A Louisiana Fishing Trip - A Short Story...

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Some years ago, while working on a construction project here in Houston, I had the privilege of working with a fellow from Florida who we’ll call Bill, because… well, that was his name. Bill was an avid outdoorsman, and through various conversations Bill discovered I had spent much time working in, and around southwestern Louisiana. Having heard tales of the great bass fishing there, Bill asked me about it. I had to admit I really had not had the pleasure of doing a lot of fishing there but that I knew a guy who could probably tell us where to go.


We looked up my old friend, who happened to be on our same project, and whose home is south of Sulfur Louisiana. My friend (Wayne) told us we would need a boat with no more than three-horse power. Bill said no problem, and that his boat was a jon boat with 3 h.p. motor for use in the everglades. Wayne said, “Perfect”. Our destination was a man-made bass fishing haven, stocked and maintained by Louisiana Fish and Game, deep in the heart of the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge.


I met Bill at his home in Houston at 3:00 a.m. on the following Saturday morning. Bill was loaded and ready to roll and we wasted no time following Wayne’s directions. Arriving at Wayne’s house, south of Sulfur, around 5:00 a.m. we continued south eight miles and watched for a small canal, no more then ten feet wide. Finding the canal, we put the boat in and headed west. We were to travel quite some distance, maybe two miles, until we came to a fork in the canal. At the fork, we kept to the right and continued another mile or so to the next fork, identified by and old clapboard game shack, here in the middle of nowhere.


Again, taking the right fork, we followed it another mile or so until it took a man-made, sharp right as it traveled now due north along the earthen dam of the lake. Another quarter mile and we found the rollers for pulling the boat up and over the fifteen-foot high dam. Just like Wayne had said we would.


It was now around 6:30 a.m. and the sun was just rising on a gorgeous mid spring morning, a day that would never be forgotten. Our timing was perfect, two and one half-hours by car, one hour by boat, and we were in the middle of Louisiana Bass Heaven at prime fishing time. We climbed the earthen dam to gaze upon the magnificence of this wonderful place, and they had drained the lake.


We now gazed upon a twenty-foot wide mud hole with one lone alligator about three feet long, looking at us in anticipation of something to eat. I had heard of draining the swamp before, but this was the first time I had ever actually seen it.

Gridleak

 

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