Hey Coach, great read and I agree with the others you have a gift with words.
Like you, my fondest childhood memories hail from Empire taking refuge in a camp located on the east side of Bay Adams. Not really “refuge” as the location of the camp allowed for electricity and a big water tank out back that held rain water called a sin strum (sp) for bathing.
Although I fished those waters well into the 80”s my fondest memories are from the early 70’s probably due to the many first fisihing experiences in my life.
The camp was owned by a successful Gretna business man and a member of our church. We enjoyed week long summer vacations and many weekend fishing excursions any chance my dad could get a “fill in” as he was the minister of our church. Dad taught me how to ski in Bay Adams when I was seven yrs old and as I remember I wasn't a fast learner but dad mustered enough patients to get the job done.
Dad restored an old Aluminum V hull Starcraft powered by a 40 hp evinrude. “our invincible ship” called “Miss Tip”. Family joke was responsible for the name. We would even venture out the Grand Bayou pass into the G.O.M. to the nearest rig called the Green Monster a double plat formed producing well that held a variety of inshore fish. A "rig hook" an aluminum 1½” pipe shaped like a question mark would hang over the bow while the roped end was secured somehow to the transom. The aluminum question mark would be deployed around one of the rig’s cross bars and tied to our bow holding us while we fished. Dad, a Yankee from Mn armed with limited fishing gear, would remove the cork off our spinning combos and tether a snap on weight just above the double “shag rig” and send it down counting one Mississippi, two Mississippi till the bait hit the bottom. As I remember it took until 60 Mississippi to hit the bottom then start reeling slowly till the bite found our frozen shrimp. A lil math and my dad had the combination to how many Mississippi's to find the bite then had us all repeat after him. Usually didn’t take long to fill the box and by late morning we were heading back towards Grand Bayou pass.
In hind site, I would never repeat that venture in a 16 ft Star craft with 3 of my kids but dad was weather cautious and I never remembered the gulf being nothing but flat.
Once inside the pass we would hit a point on the west side of Bay Bastian. My dad would name this point "Tommy's point" after my brother but can't remember why. We would then head to Bayou Cook if our fish boxes needed topping as it was always a producer then found our way back across Bay Adams to “the camp.”
Someone mentioned empire launch where your boat was lowered in the water by straps. Back then, the launch operator was called “squeaky” by all his friends and customers due to his high pitched voice and seemed like he really enjoyed his job. I would never address him because I thought it would be rude coming from kid and never new his real name. Later in the 80’s the same business man built a new camp on Happy Jack canal so I never returned to the Empire camp nor launch.
Sometimes, I wonder what happened to squeaky, but maybe someone here can satisfy my curiosity.
Again, Thanks for the great story and a reminder from a time and place that will only exist in our memories.
Jimmy
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