I have heard of people that used dynamite for the same thing.
Funny story - When I was about 12 or 13 ('65 or '66) I was boat riding with my old man, and we were taking Little Chenblanc (sp?) from Diversion to the Amite. We came around a curve pretty fast, and there was a boat in the middle of the canal. We saw a big splash, and when we got to them, there were lots of fish in the boat and a few floating on the water. They said that they thought we were the fish cops and had just dumped a welding machine over the side. They were pretty pissed. My old man was LEO and a big man, and he always carried his 1911 on his side whether on duty or not, and he just laughed and we took off.