While I was living in New Orleans, on a visit by my father-in-law, Ike Walker, who was a partner in Bomber Bait Co, decided to go fishing. For some reason we chose not to go to the usual spots but decided to go west from the west bank of the Mississippi River to the swamps that we had never fished before.

The area we chose had just had a drilling rig moved into the swampy area and had to be hauled in on barges and pulled by tugboats. It opened an entire new entrance to the swamps and that allowed us access to small lakes and bayous that we hoped would be holding a lot of fish. There was a lot of debris as the tugboats had disrupted the vegetation and cut new pathways into the wilderness that until then had been closed to any fishing.

While navigating wasn’t too difficult, we did have to pay close attention to how far and where we had made turns because it is easy to get lost in such a wilderness. We were able to catch some small bass, but no red fish. We had hoped there would have been reds there as well. All we found were black bass and gaspergeau.

Finally at the dead end of one small lake was floating the body of a large alligator, which I guessed to be around eight feet long. There was no clue as to what caused hits demise, but possibly been shot by the drilling crew, or in a fight with another gator. You just never know what to expect when you venture into the swamps of Louisiana. It was fun exploring if you pay careful attention to where you are and how to get back home. Just Sayin…RJS