SaltyCajun.com - scouts invade Empire

Troop 12 from Baton Rouge invaded Empire again this week. This is the second time they have done this and we were talking about making it an annual thing. They arrived after dark and quickly set up camp.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53349-001.JPG

I was surprised at the calm and efficient way they all went about thier task. Each of them paired up, picked a spot in the yard, and the camp was almost instantly there. In the morning I made coffee and ventured out in the yard. Some of the adults were just getting up and not long after the young ones started crawling out of the tents. In short order all 27 of them were scrambling about like ants.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53351-004.JPG

The adults set up the breakfast area and the first crisis arises. No milk for cereal! They forgot the milk. After what seemed like 20 minutes trying figure out what to do one of the kids opens up a cooler full of milk jugs.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53352-006.JPG

My house was never used. They even had the important things taken care of.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53353-008.JPG

I have a stump to burn so that was the weekend fire pitt or in this case mound. The fire was still burning but only a few went to visit it. They were here to go fishing.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53354-003.JPG

Capt John took 21 of them on the Cougar and I put the other 6 on my boat. With all these hooks in the water and the way the red snapper have been the expectations were high. The forecast was for things to deteriorate as the day went on. I went out of state waters hoping to put an amberjack or 2 in the boat before going inside for snapper. As soon as we got to the rig I new things were not right. The current was rushing and the water was not the color I was hoping for. I jigged down and hooked up but before I could hand the rod to one of the kids it threw the hook. Next hookup one of them gets to fight a fish.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53355-013.JPG

Unfortunately it is only a shark. We went to 2 other rigs close by. After a few more trys and another shark we join the cougar. In this picture the boat is tied up to a rig so that shows you the type of conditions we were up against in the morning and it just got worse.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53356-014.JPG

He was not doing well at all. Both of our boats were working the area with little to show for our efforts. I moved to another area and found a few redfish. A salvation but not what we came out for.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53357-021.JPG

The winds, current, and seas made it almost impossable to fish where we wanted to. We were forced to duck around the back side of the pass for some protection. The highlite of the day was a nice tripple tail one of the kids caught. He had no idea what he caught and thought he had a black drum. I don't think till he gets it home and eats it will he realise how good of a fish he caught.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53360-022.JPG

About 2:30 we put our tails between our legs and headed to the barn with our dismal catch. I put them up for a photo at my cleaning station and then dressed them out.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53361-025.JPG

With a forecast of bad weather for the night a decision was made to break up camp and head back to the city so they would not have extra work drying out the camping gear. As quickly and quietly as they set up all was packed away and they were ready to go about the time it took me to clean and pack the fish. My guests were gone.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53362-012.JPG

Darn good they went when they did because we had 3.7 inches of rain between midnight and 10 this morning. Here is a picture of the camp site about 11:00 today.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53363-029.JPG

The only guests today were---

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-53365-028.JPG

Pumps are on and most should be gone by this evening.

Life is Good!

Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM