“T-poles” subject of yo-yo rules

This spring, I received several emails and had at least a half dozen conversations with fishermen on the lake about the growing use of artificial “T-poles” for yo-yo’s out in the lake as it grows older and stumps continue to disappear below the water line. It seems that there are a couple of popular white perch fishing areas where you can hardly get your boat around in to fish because of the growing number of multi-yo yo poles and sticks attached to every available stump.

Apparently, a lot of people have been complaining about that to fisheries officials.

Thursday, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, during their monthly meeting, approved a notice of intent to modify regulations for the use of yo-yos and trotlines on Black Lake, Clear Lake, Prairie Lake, Caddo Lake, Chicot Lake, D’Arbonne Lake and Lake St. Joseph.  The proposed change will only apply to the waterbodies listed above and will address an ongoing problem.  The current rule only prohibits metal objects from being placed to anchor a yo-yo or trigger device.

The change would prohibit the placement of any artificial object to anchor a yo-yo or trigger device. 
 
To view the full notice of intent, you can visit: http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/document/36504-yo-yo-noi/yo-yo_noi_w_changes_indicated_4_4_13.pdf

When these rules become official, the LDWF will notify fishermen at these lakes.

The biggest change is that no yo-yo can be attached to any metal object AND no object which is driven into the lake bottom, a stump, tree or the shoreline shall be used to anchor a yo-yo or trigger device. That means no metal, cane, PVC, any type of material.

Besides this, the new rules, in a nutshell are the same as discussed a couple of months back and include limiting yo-yo’s to 50 per person with the requirement for listing name, address and phone number of the user. The new rules state that the device has to be checked every 24 hours and removed when not in use. There are also new restrictions for trotlines as well.

These rules do not apply when attached to private property, such as a private pier, dock or boathouse. Interested persons may submit written comments relative to the proposed rule by June 1, 2013, to Mike Wood, Office of Fisheries, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000 or via email at mwood@wlf.la.gov.