The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

You ever watch that movie with Clint Eastwood in it called “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”. That kinda reminds me of the trip I made with Shuorc to Toledo Bend Louisiana this past weekend. The good, was the people and the food, the bad was the fishing, and the ugly was the weather.


The Good


Louisiana crappie.com members are some of the friendliest people you would ever meet. They make you feel right at home and relaxed. I absolutely love that accent. The first time I listened to Paw Paw “Gene” talking to Deacon I just loved it. I know there are a lot of dialects and accents there in Louisiana so I’m not even going to pretend I know which they were speaking in. All I know is is was cool.


Speaking of friendly. Bruce and his lovely wife Didi.



I love spicy food to begin with, and this Louisiana eatin was as good as it gets. I'm bettin they took it easy on me cause honestly I coulda handled it much hotter.


Bruce told me he was off on the amounts in his recipe a bit, but I certainly could not tell. The Jambalaya was great. I can't wait to make it on my own using some home made Sausage Shadow gave me and the package of Jambalaya mix that was in my goodie bag. Thank you everyone. The hot sauces in that goodie bag will not go to waste, I guarantee.


Friday we had Crayfish Etoufee. Saturday was the Shrimp. Both were awesome.



Mmmm goood. That's some fried gator there at the top.


Shuorc eyeballing desert!






Here's Danny (dpisani) showing off his signed Billbob koozie.


The Bad

Danny was gracious enough to take Shu and myself out fishing. We pulled up to a nice hole he had caught good fish in before. We did not know how it was going to be especially with the cold front that just came through, but we were certainly going to give it a try. Within a few minutes I caught me a crappie. “G” and Deacon were fishing nearby and I held it up proud, showing off our first crappie. Little did I know it would be our last for that day. We ended up catching some Catfish and Yellow Bass (Bar fish as they call them there) but no more crappie.



24 degrees that morning! These are not fishermen, they are fishernuts!


"G" can't wait to get going, brrrr.


Speaking of Brrr, Don't Shu look cold.


Here's the only Crappie caught that day on our boat. My Limit, everywhere I go. At least I'm consistent.


Take a look at the Blue Heron with a minnow in his mouth I caught this picture of as it flew by. Too bad I did not capture it one foot more to the left!



The Ugly



We arrived at our destination in Louisiana 13 hours after leaving Florida. When we got there we shoulda known. The last 2 hours of the drive it rained, and the last half hour it snowed. We met everyone at a Mexican Restaurant called “Elgiro” in Many Louisiana and had a great meal. When we left the restaurant there was an inch of snow on the car, and that was just the beginning. We received two or three more inches over night. It was cold and ugly, we chose not to fish Friday morning.



We thought Saturday would be a better day for fishing, and we were kinda right! I say kinda cause it might not have been snowing, but it was cold. 24 degrees flying across a lake really gets to your bones. Shu said it was the coldest he’s ever been running down the channel in Danny’s boat that morning. But Shu is a real trooper. We asked him repeatedly if he wanted to call it a day, but he persevered, and wanted to stay and catch fish.




Shadow and daughter wondering what the heck this white stuff falling from the sky is.



Speaking of Ugly - Just kidding with you Billbob, you know we love you. We love you so much we made you Guber of the year:


Billbob was supposed to have traveled with "G" to Louisiana but due to unforeseen circumstances, he could not make it. We were going to surprise him by presenting the Crappie.com "Man Of The Year" award to him. We made the announcement there on Friday, the same day the package with the Trophy arrived at his house in Indiana. We surprised him anyway. Believe me though Billbob, you were there in spirit.

Billbob so deserves this award. He has gone to more Crappie.com camps and events than anyone on the site, even me! He supports the site and it's members in everything he does. Read members comments here in the formal announcement that took place this week: http://www.crappie.com/crappie/showt...50#post2560250


Congrats Billbob.


Sorry if there’s some items missing from you goodie package when you get it , but honest it’s not my fault. It the fault of those folks down there in Louisiana because they make such good stuff that I just could not resist.