Fishing Old River

[bigoledude]

I can give you a report from my last trip there. You will not see another boat on the water. The perch will be insane plentiful. The view at daybreak with that lite fog/haze on the water, with the giant cypress trees as a backdrop, is one of the most beautiful scenes on the planet. Fish for the pa ta sa amongst the millions of cypress knees. This report might be a little old by now. My last trip there was probably around 1965.

Used to fish the Old River near Bordelonville when I was a kid. There was no road to the water. We would ride my grandfather's pristine, immaculate '51 Chevy pickup through the woods to get to the water. If the weather had been rainy prior to going, my grandfather would pay this farmer to follow us with his tractor and, he'd make arrangements for him to return at a prearranged time to come get us. In all of our years of fishing there, we ran into maybe 10-15 other fishermen TOTAL.

Never chased "green trout" back then. Strictly bream.

About 30 years ago, my uncle told me, right where we used to slide the homemade plywood bateaux in, there was a concrete parking lot that would accommodate several hundred vehicles! And, that bass boats run 80mph all over the place. That news tore my heart wide open! That was an unspoiled paradise. I don't think I ever saw more than a mile in each direction of where we put-in. We paddled everywhere we went.

It was like a park under the canopy of those giant hardwoods. We'd actually have family reunions in the woods. Frying our catch right on the shore. And, of course, every aunt would have her "special dish" to add to the feast. Seems like
a thousand years ago.

Please forgive an old man for the pleasure of remembering some fabulous times.

Anyone know how to correctly spell the Cajun word for perch "Pa ta sa".