Growing Up and Fishing the
Atchafalaya River Basin
I grew up fishing for catfish in the Atchafalaya River and for bass
in the bayous of the Atchafalaya Basin.
Typical Atachafalaya Basin scene
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There is nothing more peaceful than fishing for catfish
in the early morning on a sandbar on the banks of the Atchafalaya
River. The smell of the early morning river air is so very fresh
and relaxing.
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Atchafalaya River
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Bayou Courtableau
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Just as soothing is quietly paddling down Bayou Courtableau in a pirogue,
wetting a line as you go along. Many a Saturday my whole family would
go fishing bream and have a fish fry that night. |
During the summer, my boyhood friends and I fished catfish in the river
with rod and reel, fished catfish in the bar pits with crosslines, trapped
turtles (snappers) in the bayous, and hunted bull frogs at night.
We'd fry catfish and frog legs on Friday nights. Several of those
boyhood friends still fish the river and bayous for a living. Gosh,
I had a great childhood. |
Training the Next Generations
My son David and my grandkids started fishing with me at a very early
age. I have fond memories of my very first fishing trip with each,
which are pictured below.
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THE DAY A
SON BECAME A "FISHERMAN"
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It's August 11, 1985, David (he actually was
called Loy back then) caught a fine stringer of bream on his first fishing
trip.
Looks like Dad was a little thinner and had
a full head of red hair in those days. |
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THE DAY A
GRANDSON BECAME A "FISHERMAN"
It's the week of June 11, 2001,
and this is when Ryan became a fisherman by
hanging out with Grandpa.
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Ryan caught a stringer of bream on his
first day of fishing.
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Ryan also caught a big old mud cat,
and boy did it fight!
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THE DAY A
GRANDDAUGHTER BECAME A "FISHERMAN"
Katie much prefers to have a "tea party" with
her Nana, but every now and then she will "fish" with Grandpa (at least
for a little while).
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It's the summer of 2002; and believe it or
not, Katie's first fish was a 1 1/2 lb bass she caught on a night crawler
while trying to catch a perch. She figured that was enough fishing
for one day and went back inside to have tea with Nana. |
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Bass Fishing on Nantucket
Lake
We now live on a small lake in a rural subdivision in the College Station,
TX area. When my son was living at home, we fished all the time.
We made most fishing trips contest, and I must admit my son out fished
me on a regular basis. Probably our most memorable fishing experience
was when I caught a 6.5 pound large mouth bass and David caught a 7 pound
large mouth bass on the same morning. We practice catch and release,
except for those two big bass that are hanging on my game room wall.
Then David discovered girls, went to college and became occupied with other
things, but don't worry because my grandson Ryan likes fishing with his
Grandpa. Below is a nice bass I caught of my boat dock. |
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This native large mouth grandma was 25
1/2 inches long, but only 6.5 pounds.
I caught it on my favorite bait - a rainbow
Slug-Go.
This big old bass reminds me a lot of myself
- big head, no butt!
And yes, I practiced catch and release.
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Tracking Bass in Nantucket
Lake
We weigh and measure the length of virtually all the bass we catch.
Below is a graph that shows the relationship between weight and length.
We still have not caught the "big one". We seldom fished in the spring
when the fish we spawning, so these weights represent fish without eggs.
These are all "native" large mouth bass.
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