Sometime in late October, Mike Louviere can envision 1- to 2-pound Florida bass being released in Lake Dauterive-Fausse Pointe, thanks to people who care about the future of the bass population in one of the heavily fished bodies of water in the Teche Area.
The 36-year-old Loreauville outdoorsman, a commercial fisherman and avid bass angler, has been planning the pastfew months on the inaugural Fishing forFausse Pointe fundraising bass tournament scheduled to be held Oct. 1. It’s his baby and he’s serious about his goal tostock as many 1- to 2-pound bass as possible with the money raised in this coming Sunday’s bass tournament out of Marsh FieldBoat Landing at Lake Fausse Pointe.
So are several other local outdoorsmen, including Chris Vedrines and Ricky Watkins, as well as Jody David, District 6 biologist manager for the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Also, there are more than a dozen sponsors on board.
Vedrines, who owns Advanced Graphic Engravings, has crafted some special first-, second- and third-place plaques as well as a plaque for the biggest bass of the day. Watkins has been spreading the word on his outdoors radio show on KANE 1240-AM.
David, whose office is in Opelousas, gave the fundraising tournament a whole-hearted endorsement earlier this summer, said he is looking forward to assisting in the distribution and monitoring of the bass that will be purchased from Dunn’s Fish Farm, a hatchery in Fittsdown, Okla. The biologist also has said the state agency will stock 18,000 Florida bass fingerlings in conjunction with the project.
Entry fee for the tournament is $60 per boat, which includes the big bass fee. There is a five-fish, 12-inch minimum length limit and all bass must be weighed alive.
Registration starts at 5 a.m. The weigh-in is at 3 p.m.
Louviere, who is fishing a Louisiana Bass Cats tournament today in the Atchafalaya Basin, is was passionate about the Fishing for Fausse Pointe event Friday night as he was when he first brought up the subject in June. He isn’t fishing the tournament and emphasized every penny of the entry fee and any donations will be used to buy 12- to 14-inch bass.
“These things are conditioned to grow in shallow-water lakes, average 6- to 10-feet depths, like Florida,” Louviere said.
“Oh, yeah, I’m excited, pretty pumped up about it. I’m looking forward to seeing how many people participate in the tournament,” he said. “I need to give something back. If I don’t give to it and keep it going, we will lost it.”
He is hopeful that 50-75 boats show up in the wee hours of the morning to fish the Fishing for Fausse Pointe. After all, it is the bass population’s future that is on the line, he said.
Each bass will cost $14.99 apiece. Many of them will be tagged for their release to follow their development, David informed Louviere.
Louviere said the lakes have been producing bass since the mid-August flooding raised the water level very high on this side of the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee. There were scattered instances of fish trapped in shallow, stagnant water, he said, but the lakes were spared major fish kills.
Bass apparently are bunched up more than usual in “good water,” he said.
Louviere’s dream is about to be realized.
“When I started all the research, making all the phone calls, it was a long process to see where we could go with this. Mr. Jody has been a big help, pointing me in the right direction. And the number of people behind it is unbelievable, a lot of people,” he said.
DON SHOOPMANis outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.