For a month, Lake Cataouatche and Lake Salvador have been fished regularly because of the oil leak in the Gulf.
A fisherman recently asked me if I ever got tired of fishing the same places day after day. My answer was an emphatic ‘no.’
But I do like to check the open areas to fish on the Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries website before heading out.
Where are the crabs!
Last week, Mike Brassett and I launched his boat on a calm morning at Frenier Landing. The landing is located off the Old Hammond Highway on Peavine Road about a mile from the truck stops.
They have a double back down boat launch, which is free and offers easy access to Lake Pontchartrain.
We made the run back to the Parish Canal. Once there, I baited the dropnets with chicken leg quarters and began setting them out. Every 50 to 75 yards we dropped a net.
Once they were out we went back to the beginning and started checking each net.
“Last year we were catching 12 to 15 dozen crabs in the Parish Canal by this time,” Mike said.
We checked the nets six times during the morning and only caught 52 crabs.
The next day, I made another crab trip to Point-Aux-Chenes with Daniel Tegtmeier, Nathan, and Jacob Thompson.
We launched off Highway 24, in Larose. The Bayou Blue boat launch is approximately two miles from Larose on the left.
From the Bayou Blue boat launch, a boater will have a 10 to 15 minute boat ride. Also, a fisherman can drive to Montegut and launch at the end of the road at the Montegut boat launch.
From this point, the boat ride is only a few minutes. The Point-Aux-Chenes Management Area is clearly marked and fishermen must obey all rules and regulation.
Once in the Point-Aux-Chenes Management Area, a boat can only take 12 dozen crabs, or 144 crabs, using drop nets. We counted every crab we caught during the morning.
Launching the Kenner VX at 10 a.m, Jacob and Nathan baited the dropnets with chicken leg quarters during the boat ride.
When we arrived, all the nets were ready to be put out.
Dropping a net every 50 to 75 yards apart, our nets covered almost a mile of water. We went back to the beginning and started checking the nets.
On our first run we caught 18 crabs.
Still optimistic, we checked them again. We had a total of 38 crabs after two runs.
Being close to the first dam, we went over to check it out. Daniel and Nathan decided to stay with six nets on the dam while Jacob and I went back to run the dropnet in the canal.
We caught 14 more, which brought our total to 52. When we went to check on Daniel and Nathan, they had caught 18. So Jacob and I went back and picked up all the nets from the canal.
We joined Daniel and Nathan at the dam. The game plan had changed and we were catching crabs on the dam. We finished the morning with 12 dozen crabs and were excited to head home with our limit of crabs.
It meant boiled crabs, sausage, corn, potatoes, cold drinks, and family for the rest of the afternoon.
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