Henderson Control Structure off-limits to fishermen

The practice of cast-netting for bait fish from the Henderson Lake control structure – already prohibited – is going to get tougher.

St. Martin Parish Government, which owns and operates the structure designed to keep Henderson Lake a lake year-round, is going to build a new fisherman-proof fence around the facility.

Parish President Guy Cormier gave the Parish Council a heads-up at the council’s Public Works Committee meeting Nov. 19.

“This is not an attack on commercial fishing,” Cormier said. “They can fish in boats below the dam all they want. This is a matter of public safety.”

The gates, which rotate closed to hold back water upstream, are often awash and slippery.

“They’re not built to fish off of and the current there is horrendous,” Cormier said. “We have to protect ourselves from liability.”

Shad, which are good bait for crawfish and crabs, are plentiful in the roiling water below the structure this time of year.

Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agents and sheriff’s deputies have been citing people for trespassing when they’re found on the structure.

There’s a fence there now but part of it as succumbed to bank erosion and it’s easy to walk right onto the property.