Gator on Your Line?

Posted November 19, 2009 at 4:03 pm
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Here in Southwest Louisiana, the three main things that may chase your fishing bait, besides the fish, are birds, crabs and alligators.

Birds and crabs? No problem; they are fairly easy to remove. But what should you do if you find an alligator on your line, especially a small one? Cut your line and let the creature go with a hook attached to it or haul it into you boat and attempt to be a veterinarian?

The answer is short and sweet — cut the line.

“Do not attempt to catch and handle an alligator, no matter the size,” said Noel Kinler, alligator program manager at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’s New Iberia office. “Not many people have experience in handling a live alligator, so just cut the line.”

But what about the hook?

“Alligators are really tough animals. When we catch them during our wild alligator harvests, they have all sorts of injuries — missing legs and feet, scars from being hit by boat propellers and bitten by other alligators and fishing injuries,” Kinler said. “They can survive pretty much anything. A fishing hook is not much of a problem for them when it comes to survival.”

You know whose safety and survival you should really be worried about? Yours.

“The small alligators have really sharp teeth, and their mouthes are filled with a host of bacteria. Clean your bite or bites immediately and well if you get bitten. You can get a staph infection from an alligator bite, and that is why we suggest you do not try to handle the gator yourself.”

Tom Ashe, one of my outdoor contacts from Sulphur, sent me these pictures of what not to do when you snag an alligator on your line. The gator was recently caught by his son Mike on the Sabine River. Mike’s wife, Gracelia, took the photos.

“It wasn’t his first time hooking gator, but he wanted to try to unhook it,” Tom said. “He said it took him an hour to get it in the boat, and he said once he got it in, he got more than he bargained for.”

Go Dog!

Posted November 12, 2009 at 4:11 pm
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Sit, stay, heel, fetch.

That’s what you’ll be saying a lot of over the next few months if you’re a waterfowl hunter and retriever owner. Big duck season opens Saturday, Nov. 14, and a “Happy Hunting” to those of you who’ll be in the in blinds this weekend!

And some of you with new puppies (I know at least one local hunter with one. Wink, wink ‘cuz you know who you are! Hopefully you’re settled in or about to settle into your brand new lodge too! Congrats!) will be looking to get those dogs in tip-top shape for next year’s season.

I headed down south of Roanoke a few weeks ago to watch Cecil “Butch” Manuel of Game Time Retrievers work some of his up-and-coming retrievers and even one old hand who definitely know the ropes — his 8-year-old retriever Misty. For the story behind the pictures and video, pick up the Sunday, Nov. 15 American Press!

LSU vs. Arkansas Ticket Raffle

Posted November 9, 2009 at 4:05 pm
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Hi everyone!

We have a couple of sick employees at the American Press that need your help.

Brian Guilbeau, one of our reporters, has cystic fibrosis and has been in ICU in Houston for several weeks as a result of complications from his second lung transplant this past March.

Hector, one of our editors, has leukemia. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy and will have a stem cell transplant in December. His sister is a perfect match, by the way.

Here’s where you can help. Many American Press employees, including myself, are selling $5 raffle tickets for the chance to win six tickets and a parking pass to the LSU-Arkansas game in Baton Rouge on Sat., Nov. 28.

The drawing is Nov. 18. All proceeds will be divided 50-50 and given to Brian and Hector to help with their ever-increasing medical expenses and bills. To get your raffle tickets, give me a call at 337-494-4072 or shoot me an e-mail at colivier@americanpress.com.

Thank you in advance!

Whoops!

Posted November 6, 2009 at 2:01 pm
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Got this e-mail this morning from my outdoor buddy Don “Mosquito Man” Menard down in Grand Lake.

“By the way, I guess you’ve noticed that there was a HURRICANE in the southern Gulf this morning! Seems like I read something on a blog somewhere that: ‘Hurricane Season is O-V-E-R! Say it loud with me: OVER!’ So much for your meteorological aspirations. ”

Yup, you’re right, lol, I apparently am a shoddy meteorologist, but I’m going to blame it on Mother Nature, lol. Honestly, I’m not completely shocked about the tropical system, what with the unseasonably warm weather we had in October. Hopefully it will poof out and that will be the “end” of hurricane season for 2009!

Where’s the Stinkin’ Cold Weather?!

Posted November 4, 2009 at 5:49 pm
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I’m so excited I could…umm, well, lets not even go there, lol, but anyway, Hurricane Season is O-V-E-R! Say it loud with me: “OVER!”

That huge noise you heard Sunday was the collective sigh of the entire Gulf Coast, thanking heavens that we didn’t get a smacking and that all of our homes and citizens were spared from tropical destruction and from having to deal with that four-letter-word agency.

With duck populations looking good and no hurricane, tropical storm or tropical depression strength winds to blow the birds away, hopefully this will be an awesome duck season. My freezer is getting low, lol!

On to the next thing: Now that the tropical days of hurricane season are history, where is the cold weather?

