2021 Gumbo final - Book - Page 186
186
calder
“I was about 36 miles out of Venice, Louisiana and I was fishing. We
were out there with a group of friends, but it seemed like I was the
only one who knew what they were doing. All of a sudden, my rod
almost flew out of my hand. It scared me half to death! About two
hours later, I pulled in this 46-pound redfish. It was massive! We didn’t
cook it though. You can’t cook the big ones because they get worms
inside of them and they aren’t good anymore. It’s better to let them
go make some more little fish. We eat those. But honestly, I’m more of
a bass fisherman. I like to go out and fish around the LSU Lakes. You
can catch some good-sized bass. The best spot is across from Herget.
The small lake out front has the clearest water. At least it used to be
clear when I fished there. That makes a difference when you’re trying
to fish. There’s also fish at the one under the Dalrymple Bridge. You
can’t keep them but some people do. I don’t but honestly, we need
to. Whenever you have consistent catch and release places, you see
an over populated lake. What happens is that since the bigger fish
aren’t as fast as the smaller ones, there’s no food left because all of
the smaller ones are still there. The big ones die off and you’re left
with a lake of small fish. A lot of people think it’s doing good not to
take out the fish, but you have to cull them out.”