By DON DUBUC

Each year Wagner Oil Company treats its employees to an offshore fishing trip.

Michael Ledet was aboard the August 27, 2001 outing when he caught the first fish of the day. It was a 10.20 pound yellowtail snapper.

Although the smallest fish caught all day, it turned out to be the biggest catch of the year. Ledet, a Houma resident not only smashed the Louisiana State Record for that species but also set a new IGFA World Record.

He was recently honored with the Fish of the Year Award for 2001 at the Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association conference in Lake Charles. The group presents the award annually to the angler making the most outstanding catch during the year.

Ledet was part of the crew aboard Captain Dale Scott’s charterboat M/V Halter out of Cocodrie at Block 295 in the Gulf of Mexico at Eugene Island when he boated the winning fish using a pogey as bait.

“We were catching lemonfish, amberjack, groupers and a variety of snappers and at first I thought it was a red snapper,” Ledet said. “Luckily our captain knew this fish was special and helped me get through the procedures to apply for a state and world records.”

L.O.W.A. is a non-profit, professional organization of outdoor writers, editors, broadcasters and other communicators and maintains the official state freshwater, saltwater and fly fishing records.

Duck calling

contest held

With a smooth, consistent performance through three heats of the competition, Rod Haydel of Bossier City eased away from an outstanding field of callers last week to win the 2002 State Duck Calling Championship. The Senior Duck Calling Competition was the premier event at the Louisiana Wildlife Federation’s 34th Annual State Duck and Goose Calling Contest held at the Waddill Wildlife Refuge and Outdoor Education Center of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries near Baton Rouge.

The contest is conducted by the Baton Rouge Sportsmen’s League, a federation affiliate.

Haydel who last year had to settle for second place when an errant squeal in his final callback routine left him a mere two points behind the winner especially welcomed the victory.

“This time, Rod got that little squeal out of his call during the warm-up and was able to hold on to the lead through the second callback,” said LWF executive director Randy Lanctot, who emceed the contest.

Haydel is eligible to represent Louisiana Nov. 29-30 in the World Duck Calling Championship competition in Stuttgart, Ark. In the intermediate (14-16 years of age) duck calling division, Rene Dandry of Metairie edged out Bobby Jorden of Lafayette to take the championship and qualify for a return trip to the national championships.

The intermediate competition proved to be a little tougher for Jorden who last year went on to place second in the junior duck calling competition in Stuttgart after winning his second straight state junior championship.

Duck hunters

to get HIP

With waterfowl seasons fast approaching, the LDWF is reminding hunters of migratory game birds that they are required to be HIP certified in addition to having their basic hunting licenses and state and federal duck stamps.

The Harvest Information Program (HIP) Certification is required of all licensed hunters who hunt migratory bird (ducks, geese, coots doves, rails, gallinules, snipe, and woodcock), including lifetime license holders.

This is a Federal requirement and must be completed each year and in each state where the hunter may hunt.

This program is designed to help develop better harvest estimates. Hunters will be asked how many of each species they bagged last season to allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to better identify persons for sampling of a specific species such as woodcock.

All migratory bird hunters will not receive the federal harvest surveys. The hunters to be sampled will be randomly chosen by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from the list of certified hunters.

The HIP Certification can be done at any local license vendor location, at no cost to the customer. It may also be obtained by phone or over the Internet if the customer is purchasing licenses at the same time.

Hunters who are exempt from having a license are equally encouraged to certify.

DON DUBUC is the outdoors reporter for L’Observateur.