Bayou Bienvenue Locks: How To Know If They’re Open Or Closed

How do you know if the Bayou Bienvenue locks are open or closed? Perhaps you want to cash in on the great speckled trout action in this area but, if the locks are closed, then you won't be able to get there.

In this guide, I'll show you exactly where the Bayou Bienvenue flood gates are and how to tell if they are open or not. This way your fishing trip goes smoothly and you don't have to worry about the nightmare of getting stuck behind a closed flood gate.

Where are the Bayou Bienvenue Locks?

The Bayou Bienvenue Flood Gate is located at 29°59'53.78"N 89°54'56.21"W. If you are launching from local marinas then you will need to pass through this flood gate in order to reach popular fishing hot spots such as the Great Wall of Chalmette.

What marinas are affected by the closure of the Bayou Bienvenue Locks?

If you are launching from Eddie Pinto's, Bait Inc, or Friendly Fisherman and plan on fishing outside of the levee, then you need to know if the Bayou Bienvenue flood gate will be open or closed, or closing during your fishing trip.

Why does this gate open and close at all? Why not just leave it open so we can all go fishing?

That's a really good question. The answer is that the Bayou Bienvenue Locks are part of a larger flood control system consisting of levees, flood walls and gates to allow marine traffic in and out.

Anytime there is an approaching tropical storm or hurricane, the gate will be closed. Sometimes all that's required is a strong wind from the south and/or east. That can be enough to raise water levels on Louisiana's coast, and that's enough to warrant closing the Bayou Bienvenue Flood Gate, to prevent businesses and homes along Paris Road and beyond from flooding.

After that, sometimes they close it in order to conduct maintenance, or allow vehicle traffic to pass over.

How To Know If The Bayou Bienvenue Flood Gate Is Open or Closed

You can call their phone number, get text alerts or visit their website:

Call This Phone Number

First off, you can get the daily update for the Flood Protection Gate Closure Status by calling 504-286-3140.

Upon doing so you will hear a recording that is updated daily, to include the day's date so you know it is current.

NOTE: The above phone number goes straight to the cabin at the Bayou Bienvenue locks and, when I called to verify that the phone number still works (I do update these guides from time to time) I did not get a voice recording but an actual person who is actually there. Sometimes the post is manned and, when it is, you will get a live person. If it's not, you will get a recording.

Get Text Messages

Secondly, you can text FLOODGATE to 333111 to receive SMS updates on flood gate closures. Standard rates and all that stuff applies.

Visit Their Website

Sometimes folks like to have this information faster! So, if you haven’t discovered it yet, then let me show you this easy way to know if the Bayou Bienvenue Locks are open:

The Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority provides this webpage that is very useful for determining gate closures not only for Bayou Bienvenue flood gate but also surrounding flood gates like Bayou Dupre and Seabrook.

They list closures and openings for the following structures:

• Seabrook Complex
• Bayou Bienvenue Lift Gate
• Bayou Bienvenue Flood Control Structure
• Bayou Dupre Sector Gate
• GIWW East Sector Gate
• Caernarvon Sector Gate

I keep this page bookmarked on my smartphone and laptop so the information is always accessible.

What’s really cool about this webpage is that they also list trends. For example, if the water is predicted to rise in the near future they will notate the gate may close as a result of it.

This makes fishing trip planning that much easier.

Where can I launch if I see that the Bayou Bienvenue Locks are closed?

Okay, so you're a savvy angler, you do your homework planning out your fishing trip and discover that the flood gates will be closed on Bayou Bienvenue. No problem.

You can launch from South Shore Marina at Chef Pass or New Orleans RV Resort near Seabrook.

What do you do if you get stuck outside the Bayou Bienvenue Flood Gate?

Let's imagine worst case scenario: you launched from Bait, Inc. in Chalmette to go fish Martello Castle. The "Bayou B Locks" were open and you had no problem getting out but, after a day of fishing, you return to recover your boat only to see that the flood gate is closed. What do you do?!

First thing you need to do is...

Chill out and learn what's going on. Don't panic. Call that phone number listed to see if the flood gate is manned or check the website linked above, because chances are they have the reason listed there. More often than not, it is temporarily closed for one reason or another and will be open again shortly.

Stay put, be patient, enjoy the fact you're on a boat and watch clouds go by. No big deal.

But what if the Bayou Bienvenue Locks are going to be closed for the rest of the day?

Select someone to eat, it's gonna be hard times. Just kidding.

You can consider making the run down to the Bayou Dupre Flood Gate (also known as the "Violet Locks") and then run the back levee canal back home to Bait, Inc.

You should probably check that that the Bayou Dupre Sector Gate is open before making that run, as it is about 16 miles total round trip back to inside of the Bayou Bienvenue Locks.

If it's closed, or if the wind is blowing so hard out of the southeast as to make the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) too rough to navigate, then you will need to run to South Shore Marina at Chef Pass — which is about a 10 mile run as depicted below — and get a ride back to your truck in Chalmette. Either call a friend or call a cab.

Bayou Bienvenue Flood Gate Lagniappe: It's Not A Lock

I figured it's worth mentioning here, but there are no locks in the entire flood protection system. It's a misnomer that Louisiana folk make, just like they misnamed largemouth bass (calling them "green trout") and bottle-nosed dolphins (calling them "porpoises"). There are no porpoises in Louisiana, there's no such thing as green trout, and there are no locks on Bayou Bienvenue.

Learn How To Navigate Anywhere Across Louisiana's Coast

I hope this guide got you pointed in the right direction and enabled you to have a helluva good time on the water! I know that I have been on many epic fishing trips launching inside the "Bayou Bienvenue Locks", and I hope that you do, too.

I'm able to catch a lot of speckled trout because I understand how to plan fishing trips based upon the conditions. Years of experience taught me how to avoid hazards to navigation and find where fish are biting. This and more is what I teach inside my flagship course, Inshore Fishing 101, and what we share with one another inside the exclusive LAFB Elite Community.

It's a complete standalone forum, no social media required!