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Fishing thrives in Louisiana after storms

January 19, 2006 12:50 am

SOMETIMES IT'S BETTER to be caught in the middle, especially when the problems on both sides stem from the wrath of two "ladies"--namely Rita and Katrina, the Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005.

Longtime readers of this column know Louisiana, a state with a license plate reading "Sportsman's Paradise," has been a favorite outdoor destination of mine for many years.

Places where I'd fished and hunted ducks--like the tiny coastal areas of Cameron and Holly Beach south of Lake Charles, or the bayou town of Lafitte, just southeast of New Orleans--were largely flooded or flattened by the hurricanes. These are places where residents have a remarkable connection to their hunting and fishing heritage.

According to the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' Dave Moreland, the storms have impacted waterfowl seasons in both southwestern and southeastern Louisiana.

"Marsh habitat that would have provided winter food for ducks was destroyed; this habitat will recover, but it forced areas that were traditionally important hunting areas to be messed up for this year," Moreland explained.

Additionally, the infrastructure damage to the waterfowl commercial hunting business in southwestern Louisiana created problems there. In southeastern Louisiana, which has important public waterfowl hunting areas, extensive destruction of roads and launches limited access.

Morgan City is at the southeastern edge of Louisiana's Cajun Coast. It's at the southern end, human-population-wise, of the nearly 1 million-acre Atchafalaya Basin Floodway, with its splendid diversity of wetlands, including swamps, marshes, ponds, bayous and rivers great and small.

Infrastructure and support resources for offshore oil and gas production platforms were destroyed or degraded on both sides of the Atchafalaya. But the Morgan City area escaped largely unscathed except for some damage to freshwater habitat and drinking water from saltwater intrusion caused by Rita's storm surge and minor wind damage from Katrina, according to Luke Manfre, a member of the town council.

Manfre, a 48-year-old investment counselor, has hunted and fished this swampy wonderland since he was a boy. He recalls earlier days when mallards would pour into the Atchafalaya Basin like oil through the pipelines that carry today's economic lifeblood through this coastal region.

I spent a few days in the Morgan City area between Christmas and New Year's Day. As I drove into the region, the devastation from wind and flooding was still evident all the way from Hattiesburg, Miss., through the gutted, flooded areas of East New Orleans.

Debris still lined many roadways and drainage areas. Downed trees that didn't impact roads still choked the edges of the woods. Heavy guardrails along interstate highways were deeply dented where fierce winds had slammed down trees.

Across the Intracoastal Waterway southwest of New Orleans, though, the landscape is less transformed, less scarred.

The heavy damage on both sides resulted in a huge economic upsurge for Morgan City. It suddenly became the center of gravity for almost all offshore oilfield support, as well as a staging base for recovery teams and a temporary haven for refugees.

"It's hard to say this, but those hurricanes were an economic godsend for this immediate area," said Mike Maddocks, facilities manager for the local Days Inn.

Manfre also noted that Rita's storm surge hurt many marshes, especially those along the coast.

"It actually peeled up the vegetation and rolled it away, leaving a productive marsh as open shallow water or a mud flat," Manfre said. "Even inland freshwater ponds were hit with saltwater, but they didn't seem to be hurt too much. Marsh grasses and other vegetation favored by waterfowl is still fairly abundant [in the Morgan City area]."

Crabbers lost much of their equipment during the storms. Yet to be seen is how the storm surges will affect upcoming harvests of crawfish--both crustaceans raised in shallow farming ponds and those collected in natural habitat.

Beyond hurricane damage, a long-term danger is the ongoing disappearance of Louisiana's Delta wetlands. Reports state that under "normal" conditions, up to 35 square miles of coastal wetlands are vanishing annually--reportedly due to overly efficient levee systems in the Midwest causing a lack of silt replenishment to be carried by the Mississippi River to the Delta region.

Fantastic fishing

En route to a morning duck hunt, Manfre swept his handheld spotlight quickly from the sawgrass-choked banks of Little Wax Bayou to the watery path ahead of his airboat. Thick pockets of ground fog forced him to back off the throttle and edge through the mist as he looked for a little cut along the bayou's edge leading to a trail through the marsh to his freshwater pond and duck-hunting blind.

Bluebird weather, with gentle southerly breezes and daytime highs in the 70s, impacted the numbers of birds we saw, but a few mallards were plucked before we finished.

The storms didn't affect the nutria rats, which could be heard and seen throughout the trip. These marsh-eating varmints fetch a bounty of $4 a tail. We could have easily collected about $100 worth over three days, and I wished I had a .22 rifle in addition to my 12-gauge shotgun.

Bluebird duck days, however, usually mean red-hot fishing, so we hopped aboard George Broussard's custom-built 26-foot aluminum boat for the nearly one-hour run to remote Pointe au Fer, a tangle of marshes, ponds, and channels near the Gulf of Mexico teeming with waterfowl and fish.

The incoming tide turned on the redfish and black drum, and also sparked a solid 30 minutes of Cajun jokes from Broussard.

Fishing with light tackle and weighted jig-head hooks skewered with shrimp, we caught a limit of reds weighing from 2 to 6 pounds, black drum and several sheepshead. Landing a brawny 26-inch redfish on light tackle is an experience rivaling the best in smallmouth-bass fishing.

I hunted one morning with Jay Leblanc and his brother-in-law, John Hover (a bit of a traditionalist who propels his wooden pirogue with a push pole to haul the decoys, dogs and hunters to the blind).

A goose and a couple of ducks offered successful shots. Wary late-season birds often circled but couldn't be coaxed within gun range.

Leblanc, who works in the fast-food business, said he's having difficulty getting help in the stores after much of the labor pool evacuated. Impacts to business and industry aside, though, he believes hurricanes won't deal more than a temporary setback to Louisiana outdoor lovers.

Leblanc looked out over Dorion's Landing, where activity was brisk with boats coming and going.

"Hunting and fishing is in these people's blood. They'll be out there. Hurricanes won't set people back for long," he said.

Postscript

People living along the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast over the next few decades will likely define their lives in two phases: pre- and post-2005.

It will take years before the area is restored to the sense of normalcy that defined life there prior to the hurricanes, but people are trying. Hunting and fishing guides, and others connected with the tourism industry, state that the best way people can now help is to come and visit.

The state saw a big drop in nonresident waterfowl licenses this year, but habitat recovery is anticipated for the 2006 season. For more information, contact the Cajun Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800/256-2931 or visit cajuncoast.com. See also the wildlife and fisheries department Web site at wlf.state.la.us or call 225/765-2800.

Atchafalaya quick facts

The basin contains 173,000 acres of cypress swamps and 64,000 acres of aquatic habitat, 40 percent of which is under private ownership.

More than 170 bird species are located in the basin.

It's an important wintering ground for birds of the Mississippi flyway, with major concentrations of wood ducks, mallards and woodcocks.

Its a diverse habitat for 29 bird rookeries, including 14 wading-bird rookeries.

It's home to more than 50 mammalian species, 40 reptilian species and 20 amphibian species, and more than 100 species of finfish and shellfish.

KEN PERROTTE can be reached at The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia Street, Fredericksburg, Va. 22401, by fax at 373-8455 or e-mail at
Email: outdoors@freelancestar.com.