LDWF and the Pointe Coupee Parish Police Jury have joined forces in a project to take another step toward revitalizing sportfishing on False River.
In November, the department dropped roughly 24 yards of gravel into the lake near New Roads, creating three nesting sportfish spawning bed areas. The parish agency donated the gravel.
Once in the water, the gravel dispersed and settled on the waterbottom, enhancing the spawning habitat for nesting gamefish such as largemouth bass, bream and sac-a-lait in those areas.
LDWF Biologist Manager Randy Myers said gravel provides a stable substrate for eggs to be deposited upon, decreasing the likelihood of eggs to sink into the substrate and increasing the ability for nests to receive oxygenated water.
“There is a consistent demand and desire by the public for habitat restoration activities to take place on False River, and this is one of the many ways to fulfill that demand,” Myers said.
Siltation caused by waterbody alterations that occurred primarily during the 1970s and 80s created a far less desirable nesting bed for the oxbow lake’s sportfish, making the project a necessity.
With the completion of this project, a total of ten artificial reef beds have been installed on the waterbody as part of the False River Restoration Plan. Drafted in 2013, the False River Restoration Plan draws from the expertise of many parish, state and federal agencies, including LDWF, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Health and Hospitals, the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, as well as other local stakeholders to address issues with the watershed.
“False River is historically a very important part of Pointe Coupee Parish and the state. This project is a restoration effort just to try to improve and enhance the fishery of False River and restore it to the lake that it has the potential to be,” LDWF Marine Fisheries Biologist Brian Heimann said.
