Thousands of trout released into Louisiana waters to boost recreational fishing
27th January 2020 · 0 Comments
By Michael Patrick Welch
Contributing Writer
A legendary sportsman’s paradise, Louisiana can now count rainbow trout among the fish available to catch and eat – at least during the wintertime.
On Tuesday, January 21, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Get Out and Fish! program released some 2,300 pounds of rainbow trout in freshwater lakes in Jennings, Youngsville, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Walker, Hammond, and Joe Brown Park in New Orleans. An additional 2,100 pounds of live rainbow trout were released into state ponds on January 14, for a total of 4,400 pounds of fresh food, available now for families to catch and eat.
“A truck backed up to the water and dumped a bunch of fish into the lake, from like a big tube,” said fisherman Robert Smith, who was out at Joe Brown park on Tuesday afternoon to partake of the new rainbow trout, which are not native to Louisiana, because they can only survive in cold water. Within an hour of hitting the lake though, said Smith, “They’re already jumpin’. The ones that are jumpin’ are about half a pound.”
Rainbow trout are different in many ways from Louisiana’s coveted saltwater speckled trout, which are not really trout at all, but members of the drum family. And unlike wild rainbow trout, which eat bugs and other live food, Louisiana’s new rainbow trout were raised in springwater at Crystal Lake Fisheries in Boone Township, Missouri. All the fishermen on the lake Tuesday used little plastic lures and spinnerbaits, even though these rainbow trout aren’t used to eating live food. “They’ve been raised on pellets – that’s what they feed ‘em with at the hatchery – so that’s what you use to catch them with: corn, or pellets. But in a few days they’ll be hungry, and then they’ll eat just about anything.”
Fish delivery truck driver Dan Kidderman says the trout are ready to be caught much quicker than even that: “When we deliver them, they have been kept off of feed for a few days,” he explains. “So, give ‘em just an hour to acclimate and they will bite, cause they are hungry. Guys fish ‘em out almost as fast as they hit the water. Rainbow trout are an adaptive species. They’re used to eating pellets, but when they get into the ponds and streams, left to their own devices they will go after the bugs and whatever. But really they will go after anything, even Velveeta cheese.”
Marvin Emerson, who owns Crystal Lake Fisheries, says, “Our company has been around for 60 years, and this is our third year supplying Louisiana with winter trout.” The stockings are funded by the Sport Fish Restoration Fund, a USFWS grant program that provides money to the states, the District of Columbia, and insular areas’ wildlife agencies to fund fishery projects, boating access and aquatic education.
Some fishermen on the lake at Joe Brown last Tuesday said they prefer the taste of wild trout, but Smith says, “I’m absolutely gonna eat these rainbow trout. They taste good! Though we were planning on putting them on the smoker, and everything tastes good on the smoker…”
With so many invasive species giving Louisiana problems – such as nutria, Asian carp, and apple snails – some residents may worry about introducing these trout into local lakes. But experts say the fact that these colorful, spotted fish die in warm water, negates that issue.
“If the water is stabilized around in the 50s, these fish will thrive. If the weather heats up a little, rainbow trout are good at finding a cold spot in a pond, and staying there,” says Dan Kidderman, meaning that the trout won’t die if Louisiana has one of its short, unexpected hot periods during the winter. “Even in the warm winter weeks, you are gonna have cool nights, where it drops down to 30 or 40 at night, and so the ponds are going to stay cool. Once it has been warm for a few weeks though, the trout die and become turtle food.”
The purpose of the rainbow trout here in Louisiana is simply to get kids fishing.
“It’s really all about family,” says Kidderman. The aim of the department’s Get Out and Fish! program is simply to introduce families to successful fishing trips sans boats, which can be cost prohibitive. “These fish are easy to catch, and the ponds are near neighborhoods,” states the LDW&F’s press release. “We hope this will be an easy opportunity for families to get hooked on fishing.”
Robert Smith came out on last Tuesday to have a crack at the fish before the weekend. “Guys who were out here last year told me that the first Saturday after they stocked the fish, it was just wall to wall people out here,” says Smith as he cast his cork out into the middle of the lake.
“The program started out small,” Dan Kidderman also testifies, “but it just keeps getting bigger each year.”
This article originally published in the January 27, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
