PIERRE PART — Thanks to Pierre Part outdoorsman, pro bass angler and family man Cliff “The Cajun Baby” Crochet, the big picture for the future of his favorite sport looks, well, looks really, really fishy.

Crochet believes bass fishing trips have generated so many memories for generations, particularly in this part of Acadiana. It’s his responsibility to ensure even more, he said, by giving the resource a nudge in the right direction via his Every Fish Matters Foundation.

Consider that dozens of young boys and girls who took part in the latest fishing stocking event May 11 will grow up with the 82,000 baby largemouth bass and you understand why Crochet and his wife, Sara Theriot Crochet, urged youngsters to participate in the event held at Veterans Park-Assumption Parish Recreation District #2.

It’s about the future, about growing the resource, about conservation, Crochet said that morning. The Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour veteran was beaming ear to ear from 5 a.m. until the last fingerling left the park between 10-11 a.m.

“It’s good to see the end result after a lot of work. You see a lot of families. You see a lot of people outdoors,” he said near the end of the event.

The “work” started last July during the 2nd annual Every Fish Matters Conservation Banquet at the Assumption Parish Community Center in Napoleonville, a fundraiser that took in an estimated $79,000. Crochet said he saw many of the people who attended that fundraiser drive in that morning to pick up fingerling bass in bags with treated water and pure oxygen.

“That’s the plan. That’s why we do the banquet first. They can physically touch and take part in conservation,” he said.

Crochet worked the crowd in 99 vehicles and tow vehicles with boats of all kinds and sizes that picked up the fingerlings to stock in and around Lake Verret and the Atchafalaya Basin.

“We had people here at 4:30. We probably had 15-20 boats here just waiting on us. It was awesome,” Ronnie Legleu of Pierre Part said.

Legleu was busy keeping the wheels turning smoothly as one of the dedicated volunteers.

Sara Crochet said other volunteers included Trudy Crochet, Ragan Theriot, Ren and Kristen Guillot, Penny Templet and Eric Pipsair, plus two of the Crochets’ four sons, Ben Crochet and Lee Crochet.

It was more than a family and friends affair. It’s all about the local community, the Every Fish Matters founder emphasized, as well as the fishing community, everyone coming together to enhance the resource.

How enhanced is the resource? After three fish stocking events (two were held last year) there are more than 150,000 F1 and native largemouth bass fingerlings finding a new home in, around the Atchafalaya Basin.

“This is a real big event in our community. There are a lot of volunteers working hard for conservation,” Crochet said during an interview with a local videographer.

Later, while being videoed and interviewed by WAFB-TV, Channel 9, in Baton Rouge, Crochet said, “The whole focus of the project is conservation and giving back to the resource.

“Our first goal is to get to 1 million,” he said on camera, then to set their sights on 2 million, he added.

There are few publicly driven fish stocking events like Every Fish Matters, according to the Alabama hatchery’s owner, Shawn McNulty of Auburn, Ala.

McNulty has owned the hatchery 12 years. It has been around since 1985. The hatchery’s delivery destinations encompass the Southeast and elsewhere.

“Anywhere they say, ‘Y’all,’ we take fish,” he said with a chuckle, noting that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and Oklahoma.

In 2024, American Sport Fish Hatchery will stock 1.2 million fish in public waters, he said, including Louisiana’s Lake Claiborne with F1s and Florida bass in Toledo Bend.

“I will say I work with LDWF on a lot of different projects and I can honestly say out of all the states I work with they’re the best. They’re willing to help these local guys with a lot of things …,” McNulty said.

It has been a pleasure to work with the personable Crochet, he said.

“He’s excited about the conservation aspect AND just getting kids excited about bass fishing,” he said.

McNulty, 44, left Pike Road, Alabama, at 7 p.m. May 10 and drove the hatchery truck with the special tanks built into it straight through to Pierre Part, arriving at 5 a.m. Crochet, his volunteers and LDWF biologists were waiting for him when he got to Veterans Park.

The hatchery’s owner said each of the truck’s six oxygenated tanks holds 115 gallons of water and each was filled with native largemouth bass fingerlings. Once the crew got busy bagging the fingerlings, the hatchery owner transferred fish from three tanks on the passenger side to the tanks nearest the state biologists and volunteers.

Three hundred to 500 fish were in each specially prepared bag, he said.

Kristi Butler, LDWF biologist director, oversaw the loading and bagging process of the fingerlings. Other LDWF personnel on hand were Mitch Hoffpauir, District 9 inland fisheries biologist supervisor; Manuel Ruiz Baton Rouge, biologist, and Ranger Romero, District 9 inland biologist.

Butler, who also worked the event April 15, 2023, said the water is treated with a mineral mix that helps reduce stress in fish. The light blue/green dye visible in the bags being used show the water has been treated.

Pure oxygen is pumped into each large, clear plastic bag before it is sealed, she said, because otherwise so many fish in a small amount of water would suffocate. The water absorbs the pure oxygen to keep the baby bass finnin’ around.

The fingerlings delivered that morning more than likely were approximately 1 month old, Butler said, and 30 to 35 millimeters long.

How fast will they grow?

“Depending on the food available in the habitat, they might reach 3 to 4 inches in the fall. If they’ve got plenty of food, maybe even 6,” she said.

By July 25, 2025, the date of the next Every Fish Matters Conservation Banquet, those bass could reach or possibly exceed 12 inches, giving those and other boys and girls some fish-catching moments to cherish.