Dad and CC went up today and began prepping the Home Site for the new building that will hopefully go up by the end of July. I'm heading over this weekend to help plant a few fields and move a couple of ladder stands. Will add additional pics when I get back. What good are friends if you can't rag on them, and them on you? Matt H.
has become the new posterchild of 3F with this quickly timed photo shoot he did. Nice sleeve roll and skull cap bro. Because you can't kill deer looking like a slob... #somuchcoolerthanthisdoe #iamamodel #youshouldseemybuck/doe Photo editing courtesy of Matt C. It's amazing to me how things stay the same. The drive down HWY 56 from Houma to Cocodrie looked no different than the dozens of times I've taken it prior to this one. It made no difference that 3 calendar years have passed by since my truck was last pointed south. I swear, life on the bayou is just a different speed. It was a pleasure to see an old neighbor at the bait shop Friday afternoon and catch up as well. It was almost like stepping back in time once we arrived in Terrebone Parish, as if the chapter in my life of South Louisiana had been paused since 2010. Oh, how I miss the bayou and it's sweet call of great times. I met Brian in Jackson at 11 on Friday morning and we headed south with his new boat in tow. The trip was very uneventful and we were right on schedule as we launched the boat at 4:00 at The Sportsman. Although the water was dingy (muddy actually) I still felt we could catch a few reds before dusk. We pulled into the first pond and on my second cast I had a trout hooked up. Brian followed my cast with one of his own to the same point, and immediately a red took his bait. We had picked up right where we left off , as if time had stood still. As we tried to troll around the point, Brian commented that the trolling motor was getting power, but not pulling. He unscrewed the prop and the pin had sheared off. So here we are, in the middle of the marsh at 4:30 on Friday afternoon with no trolling motor, and had just boxed two beautiful fish in the first 5 minutes of fishing. We decided we'd just push pole the boat around the marsh and worry about the trolling motor later on. Well, that plan lasted about 30 minutes and after not catching another fish, we decided to head in. Day one: Two fish, one broken trolling motor. Not a good start. We managed to find a repair shop in Chauvin and had the trolling motor back up and going within an hour. After dinner at The Sportsman, we unloaded all our gear into our room and tried to game plan for the next morning. The wind was supposed to be 10-15kts out of the West but there was going to be a short window early to get outside. We decided we'd check on the trout in Terrebone Bay if possible. We made it to our first rig just after sunrise to find clean, green water and Brian had a fish on after his third cast. I followed to the exact same spot and immediately hooked up as well. We boxed those fish, positioned the boat where we wanted it, dropped the anchor and went to work. What a blessing to hit pay dirt on your first stop. We caught trout, after trout, after trout. Even the porpoises moved in and we got to watch them for several minutes. They shut the bite down for a bit, but we eventually found the school again and got them going. We filled our 50 fish limit by 8:00, mostly on plastic, and headed north a short time later looking for reds. (Shameless plug for the VUDU shrimp here. Unbelievable durability and just a flat, trout catching machine. I'll admit that Brian put it to me Saturday morning using the VUDU) After two hours of hauling water trying to find the reds, we decided to head back to the room, clean fish and rest. We made another trip out after the reds Saturday afternoon, but they just weren't biting. The marsh was filthy and everyone we talked to struggled mightily to find any redfish. I believe we caught 4 or 5. We battled the wind and muddy water until about 6 and called it a day. We had an unbelievable dinner from a new place called "Tradewinds". As Brian said, that alone was worth the trip down. If you get a chance, try it out and get the Last Island Pasta. IT. IS. AWESOME. Sunday morning we woke to lightning all around and a constant 15-20kt wind out of the SW. We knew trout was out of the question so we went back to the marsh looking to salvage any kind of redfish bite we could. We boxed only two more in a couple hours fishing so we headed back in, barely missing a big thunderstorm, and loaded up for the long trip home. It was a great weekend, spent with one of the best friend's a man could ask for. I can't wait to get back down there and it was confirmed on this trip, the bayou still beckons for me, and I for her. I had hoped to be at the farm the past couple of weekends, but the river had other plans. So what's a guy to do when you can't work? Go fishing, of course! Brian and I are leaving tomorrow for a weekend trip to Cocodrie. It's been 3 years (hard to believe) since the last trip down. I'm sure the trip down HWY 56 will be filled with emotion, especially passing the old camp. I've included a few pictures of one of the last trips we made in 2010. Hopefully the reds and trout will cooperate. Whether they do or not, a weekend spent with Brian is always a great time. They don't come much better than ol' Gib. I hope to get to the farm by month's end to do some work and finally get some peas in the ground, freshen our mineral sites, and refill the feeders. Better late than never! |
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