There have been times when our annual saltwater fishing rodeos have left fishermen wondering what the weather deities have against them.
Yep, “rodeo” weather, a time when late spring and summertime conditions mean rain and winds — and heavy seas — like the kind the 400 or so folks in the Catholic High Alumni Rodeo faced a couple of weeks ago.
Then, there are the days coastal and off-coast fishermen feel blessed, like the kind of calm that hovered over last weekend’s Swollfest Rodeo at Grand Isle.
“We couldn’t have asked for better weather,” Swollfest kingpin Nick Rauber said.
“The fish brought in were unbelievable — truly awesome — and JJ (Tabor) broke the all-time (Swollfest) rodeo record with the 298.8-pound swordfish.”
Catching giant fish is nothing new for Tabor, a Baton Rouge surgeon who grew up fishing events like this with his adventurous family. The Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo crew well remember his giant, state-record 383-pound, 2-ounce Warsaw grouper weighed in a handful of years ago.
Rauber said Swollfest, which has become Louisiana’s most well-attended rodeo — 900-plus registered this year — got a boost when it incorporated the annual Salty Kids Rodeo into its Children’s Division.
“It makes us happy to see lots of kids fishing, and it’s good to see the young fishermen carrying this on to a next generation,” Rauber said. “It’s good to see where all the effort benefits our community, too.”
Rauber said most of the tens of thousands raised through Swollfest will continue for Hogs House, the new family accommodations on the Our Lady of the Lake Children Hospital campus.
“We have about two more years of our commitment for Hogs House before we’re finished with that project,” Rauber said. “Then, we’re on to another avenue.
“It’s just a great feeling with the new Grand Isle Marina helping us, and now after more than 25 years, Swollfest is hitting on all cylinders. The volunteers is what has kept us going through the years. We’ve had dental students come in for years and some of them have stayed with us for five, 10 and 15 years now. There’s a loyalty to the program of help, and now the rodeo runs smoothly.”
That includes the ability to take the handicapped fishing. This year, Rauber said, it was a muscular dystrophy patient out for a first fishing trip, an excursion that required enough battery power to run equipment needed for the youngster. The trip into the interior marsh was a success and the crew boated some 15 redfish and a few speckled trout.
“It was a great weekend, maybe the best ever,” Rauber said.
The winner
Denham Spring surf fisherman Matthew Staub is the first big winner in the S.T.A.R., CCA-Louisiana’s summer-long fishing celebration.
Staub caught a specially tagged redfish “fishing in a trough, in knee-deep water,” at Grand Isle.
His prize? A 2024 Chevy Silverado pickup.
He was the second angler to take a tagged redfish, but the first to be registered for the rodeo.
No wake zone
The St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office canceled the no-wake zone advisory in the Stephensville-Belle River area.
Red snapper
As of May 26, the last reporting data, Wildlife and Fisheries showed the private recreational red snapper catch estimate at 290,047 pounds. That’s 31% of our state’s 934,587-pound annual allocation.
Atlantic snapper
Think we Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishermen had it tough, well federal fisheries managers declared a one-day Atlantic recreational red snapper season for July 12.
The American Sportfishing Association and the Center for Sportfishing Policy fired off letters decrying the move.
ASA’s release noted, “NOAA (federal) Fisheries just announced they are unable to manage success: Despite a biomass of South Atlantic red snapper greater than any time in history, the 2024 season for recreational harvest will be open for only one day.”
From CSP president Jeff Angers: “NOAA is supposed to be America’s science agency. But as long as NOAA Fisheries is content to use its discredited data system and highly questionable discard data, it can apparently make up any regulation it wants in response to a crisis that doesn’t exist.”
Commercial 'hit'
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council announced a cut in the daily trip limit for the commercial take of greater amberjack in federal waters. The move is to 250 pounds gutted weight from what was a daily allowance of seven fish. The move took effect Sunday.
Hogapalooza
Hunters for the Hungry is celebrating a jump from 6,500 pounds in 2023 to 25,827 pounds — 343 feral hogs — donated in the Hogapalooza roundup this year. The Dubach Deer Factory & Smokehouse was host for the springtime event.
Team Andy, with a total of 9,672.47 pounds was the overall team winner; and Team Bushwacker had the the heaviest “team” hog — a 293½-pounder; and, Stanley Redden was took the heaviest hog by an individual, a 324½-pounder.
All the meat donated was distributed to food banks.
Up this week
Several local teams will compete this week in the 15th annual High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship on Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina. The field includes teams from across the USA and several foreign countries.
The high school anglers are competing for $3.2 million dollars in college scholarships and prizes.
Don’t do this
There was another DWI written for a boater last week, and state Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division agents were busy busting six more alleged cheaters.
The arrests of the six north Louisiana men came after the allegedly committed fraud in the Dingler Wild Hog Roundup (Feb. 9-10) in Bienville Parish the Swamp Time Hog Hunt (March 14-16) in Caldwell Parish.
Rules for these contests stated the hogs had to be taken in Louisiana, but a tip led agents to discover the hogs were taken in Texas.
Charges against the six arrested subjects range from hunting contest fraud, criminal conspiracy, interstate commerce violations, obstruction of justice and hunting under a hunting license suspension.
They face fines totaling more than $14,000 and more than six years in jail.
All that came after a well-reported report about agents arresting a Pollock man who, allegedly, stuffed a bass with 2.59 pounds of lead weights at the weigh-in for the Big Bass Splash on Toledo Bend. He faces contest fraud charges, too.