Good luck and safe boating to everyone this holiday week and weekend, particularly those who fish the 71st annual Iberia Rod & Gun Club Saltwater Fishing Rodeo that starts Thursday, the Fourth of July.

Many of Acadiana’s saltwater fishermen have been planning for this saltwater fishing rodeo out of Quintana Canal Landing, Cypremort Point, for weeks. It begins at 12:01 July 4 and ends when the two digital scales close once and for all at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 6.

There have been beaucoup reports the past few weeks that speckled trout and redfish fishing success is fair to good in and around Vermilion Bay. For sure, those fish will be targeted by some of the most ardent and knowledgeable anglers in the Teche Area, which makes for great competition.

There will be a significant change for this fishing rodeo. The Redfish Category in the Inside Division was removed after new state regulations on minimum and maximum size limits, plus disallowing redfish more than 27 inches long in the daily creel limit, went into effect June 20.

Those measures effectively knocked out bringing bull reds to the weigh-in site under the pavilion along Quintana Canal that serves as fishing rodeo headquarters for the IR&GC Saltwater Fishing Rodeo. The “slot redfish” category should become even more popular in the Inside Division.

IR&GC fishing rodeo officials also announced the Offshore Division Junior Best All-Around Fisherman award has been eliminated for 2024.

Fishermen will compete in the Offshore Division (ticket price $55 per angler); Inside Division (ticket price $25 per anglers), and Junior Division ($5 per angler).

Scales will be open 3-6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday.

After the scales close each day, many visitors stay to enjoy the extracurricular activities under the pavilion, including the 3rd annual Acadiana Cornhole tournament that starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Live music is scheduled for Friday with tunes from Seasoned Soul, an Avery Island-based variety rock band, from 7-10 p.m. The lineup for Saturday features Erath’s Cliff Bernard, a solo acoustic artist and singer, from 1-3 p.m.; Swampland Revival, a five-piece Cajun and Swamp pop band out of Youngsville, from 4:30-6:30 p.m., and our own The Bad Boys from 7-10:30 p.m.

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Offshore fishermen, take notice.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced July 1 with a declaration of emergency to close the recreational red snapper season in state and federal waters off Louisiana from 11:59 p.m. July 7 until 12:01 a.m. July 12.

All is good, though, as the season is scheduled to reopen as a weekends-only (Friday-Saturday-Sunday) season, including Labor Day Monday, until 11:59 p.m. Sept. 2.

LDWF officials said the daily creel limit of four per person and size limits (16 inches minimum) will remain the same.

Why the change? LA Creel data indicate that red snapper harvest rates have been greater than anticipated, which prompted a modification in the season structure to usher in the second half of the season.

Louisiana’s private recreational red snapper harvest estimates as of June 16 were nearly half of the state’s quota for 2024. Sport fishermen caught 513,444 pounds, or 54.9 percent, of Louisiana’s 2024 annual private recreational allocation of 934,587 pounds from opening day on April 15.

“LDWF’s ability to actively manage red snapper allows us to quickly adjust the season to continue providing quality fishing opportunities to anglers throughout the summer,” Montegut said in the prepared statement. “The season modification shows the flexibility that state management provides Louisiana, something that all other Gulf states do not have the luxury of. By transitioning to weekends only, we expect to see red snapper season continued well into August and likely past Labor Day.”

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Remember to mark the date and attend the 3rd annual Every Fish Matters Conservation Banquet scheduled to be held July 25 at the Assumption Parish Community Center.

It’s your chance to contribute to one of the best hands-on volunteer conservation programs in the state, a project started two years ago by Cliff Crochet of Pierre Part. Crochet, known as “The Cajun Baby” during his career as a bass fishing pro, first with Bassmaster, then Major League Fishing, has held two previous banquets to raise money to buy F1 “Tiger bass” fingerlings, as well as native largemouth bass fingerlings, to stock with the public’s help in and around the Atchafalaya Basin.

His Every Fish Matters Foundation has been responsible for the release of more than 150,000 F1s and native largemouth bass in Spring 2023 and again in Spring 2024. Most of them were stocked on the east side of the Atchafalaya River in the Spillway and also in the Lake Verret area.

“The whole focus of the project is conservation and giving back to the resource. Our first goal is to get to 1 million,” Crochet said, happily, while being interviewed by WAFB-TV, Channel 9, at the latest stocking event May 11 out of Veterans Park-Assumption Parish District 2 in Pierre Part.

Banquet tickets for the third supper cost $50. Doors open at 5 p.m. and a live auction is scheduled for 8 p.m. LEO and EMS workers have free admission.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: If Acadiana residents want to stock those baby bass stocked in the western half of the Spillway, they need to support the cause, show up and be counted next Thursday.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.