Dredging in the Atchafalaya basin

[SLIP-CORK]

Has anyone out there seen or know of any dredging operations happening in the basin say north of Big Bayou Pigeon? I heard a rumor that something was happening in this area.
I talked to a guy with the state lands office in BR and he told me of a dredging project at or near the south end of Grand Lake. The money was available but not appropriated (may not exist as of this writing, lol) as of yet. The purpose of this project is to restore good river water to the east side of the basin from lets say the DOE area over to the 21" canal through Mystic Crew bayou as well as Big Fork and the Crossover canal going south to Bayou Sorrel (the bayou sorrel north of Flat Lake). This would revive the shell cut area in this area when the Atchafalaya River level at Morgan City falls below 2.8ft.. As we know, the water quality goes septic as the river falls and the flow through this area stops. The water looks like Coke and smells like death. The fish leave and the crawfish crawl out of the water and most get eaten or die. This is a sportsmen and crawfishermen issue to be sure. This is a huge area and the fishing there was beyond belief.
The Atchafalaya River spring rise would open the doors for a yearly fish invasion as this was the perfect estuary that couldn't be created by man. It happened prior to and during the spawn and fishing pressure during these normal rises was minimal. The food available was a buffet fit for a king. As the water falls the runouts from the swamp gave up limits of bass and WP with no problem. A normal trip was to catch a limit of bass and crappie. I once caught 70 fish (WP and Chinquapin)out of one willow top. I thought this place was bullet proof. I was wrong. The Shell Cuts is a maze of oil field canals that once had well heads in each canal. I met my wife back in the late 70's and took her fishing for the first time. She asked if we would catch one fish. I knew which wellheads were holding fish and ruined her with one trip. With jig poles and the old "Flea-Fly" jigs she proceeded to wear them out. The good part was there was nothing to hang up into. Some of the sola old pros out there can back up what I'm talking about. After Hurricane Andrew in 92 things changed there big time. Just thinking about the past and put a few memories into words. SLIP

["D"]

I seen it go from feast to famine in 1973, 1983 and 1992. But the years I spent there that were good were spoiling.I remember catching 75 to 100 bass in a 4 hour trip many times. And sitting on one tree or stump for hours cause the sac's would not quit biting. And I must give the goggle's, bream and chinq's their due.I have moved to Tn. and don't know much about fishing this deep water. But now that we built and are settling in, I'm fixing to start learning big time. (I was born in Morgan City and spent 40 years in the Baton Rouge area) Back on point, dredging has been needed as well as grass control for years.

[jig rig]

Hey Slip, I'm not as old as "D" but I have fished and seen the Spillway silt in over the years. Big Pigeon at Little Pigeon would be one example.

Technically everything within the two guide levees paralleling the Atchafalaya River 15 or so miles apart is the Atchafalaya Spillway.
On the other hand, all of the low lands between the Mississippi River and Bayou Teche can be considered part of the Atchafalaya Basin.

I haven't heard of any dredging. There is pipeline and rig activity on going.

[Bobfish11]

You are so right about Andrew..it devastated the lower end for certain. And those kinda numbers were never the same. Places i used catch bunches of big sacs and bass are now silted in also. The basin is on my list of the best places I have ever fished. Crazy numbers of really big fish.