The Corps of Engineers has started to close the bays that allow water to flow from the Mississippi River into the Bonnet Carre Spillway.
On May 9, the Corps began opening bays until 330 of the 350 bays were opened. This allowed 185,000 cubic feet of river water per second to pour into the spillway. The high waters created a fishing hot spot on the spillway side.
With water continuously pouring through the bays, big blue channel catfish and garfish have collected at the structure. Immediately, fishermen took to the spillway to try to pull the big catfish out of the water.
One of biggest catfish caught was a 55-pound bruiser by Elijah Duhe, of Norco.
This past weekend, Miguel and Thoa Medina were fishing at the spillway trying to catch a few big catfish.
“These big catfish like to come near the shoreline at sundown and they have been biting on almost anything you can put on a hook,” Miguel said. “We are using market shrimp but they like earthworms.”
Other fishermen were using cheese, cut up hot dogs, Vienna sausage, Ivory soap, earthworms, chicken livers, heart, gizzards, cut mullet, and occasionally spraying WD40 on bait as an attractant.
My nephew, Cliff McDonald, had been wanting to catch a big blue catfish for years. So, we brought a small pack of market shrimp and headed for the Bonnet Carre Spillway. Reaching our spot across from the Project Office, we began fishing around 6 p.m.
We baited our lines with market shrimp on bottom style rigs by tying a 1-ounce weight at the end of the line. Every 10 inches, we tied on a #1 catfish hook using a palomar knot.
We rigged each rod with a set of three hooks each.
After setting out the lines, it was time to relax in a chair. Within 15 minutes, the first rod bent over in the strong current. I reeled in a nice 5-pound blue channel catfish. Cliff was fishing next to the cement barrier in slack water when a 20-pound catfish hit his line.
Cliff was using a 7-foot Ugly Stick with a Expixor Okuma 55A-spinning reel spooled with 50-pound Power Pro. It took 15 minutes to land the big catfish.
“This is the biggest fish I have ever caught!” Cliff said.
With the sun setting, St. Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies informed everyone that the spillway closes at sundown due to the high water.
With two large catfish we called it a day. If anyone has a desire to catch a big catfish, this week will be the last week to do so at the Bonnet Carre Spillway.
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