New redfish rules take effect

Starting today, there are new rules for fishermen and women in Louisiana on how many redfish they can keep, and how big.

Anglers can now keep no more than four redfish, instead of five. And they must be at least 18 inches long, up from 16. And no redfish can be kept that is more than 27 inches long. Fishermen and women used to be able to keep one red of breeding size that exceeded the 27 inch limit.

WWL Outdoors host Don Dubuc says the bright side is that redfish have shown the ability to bounce back, and these restrictions may not be permanent.

"Within just a couple of years, they might be able to return the limits to back to the five fish per day, and maybe widen that slot size," Don said, although he notes that won't happen overnight.

"It does take a while, because before they can make any changes, they've got to have biological proof, which means another stock assessment, and then once they get that information, it will have to go through the same process: public hearings, go to the commission, and finally, legislative oversight," he explained.

The new rules also forbid charter boat captains and their crews from keeping any redfish for themselves that are landed during for-hire charters.

"A lot of people disagree with that," said Don, "because the numbers of just plain recreational, ordinary everyday fisherman way outnumbers the charter captains."