And I don’t mean these lame excuses for cold weather we’ve had the last few weeks. I’m talking temperatures in the 50s during the day and 40s or 30s at night, gumbo-eating, bonfire-burning, ten tons of warm clothes-wearing, hot toddy-drinking, in front of the fireplace-sitting weather. And I guess I’ll toss in Christmas shopping too, as much as I can’t stand everything involved with Christmas except its religious significance, because let’s face it, I don’t think anyone feels all Christmas-y shopping in shorts. I know I don’t. With all that ranting done, I know we don’t get “real” cold weather down here, but hunting in the Louisiana heat, 65 degrees or above, almost feels sacrilegious to me.

Bring it on Mother Nature!

Birds of a feather…

Posted October 26, 2009 at 4:25 pm
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…flock together.

I spent a recent Friday flocked with others of my kind — outdoor writers.

The Louisiana Outdoors Writer’s Association hosted its annual conference in Lake Charles, and writers from around the state including LOWA president Lyle Johnson and writers Joe Macaluso and John Flores were on hand for the event.

About 15 writers attended the conference.

Invasive tilapia in the Mississippi River, great silvania at Lake Bistineau, tracking of speckled trout on Big Lake and in Barataria Bay, the reorganization of the state department of Wildlife and Fisheries and new Berkley products were topics of discussion throughout the day.

I am usually required to stay in the five-parish readership area or within the bumper parish area with my stories, so it was great to hear outdoor news from other corners of the state. I had already at least heard about all the topics, with the exception of the tilapia problem near Port Sulphur, through my outdoor work.

“We are fairly certain where the fish came from,” McElroy said. “The fish were put there by someone, but we are not 100 percent sure who.”

The fish overwintered in the river and also inhabited a lagoon, ditch and marsh in the area.

“These fish have a high salinity tolerance but are a freshwater species,” McElroy said. “They can withstand poor water quality. They also carry their eggs and their young in their mouth, so this also helps the fish survival rate.”

And not only are the tilapia a potent fish, they also cause problems for local fish.

“The tilapia reproduce so much, they overwhelm the native fish,” McElroy said. “Even the native predators can’t withstand them.”

But in the end, the tilapia even snow themselves under.

“There are thousands and thousands of tilapia in the area, and they reproduce so fast that they stunt themselves,” McElroy said.

To treat the problem, the area was treated with Rotenone, an EPA-approved fish toxicant, through various techniques.

“About 1,400 gallons of the toxicant were applied in the closed areas,” McElroy said.

The first round of Rotenone was sprayed on June 9, and the next day, dead fish littered the waters of the area.

“We found one native fish in a 7.5 mile stretch of water,” McElroy said. “The last tilapia to die from the Rotenone treatments were muddy because they had burrowed into mud in an attempt to escape the toxicant.”

After a second round Rotenone was applied on June 29, the area was restocked with native fish like bowfin, spotted gar, sunfish, catfish and largemouth bass.

“We will monitor the area, retreat if needed and continue to stock area with bowfin and alligator gar to control any remaining tilapia,” McElroy said.

Kisatchie Falls

Posted October 22, 2009 at 11:28 am
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Didn’t get to write last week and not too much time to write this week. I’m in the second week of what will be three weeks that are short on “office time.” I was out in the field covering the Louisiana Outdoor Writer’s Conference last week, a deer and squirrel hunting trip this week and will be covering an outdoor assignment next week that I can’t talk about because I don’t want to get scooped, lol!

I took a road trip up to Simpson on Sunday to hunt, and while I was there, my hunting buddy and I cruised up to Kisatchie Falls. I’ve only been up in that neck of the woods three times in my life, and each time, it was to go to Toledo Bend. It was a beautiful drive, but navigating the hills at night was tricky! You never know what way the road is going to curve when you get over it, lol!

Here are a few pictures to make up for the lack of words this week!

Good Company, Good Eats

Posted October 9, 2009 at 11:27 am
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A big congratulations to Deanne Biggs of Lake Charles for topping the Cajun Cast Away, the Lafayette Kayack Fishing Club’s tourmament this past weekend on Big Lake!

Biggs won tops for the tourney by acing the SLAM category, two or three fish total weight of redfish, trout and flounder.

“Her 4.7 pound speckled trout helped put her on top,” said LKFC President Greg Sonnier. “She caught it within the first hour of fishing time too.”

Sonnier rigs his line on a July fishing trip in West Cove on Big Lake.

Biggs took home a new Native Ultimate Kayak for her first place win. For results in all four categories, pick the Sunday, Oct. 11 edition of the American Press!

“Of the 38 who participated in the event, 29 weighed in fish,” Sonnier said.

I journeyed down to Hebert’s Landing last Friday night to hang out with the members of the LKFC who had rented almost all of the Big Lake Guest Houses.

After spotting my two familiar faces, Sonnier and the club’s marketing director Valerie Billeaud Gonsoulin, who took me kayack fishing in July, I shook hands and passed the breeze into the evening with club members from Lafayette, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Billeaud Gonsoulin prepares to haul her fish out of the water on our July fishing trip.

