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No More Fishing This Delacroix Canal
A few weeks ago, before all this COVID craziness began, I went fishing to relax and take a look at what was out there.
It was easy to get excited about it, because I hadn't been on the water in a couple months!
It was a Tuesday morning, mostly overcast, a decent incoming tide and wind predicted to lay down in the morning then blow up to 15mph out of the south later in the afternoon.
So, I got to Sweetwater Marina for 7am or so, arriving to a non-existent line for the ramp.
Great! It's always nice to get straight into the water.
And that's what I did, running to Grand Lake and further on in search of bass and redfish.
Gotta Go To Know
As I did, the old adage of "you've got to go to know" came to mind, because the wind never picked up.
The water's surface was glass calm, like an infinite mirror where you cannot tell where the sky ends and the water begins, making great conditions for sight fishing a few redfish!
It was a good day of fishing, and I got to run everywhere, seeing where river water was and wasn't, which areas had bait and which areas were ghost towns.
Unfortunately, that's when a huge disappointment struck.
No More Fishing Here
I was running down Oak River when I found this sign that wasn't there last time I had been out.
Really? Are we doing this again?
My best redfish ponds were gated off in 2018 and now another canal is posted?
Terrific!
Where is this canal located?
The sign you see in the picture is located at:
N 29.639668
W 89.729620
You can see the canal reaches across a good stretch of Delacroix.
This make it virtually impossible to go from one side of the marsh to the other without illegally trespassing on what is otherwise open and navigable water.
I drove along the length of most of the canal, checking for additional signs, and found plenty of them.
Whoever put them up is dead serious that you, under no circumstance, are to enter or cross that canal.
You know what? I never saw shenanigans like this as a kid.
My father knew he could take us fishing without fear of being shut out or hassled.
Unfortunately, this trend is here and is spreading across Louisiana.
When will it stop? Will fishing ever be the same again? What future do our children have?
Help Put A Stop To This
Questions like those are why I'm a member of Louisiana Sportsmen's Coalition, the only organization fighting to have fishing freedom restored.
I stress this because many anglers wrongly assume CCA Louisiana is going to take care of this, and so far in the last four years they've offered nothing beyond kind gestures and polite lip service.
Louisiana Sportsmen's Coalition is doing quite the opposite: They are seeing that legislation favoring our pastime is crafted and brought to bear at the State Capitol.
This is why I am asking you to join our ranks and become a member of the Coalition today.
