LDWF biologist supervisor Martin Plonsky, left, prepares to dump a netful of Florida bass fingerlings into one of two 150-gallon tanks as LDWF technician Chris Yancy watches Thursday at the boat ramp at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park.
This netful of Florida bass fingerlings released by biologist supervisor Martin Plonsky joined 80,000-plus baby bass Thursday in Lake Dauterive-Fausse Pointe. Plonsky put half of the fingerlings in a borrow pit along the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee.
District 6 biologist manager Jody David prepares to fill tanks with fish.
Don Shoopman / The Daily Iberian
LDWF biologist supervisor Martin Plonsky, left, prepares to dump a netful of Florida bass fingerlings into one of two 150-gallon tanks as LDWF technician Chris Yancy watches Thursday at the boat ramp at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park.
Don Shoopman / The Daily Iberian
These Florida bass fingerlings were among 80,000-plus baby bass stocked Thursday afternoon in Lake Dauterive-Fausse Pointe.
Don Shoopman / The Daily Iberian
This netful of Florida bass fingerlings released by biologist supervisor Martin Plonsky joined 80,000-plus baby bass Thursday in Lake Dauterive-Fausse Pointe. Plonsky put half of the fingerlings in a borrow pit along the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee.
COTEAU HOLMES — State biologists are doing their best to give bass anglers a chance to catch even more 5-pound plus bass in Lake Dauterive-Fausse Pointe, which has given up so many trophy-sized bass the past two years.
Jody David of Ville platte and Martin Plonsky distributed 80,304 Florida bass fingerlings in strategic locations around the lake system during intermittent heavy rains Thursday afternoon. Their two 22-foot long aluminum boats, mostly used for electrofishing projects, each had two 150-gallon tanks that held the baby bass delivered from Natchitoches.
David, biologist manager with the Inland Fisheries division of the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and Plonsky, biologist supervisor, and their LDWF technicians met up with the specially rigged hatchery truck near the boat ramp at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park. Chris Yancy, an LDWF technician at Booker Fowler near Woodworth, drove the truck to the state park and split the bassy cargo between the two boats at the boat ramp.
At a meeting last fall, David put in his request for stocking bass in District 6 bodies of water that he oversees. He prioritized the list that included Chicot Lake, Spring Bayou and Cocodrie Lake.
Chicot Lake received 28,000 Florida bass fingerlings a week ago Friday, Plonsky said, and Spring Bayou got its share Friday. Cocodrie Lake will get 60,000 Florida bass fingerlings this week.
However, Thursday their attention was on Lake Dauterive-Fausse Pointe.
Yancy dipped the tiny bass, averaging 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, with a long-handled net from the 350-gallon aerated tank in the bed of the truck into the waiting tanks in each boat.
David, a biologist 26 years with LDWF, and Plonsky each went in separate directions to place fish around the lake system. David headed across the lake and deposited the bass, which were hatched a few months ago at Booker Fowler and raised at Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery, along the “The Boulevard” near Marsh Field Boat Landing, near Jeanerette Canal and in Bird Island Chute.
Plonsky, meanwhile, and technician Wesley Rigsby of Carencro took their boat’s load of bass to a place highly recommended for years by retired state biologist Mike Walker of New Iberia. Plonsky’s bass were released in the “back borrow pit” along the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee. The water clarity was good as the muddy water from heavy rains late last week still hadn’t pushed its way into that borrow pit.
“The idea is to get them out here and into there,” Plonsky said, pointing to the clear green water, quickly and safely.
“We try to put them in the heaviest cover possible to decrease mortality,” David said later.
“You’re going to have some survival. You’re going to have some mortality, too, no doubt, from other predators — all the sunfish, crappie, bass, bowfin (choupique), gar, catfish, you name it. That’s just the natural way,” he said.
The Florida bass should grow to 12 to 15 inches after a couple of years “if you have a good forage base, which Fausse Pointe does, so they should grow well,” he said.
Plonsky, who has been with the state agency 12 years, said unlike native bass, Florida bass keep growing as they age.
Growing lunker-sized bass is what the program is all about, they both said.
“This is to give the fishermen the opportunity to catch good-sized bass with the Florida gene in the lake. That’s going to help the bass population. You’ve got to have the gene influence in there,” David said after the stocking process was complete.
“We just want to spread the gene,” Plonsky said.
Inevitably, David said, the native bass and Floridabass will cross paths during the spawning season.