New Atchafalaya Basin Limits: 5 Bass and 25 Crappie a Day, Under a Bill by Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter

Anglers fishing the Atchafalaya Basin and several nearby lakes can now keep five black bass a day, each at least 12 inches long, and 25 crappie a day, each at least 8 inches. The limits took effect Aug. 1 under Act 460, a bill by state Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter that passed both chambers without a single vote against it. With fall fishing under way, here is how the numbers apply to your trip.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says the rules cover all waters inside a designated area in south-central Louisiana. Henderson Lake, Grassy Lake, Lake Verret, Lake Palourde and most of the Atchafalaya Basin fall inside it, and LDWF says that list gives examples, not every waterbody covered. The bass limit applies to largemouth, Florida and spotted bass and their hybrids. The crappie limit covers black crappie, white crappie and their hybrids. The act itself notes that crappie also go by white perch or sac-a-lait around here, so the rule covers them whatever your family calls them.

Before Aug. 1, anglers in these waters followed the statewide numbers: 10 black bass and 50 crappie per licensed angler, with no minimum length. Those statewide limits still apply everywhere outside the new area, according to LDWF. Inside it, Kleinpeter's bill adds a size floor for both fish and cuts the daily count in half. The act measures size as total length, so an 11-inch bass has to go back, and so does a 7-inch crappie.

One part of the rule is easy to miss if you fish more than one spot. LDWF says anglers who use any boat launch inside the regulated area must follow the new limits no matter where their fish were caught.

The act spells out the boundary, so read it before you head out. It runs south of US 190 from the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee to the spot where LA 1 meets US 190 due north of Port Allen. From there it runs east of the levee from US 190 to US 90, then north of US 90 to LA 20. It continues north and west of LA 20 to LA 1 in Thibodaux, then south and west of LA 1 back up to US 190. LDWF's release carries a map, and the Houma Times ran the same details in July.

The bill, Senate Bill 111, moved quickly and without opposition. The Senate Natural Resources Committee took it up on March 18, and the full Senate approved it 35-0. The House Natural Resources and Environment Committee reported it favorably on May 12, and the House gave it final passage on May 19 by a vote of 93-0. Gov. Jeff Landry signed it May 29, and it became Act 460. The résumé digest describes it as adding the new limits within a specified area that includes the Atchafalaya Basin and its surrounding tributaries and distributaries.

Kleinpeter is the Republican senator for District 17, and his official Senate page lists a district office in Port Allen. LDWF's July release credits him as the author, and the bill page lists him as the primary author. State law sets daily take and size limits for freshwater fish in R.S. 56:325, and Act 460 added a new paragraph there for this stretch of water.

If you are heading out this week, bring something to measure with. A small ruler or a fish-measuring board will do, and any fish short of the minimum goes back in the water. Keep a count of what's in the cooler, too. Inside the area, five bass and 25 crappie per angler is the daily ceiling.

Bayou Weekly also covered Louisiana's new recreational alligator season this month and Louisiana's first whistling duck season this fall. For this new fishing rule, the map on LDWF's release is the quickest way to see whether your favorite spot sits inside the line.

Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.