It’s blast and cast time!
Have fun even though you will hear some referernce to this unique outdoors adventure as “Cast and Blast.” Never understood because wild waterfowlers go out in the morning to take ducks and/or geese before shedding camo clothing for fishing attire.
While this undertaking is not unique to h, it's certainly become a more prominent and exciting past of fall and winter hunting and fishing in our Sportsman’s Paradise.
And, it’s going to be a little harder to fulfill what’s expected from these trips.
Last week’s news wasn’t good. Ducks are in short supply, the lowest numbers in our state in a long time.
And, beginning Nov. 20, the “cast” part will be altered for the first time in decades as the new speckled trout regulations take effect that day with a limit of 15 per day and a new “keeper” slot limit running 13-20 inches with two trout allowed to measure longer than 20 inches among those 15 trout in the daily creel.
There was more. The joint State Senate and House Natural Resources committee turned down a proposed three-redfish-per-day limit with an 18-24 inch “slot” limit on those three fish — and none more than 24 inches — and sent it back to the h Wildlife and Fisheries Commission for a less stringent proposal.
All that in one week.
Ducks
Our West Zone’s first split opened Saturday — the East Zone opens this coming Saturday — and hunters will find fewer ducks than anytime in 10 or more seasons.
Water is a major factor. State Waterfowl Program leader Jason Olszak noted, “there continues to be a large-scale paucity of water on the landscape. Areas such as Lacassine Pool, Cameron Prairie, & White Lake (WCA) have dried noticeably since September.”
While some landowners have pumped water, the three areas Olszak noted hold tens of thousands of migratory waterfowl and ducks will not go where there is no water.
So, here are the numbers from Olszak and his team:
About 584,000 ducks in the 10 surveyed species in the coastal areas and the Little River (Catahoula Lake) basin, the lowest recorded November survey and far below (-27%) the 802,000 estimated last November. Even worse is this year’s number is 61% lower than the 10-year average.
Even stranger is last week’s count showed increases in mallards (+200%), wigeon (+75%), spoonies (+478%), ringnecks (+208%) and canvasbacks (+200%) from last November, but those increases didn’t come close to offsetting the drop in the species making up most of the first-split numbers.
Gray duck numbers were down 54% (137,000 compared to 295,000 last year), greenwingd teal down 60% (51,000 from 128,000), bluewing teal down 23% (154,000 from 200,000) and pintail down 12% (89,000 from 101,000).
The breakdown showed 367,000 ducks estimated in the southwestern marshes, 148,000 in the southeastern coastal area and 69,000 in the Little River Basin, where pintails showed up in big numbers.
Goose numbers were also down.
Ducks Unlimited is providing a migration map updates on its website: .
Speckled trout
From the Wildlife and Fisheries release, it appears coastal anglers will have little leeway when it comes to the new trout regulations — they will be enforced.
In addition to new size and creel limits, the new regulations won’t allow a charterboat guide nor his crew to keep fish on a chartered trip, and the new rules will “sunset” (expire) midnight, Jan. 1, 2028.
Wildlife and Fisheries has to provide a current stock assessment to the commission by April of 2027 to determine if these new regulations should continue or be modified.
The agency’s Fisheries Outreach staff developed a video on its website for best handling practices for speckled trout to help reduce discard mortality for released fish: youtu.be/iqHuqIM-j0o?si=klBfA89DcfKEfUOn
Redfish
David Cresson summed up the Nov. 7 legislative rejection in a nutshell.
“Like we did, the committee thought the 55% harvest reduction passed by the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission went too far, and they expressed that in a motion to support the original recommendations from the (Wildlife and Fisheries) department,” Cresson said.
The “we” is CCA h — Cresson is executive director — and the original recommendation called for a “slot” limit of 18-27 inches with a four-fish-per-day creel limit and fish measuring longer than 27 inches had to be returned to the water. State biologists see a 37% catch reduction with these moves.
Current regulations allow a five-fish daily take of 16-27 inch long fish with one “keeper” allowed over 27 inches.
In rejecting the 18-24 inch/three-fish proposal, the State Legislature’s oversight sends the redfish plan back to the commission.
“We all want change,” Cresson said. “We recognize something needs to be done, and
the department’s recommendation was on target.”
Red snapper
The latest private recreational red snapper take is up to 836,182 pounds through Oct. 29. That’s 89.5% of our state’s annual 934,587-pound allocation.
For the complete week-by-week LA Creel landing estimates, go to the LDWF website: .