Spanish Lake’s future in the hands of LDWF following meeting with Tate

Published 10:45 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025

If the Spanish Lake Game and Fishing Reserve Commission and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries can duplicate success the LDWF had at remaking Bussey Brake Reservoir, Spanish Lake will be a bona fide fishing and outdoor recreational destination again.
That’s a big IF considering the wildly up-and-down, mostly down of late, history of the 1,240-acre lake in Iberia and St. Martin parishes. It was once a shallow, swampy oxbow lake eventually turned into a reservoir when a levee was built in 1958.

An 80-year-old Iberia Parish resident who realizes the monumental challenges ahead has started the wheels in motion to improve Spanish Lake. David Tate, former commission chairman now serving as secretary of the lake’s guiding body, recently met with LDWF officials to discuss the lake that borders Louisiana 182 in Iberia Parish.

Tate, who lives on the north side of the lake, joined the Spanish Lake Commission in 2012 at the urging of the late Greta Green, who died June 21, 2020. He  came away from the July 21 meeting upbeat and optimistic after hearing from Patrick Banks, past Assistant Secretary of Fisheries; Ranie Harlan, Inland Fisheries program manager; Kristi Butler, Inland Fisheries biologist director, and Brad Launey, DIstrict 6 biologist manager. Also on hand was Ryan Montegut, LDWF Assistant Secretary of Fisheries who grew up around Spanish Lake.
“I think the meeting was a big success, you know,” Tate said, noting the objectives were to see if LDWF could create a feasible plan to rehabilitate the lake, can they do it and how will they do it.

Banks said at the end of the meeting the state agency will formulate a bulleted plan within the next few months and pass it on to the Spanish Lake Commission, according to Tate.

“We’re going to kind of model the restoration after Bussey Brake Reservoir. That was a great success for Wildlife & Fisheries,” Tate said. “Ranie was one of the architects of the recovery, writing the plan for that lake.

“Anyway, I’m very encouraged by this. I’m also encouraged by the interest and enthusiasm by the commission and Wildlife & Fisheries. They looked really all in on this, like, OK, let’s reclaim this resource.”

All involved are aware the chief culprit in the decline of the lake’s fishery is a bottom unsuitable for spawning, particularly for bass. Other factors are low oxygen levels, plus a lack of natural habitat and structure.

Bussey Brake Reservoir exhibited those same characteristics, as well as an overpopulation of trash fish. Fishing success plummeted after decades of top-notch fishing for bass, crappie and bream in the 2,200-acre lake in Morehouse Parish.

Like Spanish Lake, Bussey Brake Reservoir was built in the 1950s, an emergency water supply for International Paper Co., completely surrounded by a manmade rock-lined levee. LDWF managed the lake’s fishery during its heyday before age and nature took over.

LDWF acquired the lake in 2013 after the mill closed in 2010. The state agency closed it in 2012 to start an extensive restoration project and, after the work was finished, reopened the lake to much fanfare and many a fisherman’s delight in July 2020. There was a long line of tow vehicles and boats starting around 3 a.m. waiting for the gates to open at 6 a.m. to get to the brand new ramp at Bussey Brake Reservoir.

The renovation involved draining the lake and removing the existing fish population. While the lake was low, fresh vegetation grew on the exposed land that eventually was flooded.

LDWF was awarded the American Fisheries Society’s 2021 Sport Fish Restoration Outstanding Project award in the category of Sport Fishery Development and Management. Its Inland Fisheries Project was titled, “Restoration of Bussey Brake Reservoir in Northeast Louisiana.”

The similarities of the two lakes aren’t lost on Tate, who lists removal of 17 feet of sediment buildup as the main starting point at Spanish Lake.

“The bottom sediment has to be removed. The lake is slowly filling up and when the lake was made back in the ’50s, it was a shallow lake to begin with, and it’s filled with up to 17 feet of sediment,” he said in a KLFY.com story posted on its website July 21.

Historical marker at Spanish Lake.
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Another worrisome issue is the 20,000-plus foot long levee overseen by the state Department of Transportation and Development. While discussing the recent meeting, Tate noted DOTD has reported the levee isn’t in compliance and cited 8 to 10 bullet points.

The commission secretary said knee-deep water overflowed the southeast stretch of the levee during local flooding in 2016.

There have been beaucoup measures implemented since the mid-1970s to improve the fishery at Spanish Lake. Mostly, it has been stocked and restocked with bass, catfish, white crappie, hybrid striped bass, etc., to no appreciable avail.

The lake was drained in the mid-1990s in an effort to firm up the silt-laden, mucky bottom. Three bird’s-foot levees also were built near the northwest corner to reduce wave action eroding the ring levee.

Launey, the fisheries biologist who attended the recent meeting, was in his first year as District 6 biologist manager when the lake was stocked with nearly 6,000 Phase II Florida bass averaging 8 inches long during a three-month long period ending in January 2023.

He was encouraged by electrofishing samples conducted at the lake in 2019 and 2021. None were taken in 2020 because of coronavirus-related restrictions.

Tate, who has a PHD in ichthyology from LSU (with a minor in fishery science) and studied lake and pond management at the University of Tennessee, said COVID interrupted a 5-year pilot program for stocking the lake and fragmented the Spanish Lake Game and Fishing Preserve Commission, which dwindled.

This past spring, however, a full commission has been appointed. Pat Huckaby succeeded him as chairman.

“I have to tell you, we have a really top-notch group of people on this commission,” said Tate, who also taught seventh-graders for several years at Episcopal School of Acadiana. “We’ve met with the parish (Iberia Parish). Larry (Iberia Parish president Larry Richard) is very interested in seeing things done at the lake. I think the (Iberia) Parish Council is, too. We’re getting a lot of cooperation from Larry Richard and Marcus Broussard on the council. He’s a representative of District 3, which includes Spanish Lake. He has been very interested in what’s going on here.”

The ball is in the LDWF’s court. Tate, other commissioners and elected officials are waiting to swing into action that hopefully mirrors the success of Bussey Brake Reservoir.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.