Satisfy Your Springtime Speckled Trout Fever this Holiday Weekend in Louisiana

The Louisiana Saltwater Series, presented by Shimano and Power Pro, hosts Speckled Trout Tournament on Lake Pontchartrain.

When it comes to double-digit speckled trout, it’s not uncommon that one of the first places that comes to mind is Lake Pontchartrain.  The lake stands out as one of the state’s primary estuaries and is the largest inland body of water, potentially holding the next state record speck.  Perhaps the next record fish will be landed on Saturday, May 25 at the annual Louisiana Saltwater Series Speckled Trout Tournament, held at the Mandeville Public Boat Launch and Wharf.

The competition is two-fold and differs from standard LASS tournaments because it will also be part of the Department’s acoustic telemetry tagging project on the lake. The tournament follows a week-long spring tagging event, where LDWF and LSU staff will surgically implant acoustic tags in speckled trout provided by volunteer anglers before releasing them back into Lake Pontchartrain.  Some of the fish brought in to the scales at the tournament will be used as part of this program.

Participating teams in the Louisiana Saltwater Series Trout Tournament may consist of up to a total of four anglers, with only two adult anglers (16 years of age and older).  In addition to 100 percent payout, we are pleased to announce we will be offering additional prize money provided by our sponsors.

Teams are also allowed to bring in extra fish in addition to their weigh fish to be entered into drawings for special prizes, with the number of entries determined by the number of extra fish to be brought in to be tagged.  Extra raffle entries can also be earned for each Louisiana Marine Sport Fish Tagging Program data card presented.

Online registration at $150 per team is now open for the speckled trout tournament on www.lasaltwaterseries.com.  Online registration will remain open until Thursday, May 23, but interested anglers will still have the opportunity to register onsite for $200 per team.  Scales open at 8 a.m. and will remain open through 2 p.m.

Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries – Enforcement Division(LDWF) is the fish & game regulatory agency of Louisiana. It has jurisdictionanywhere in the state, and in state territorial waters. The agency enforces both state and federal laws dealing with hunting, fishing, and boating safety. The agency also enforces criminal laws in rural areas including DWI enforcement both on highways and waterways. Most of the Department’s Wildlife Agents also carry Federal law enforcement commissions issued from the United States Department of the Interior - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and United States Department of Commerce - U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). These federal commissions allow these state officers to enforce federal migratory waterfowl laws and federal marine fisheries laws in state and federal waters off the coast of Louisiana. Besides their traditional role as a “game warden”, Louisiana Wildlife Enforcement Agents also have a number of other responsibilities, including conducting board of health inspections on some portions of the state’s commercial fishing industry. Agents are trained in and conduct numerous search and rescue operations, both in remote land areas and on the state’s waterways. Agents ensure that hunters, anglers, boaters, dealers, breeders, farmers, and transporters are in compliance with regulations governing equipment, quotas, licenses, and registrations. Agents also assist other State departments and law enforcement agencies in the coordination of educational and professional endeavors, as well as national and state emergency alerts by the Federal Office of Emergency Preparedness. In addition, agents perform search and rescue missions alone or in conjunction with other local, state, and federal agencies.