Outdoor Report 9-8-2009

Still plenty of redfish in Bayou Perrot, dove season opens on Sept. 5

Last week, the urge to fish Bayou Perrot was still on my mind.

I contacted Kevin Hebert and asked him if he would like to catch a few redfish. Kevin jumped at the opportunity and we made a quick afternoon trip to Bayou Perrot. The tide had changed direction from the three previous trips, in which we limited out with redfish.

I rigged Kevin with a 6-½ foot stiff rod, with 20 pound test Power Pro line on a Trion GX-7 Pflueger spinning reel. The Carolina rig had a ¾ ounce weight ahead of the barrel swivel and a ¼ ounce jig head baited with market shrimp. He was set -up to catch good redfish in the 22 feet of water. The spot is known as the “Hole” in Bayou Perrot. I grabbed my Okuma combo with the same Carolina rig and we began to reel in redfish after redfish. Kevin commented, “This is amazing how these fish gang up in this spot!” We didn’t limit out, but we caught enough redfish to consider the trip a great one. We made the run across Lake Salvador, through Bayou Cuba and Lake Cataouatche back to Pier 90 in 40 minutes. We cleaned the redfish and cooked them with the scales down on the grill. We were in Cajun Heaven.

Lake Cataouatche Sac-a-lait are also showing up around the grass beds.

This time year, Sac-a-laits will start schooling up around any structure they can find. In Lake Cataouatche, its large grass beds in the middle of the Lake. The bait of choice has been the orange pumpkin seed tube jig with the chartreuse tail 18 inches under a cork. A good report last Wednesday had a local fisherman catching 70 in one afternoon.

Dove season opens next week: The term “dove” refers to the following species, and only the following species: mourning doves, white-winged doves, Eurasian collared-doves, and ringed-turtle doves.

Mourning and white-winged doves and fully dressed Eurasian collared- and ringed turtle-doves: Daily bag limit 15 in aggregate, Possession 30 in aggregate, but note: there is no bag limit on Eurasian collared-doves or ringed turtle-doves provided that a fully feathered wing and head remain attached to the carcass of the bird. Fully dressed Eurasian-collared doves and ringed-turtle doves (those without a fully feathered wing and head naturally attached to the carcass) shall be included in the aggregate bag.

Hunting Zones for Doves:

The state shall be divided into North and South Dove Hunting Zones by the following boundary: Beginning at the Texas-Louisiana border on LA Highway 12; thence east along LA Highway 12 to its intersection with U.S. Highway 190; thence east along U.S. Highway 190 to its intersection with Interstate 12; thence east along Interstate 12 to its intersection with Interstate 10; thence east along Interstate 10 to the Mississippi state line.

The first split of dove season, the South Zone will open on Sept. 5 and close on the 13th. the North Zone will open on Sept. 5 and close on the Sept. 20.