Mississippi River flooding offers fishing bounty for some

By The Associated Press | The Natchez Democrat

Published Saturday, May 3, 2008

VICKSBURG (AP) — The Mississippi River is fickle, giving to some while taking from others.

Rising waters have created a bonanza for fishermen in areas of the Mississippi Delta, who have taken tons of catfish and other tasty river fish from submerged fields in the flood zone. And they could still see a crawfish migration of Biblical proportions like the one in 1973 as waters recede and pioneering mudbugs frantically return to the river channels they normally call home.

"All the ditches were full of crawfish," said Warren County Extension Agent John Coccaro, who was a 12-year-old during the last big backwater flood. "It wasn't long before people abandoned coolers and started filling up pickup beds."

Vicksburg resident Brad Bradway remembers crawfish, or crayfish, so big they looked like little lobsters. Traffic backed up on U.S. Highway 61 in the Delta as thousands of the critters crossed the road en masse on their way home.

"You could hear them crunching under your tires," he said.

While it remains to be seen if the crawfish will make an appearance as floodwaters slowly recede this time, many fishermen along the Mississippi River have already enjoyed a fishing bonanza.

Lifelong Vicksburg resident Danny Paul Sanderford, a part-time commercial fisherman forced from his house by the flood, said the easy availability of fish has brought even the laziest fishermen out.

"When the fish is plentiful, people's plentiful," he said. "And when they get hard to catch, the people disappear."

There are so many pounds of fresh, native catfish, buffalo and gar available, Judy's Fish Market can't take them all, employee Carol Lehmann said. Blue catfish that would normally be bought for 75 cents a pound is being turned away.

Part-time commercial fishermen have been spotted in flooded areas with boats carrying fish piled to the top of the transom. Those who haven't been selling to fish markets have targeted residents and tourists in town to see the flooded Mississippi, which was about 7 feet above flood stage in the Vicksburg and Natchez areas but is now slowly receding.

"When it floods it makes it easier for everybody to fish," Sanderford said. "It's more of an experience thing if you're fishing the main channels" of the river.

Sanderford has been running a trot line in a friend's former wheat field. The blue cats, which feed on live prey, have been following the current into new territory and were easy pickings for those with the time to take advantage.

For a while, it felt like old times for Sanderford. He used to make a living catching catfish and selling his catch to processors that were forced out of business by farmed fish from overseas.

"The expense of the gas, the boat motors, the tackle — I wouldn't suggest anybody to put a lot of money into it," Sanderford said.

That's a sentiment shared by many who fish Gulf of Mexico waters swamped just two years ago by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The influx of freshwater into the Gulf affects the entire aquascape, but is especially worrisome in the Mississippi Sound where hurricane damage nearly wiped out commercial oyster fishing.

Of particular concern is the more than $7 million in restoration of oyster beds wiped out in 2005. Officials have been trying to rebuild the $70 million Mississippi oyster industry and the first significant harvest since Katrina is expected this year.

Officials have taken steps to make sure what is there won't be lost to another natural disaster.

"Normally we would've had (oystering) closed, but due to the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway and risking the possibility of losing everything, we wanted to be able to utilize the resource instead of letting it go to waste," said Scott Gordon, shellfish bureau director for the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.

Mississippi River freshwater diverted through the Bonnet Carre comes through the western shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain and eventually empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

Gordon is "cautiously optimistic" the overflow from the river won't harm new oyster growth.

A similar flood in 1997 killed a small percentage of oysters. But there are fewer spillway gates open this year even though the flood is much larger, giving oystermen hope.

"That is a big issue," said Keath Ladner, president of Gulfshores Sea Products. "That oyster can't get up and travel like the shrimp can."

Those traveling shrimp also could be affected by the freshwater. Shrimpers had a poor brown shrimp harvest in the spring of 1997 when that species moved out to deeper water. But when fall rolled around, freshwater-loving white shrimp moved in closer to shore.

"Sometimes there's a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel," Ladner said.