Bonnet Carre’ release not hurting fishing

Bonnet Carre’ release not hurting fishing

Over a million cubic feet of river water per second has been diverted through the Bonnet Carre spillway into Lake Ponchatrain. The water eventually empties into the marsh east of the Mississippi River.

“Ever since they opened the spillway (April 11, and increased on April 12), people have been posting reports that it would kill the fishing over here,” Schindler said, after a productive trip for reds and specks about 13 miles south of this Mississippi port. “I even saw a post from some guy in North Carolina this week saying that the Louisiana marshes east of the river were dead.

“That certainly isn’t the case, at least not down here. This might be the best spring we’ve had in years. The only problem we’ve had is wind.”

Tusa supported Schindler’s argument with a limit-box of trout that included more than a dozen between 3 and 5 1/2 pounds.

“We’ve been on this bite the entire time the spillway has been open,” Tusa said. “I don’t know where people come up with stuff.”

History indicates that spillway diversions have been beneficial, long-term, for Ponchatrain and connected fisheries.

The waters of the Mississippi are rich in nutrients washed down from the continent’s core. Improved fishing conditions have followed the eight previous openings of the spillway’s gates, which were built in 1931 and last opened in 1997.

“All I can say,” Schindler said, looking in a box filled with 50 trout and several redfish, “is that if this is how it’s going to affect us, bring it on.”

Clarion Ledger
4/27/8