hunting seasons which were proposed in January.
Two months ago, duck hunters found out about a new special October season offered to take black-bellied whistling ducks, a species that has found a home and prospered in south ¶¶Ņõh. The rub in past years was these ducks wandered all over the marshes during the special September teal season, but were prohibited from being taken at that time.
Rub No. 2 was these ducks would migrate out of the state shortly after the 60-day ābigā duck season opened in November.
After working for years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to get a special season on whistling ducks, the USFWS came back to limit shooting hours from sunrise to sunset after the federal managers voiced concerns about identifying this species from other migratory waterfowl in low-light periods.
A second amendment came after appeals from recreational fishermen about for-hire fishing operations on the Dewey Wills Wildlife Management Area. The objections revolved about multiple-trip days and the use of Live Scope to target sac-a-lait. The discussion prompted an approved amendment to ban charterboat operators from keeping fish on all WMAs as part of the overall 2026-2027 hunting regulations and WMA/federal refuge proposals.
A public hearing is scheduled in April on all amendments to the hunting regs package.
More land
Three wildlife management areas needed the commissionās attention.
The Salvador WMA in south Louisiana increased by 628.4 acres of freshwater marsh for a total 37,075 acres, including adding four miles of shoreline along Lake Salvador.
The John Franks WMA in Caddo Parish added 232 acres to have a total of 3,896 acres, and 51.98 acres of cutover land was added to Sandy Hollow WMA in Tangipahoa Parish to bring its total to 4,706 acres.
Larto-Saline
The commission also passed a notice to change the daily creel limit on sac-a-lait to 25 (with a 10-inch minimum length) and reduce the allowed daily take of black bass to seven with a 14-inch minimum ākeeperā size in the Larto-Saline complex.
Public comment on these changes will be accepted until May 27 and can be emailed to Shelby Richard: srichard@wlf.la.gov.