As the sun went down, the grills were lit and meat was thrown on the fire. Sonnier pulled out his fiddle, another club member pulled out his accordian, and the pair played Cajun music on the porch of the house. Everyone sat around, swapped fishing stories, passed around maps of Big Lake and talked fishing spots.

Nothing like a good ol’ outdoor get-together!

Nonc Po-Steed and Mornings, Round 2

Posted October 1, 2009 at 10:05 am
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Who’s Nonc (uncle for those of you who don’t speak Cajun French) Po Steed you ask?

Here’s the hunting joke from the community of Vidrine:

“My Nonc Po Steed, he owns a lot of land in every state I can hunt on yeah! You know, he owns all the land with the little yellow signs that say ‘POSTED.’”

Get it? Nonc Posted, just with a little Cajun accent thrown on it.

Speaking of Cajun, if you read my posting “25 Random Things: The OD Version,” here’s a look at what “Outdoor Claudette” looks like, lol.

Here I was, rocking the hip boots, on the road to the saltwater barrier north of the I-10 bridge, shooting Team Green’s Annual Trash Bash.

Anyway, from posted signs to hip boots to jumping towns, I’ll be joining many others this weekend by hitting the woods for the opening weekend of squirrel season. In Evangeline Parish, where I went to school, all schools are closed the first Friday of squirrel season. Say what? Yup, school is closed!

When I was younger, I didn’t do the “Squirrel Day” thing because my dad wasn’t a squirrel hunter. That was one animal season I missed and did girlie things with my mom instead. Most years, she would take me and my cousin Meagan to the mall in Lafayette or Alexandria. Store clerks were always coming up to us and asking us where our parents were and why we weren’t in school. “It’s Squirrel Day, we’re out of school.” With a bewildered look on his of her face, we’d drag him or her to my mom, just in case they would try to cart us off to the mall security office, so my mom could explain it to her or him. It’s really funny to think back on it now: All the women hit the road and went shopping, and all of the men packed up the boys, campers and four-wheelers, hit the road and headed for the woods.

I once had a college sociology teacher who had previously taught at a small college near where I’m from. One day in class, she got to talking about the days when she taught at that college, and she said she began to notice that many people in class were missing a particular Friday every fall. She finally got smart, or in my opinion, not, and asked one of the students at the college what the deal was. “It’s Squirrel Day,” the student said and proceeded to explain it the teacher. The teacher’s response “Well I think that’s just stupid. I’m going to start giving a test on that day every fall and those who don’t show up will get an “F” on the test.”

You’re a sociology teacher. You, of all people, should be all about understanding good ole American traditions, but I guess that’s not important. Let just go ahead and make every culture around the world exactly the same. Brilliant idea! NOT! I almost dropped the class because a teacher ticked me off with that rant. I just wanted to scream at her “If it weren’t for our ancestors hunting, you probably wouldn’t be here!”

Anyway, on to another subject that doesn’t get me unhinged.

You know how one of the fast food chains touts the “Fourth Meal?” In my world of hunting, I realized that I have “second mornings.”

After a duck hunt last year, I was home by 10 a.m.-ish and I figured “I’ll take a nap from 10:30 a.m. ’til noon, which shouldn’t throw me off of sleeping my regular hours tonight.”

When I woke up, I was like “Did I go hunting this morning or did I dream the whole thing?” I got my answer when I opened the fridge and saw birds waiting to be cleaned.

And then my second morning begins. I make more coffee, eat something brunch-like, read the paper, clean the birds and start transcribing my tapes (cuz let’s face it, it’s hard to take notes in the dark and I’m not turning on a light and scaring away the game) from the hunt because it’s nice and quiet at my house, and I can transcribe uninterrupted.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like…

Posted September 25, 2009 at 4:20 pm
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…duck season.

Or my personal favorite, “Jingle bells, shotgun shells,” which I usually sing to myself whenever I’m shell shopping.

Thanks to Capt. Scott Ritchey of Louisiana Outfitters, I’ve got more than enough birds for a teal gumbo or whatever teal recipe crosses my path after our recent hunting trip. To get the story on the hunt, pick up the Sunday, Sept. 27 American Press!

Here’s Ritchey’s simplest recipe suggestion:

“Brown them on all sides first with a little oil in the bottom of the pot, over medium heat,” Ritchey said. “Then toss in come cut-up onions and bell peppers, pour in some water, cover it and put it in the oven. That meat will just fall apart.”

Ritchey also suggested aging the meat.

“I leave them guts in and feathers on in the fridge for four or five days before I clean them. It gets real tender as the meat breaks down,” Ritchey said. “Friends think I’m nuts when they open my fridge and go, ‘What the heck?’ I tell them, ‘Don’t worry. It will be as tender as filet mignon.’”

In non-recipe news, a big “Yay!,” no hurricane to wreck teal season this year! Only 36 days ’til that junk is over, and if we make it to the finish line with none smoking the coast of Louisiana, I say we throw a hurricane party anyway!

Check out the photos from the hunt below.