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Sat. 11/12/2022 - LA West Zone Opener
Delacroix
My son and I w/ Johnny and Harry
Ahead of front, grrrrr: dead calm, hot/70 deg, muggy, pt cloudy to eventually going to north at 10 mph with heavy clouds when we were heading in


Heralded front is now through but this morning was anything but what I'd hoped for. Surprisingly still saw fair many birds overall though the dead calm dekes did us no favors when larger groups came looking. Shot OK early but J missed some ops while I was out working dog in the marsh on a crippled, being out the blind cost us a few birds for sure and soon our flight was done.

5 grays, 1 pintail

Son had a great time and came home in one piece, all is well.






Given my health this week, really should just be glad I was able to even make the hunt, we shot a few birds and saw encouraging numbers to get us excited to go tomorrow in the post-front conditions.

Awesome! Great to see the young fella out there with you! Where’d you get the pint-sized waders?

Good times.

Those smiles in those pictures are just awesome.... Made me grin just looking at them...

Wild that it was still muggy there when the front seemed to be whipping through here in the middle of the night.

Rick wrote:Wild that it was still muggy there when the front seemed to be whipping through here in the middle of the night.

Thas what I told him.

It was gusting to 30 knots last night on the nearby station at Lake Borgne so we played it by ear for this morning. Checked it at 4a and found it just as stout and water levels questionable so ended up calling it off. Was for the best anyway given my ongoing recovery, I’m just not ready to do an outing in todays conditions.

North blind on lease hunted and reported good many birds seen though they weren’t wanting to work that pond given its our biggest. Trying to give myself a couple more days with hopes for a mid week trip.

Darren wrote:It was gusting to 30 knots last night on the nearby station at Lake Borgne so we played it by ear for this morning. Checked it at 4a and found it just as stout and water levels questionable so ended up calling it off. Was for the best anyway given my ongoing recovery, I’m just not ready to do an outing in todays conditions.

Starting to sound like a grownup.

Wise decision Darren. I pushed too hard with Covid in January and had a secondary infection of some sort sideline me for a end of season trip a few days later.

Duck Engr wrote:Wise decision Darren. I pushed too hard with Covid in January and had a secondary infection of some sort sideline me for a end of season trip a few days later.

Yea dont want this to cost me more hunts than it already has.

Great pics of your son, and like 5 Stand, made me smile as well! Hope your recovery continues in the right direction. No fun being sick, and even less fun to hunt when feeling like crap. Glad y'all killed some birds.
A buddy of mine hunted South of Venice over the weekend, and they shot limits of grays, widgeon and pintails. Also caught a pretty mess-o-blackfish after the hunt on Saturday.

Deltaman wrote:...Also caught a pretty mess-o-blackfish after the hunt on Saturday.

What's a bkackfish? Tripletail?

Yes Rick, Tripletail.
Had a friend that owned a bar many years ago, and he had one about 10 lbs mounted on the wall above the bar. It was painted like a Bluegill, and talk about some funny conversations

Deltaman wrote:Yes Rick, Tripletail.
Had a friend that owned a bar many years ago, and he had one about 10 lbs mounted on the wall above the bar. It was painted like a Bluegill, and talk about some funny conversations

During my Capt. Rick phase, I took a Tennessee couple from the camp to the nearshore rigs and caught a 19lb t-tail. Upon our return to camp, the boss' son, who wasn't a fisherman, asked if it was a perch (Louisiana for bream), and I went with it. Told him we got blown off the Gulf and fished a nearby fresh marsh lease of ours. And, of course, he had the whole camp falling out to see our new world record bluegill.

That said, I often told my guys that if they ever wondered what a 5lb bluegill would fight like...

Great table favorite at our house, too.

Sat Nov. 19, 2022 La East Zone Opener
Avoyelles parish/bunkie, La area farm
Phil, Thomas, Jeff, Johnny and I with Harry
Wind NE 5-10+, 40s, mostly cloudy


Saw good many birds while finishing up with blind and decoy work yesterday evening around 4:00p, they were converging on a big shallow flood a couple of cuts north of us. Lil slow to start off the bat but starting seeing birds working soon after, albeit mostly difficult ops. Per the usual, after it got a little lighter they were working better and we could actually see them. Whole lot of birds seen overall and we did pretty well making the most of our ops. Before we knew it, it was all over.

(30) 13 GW teal, 13 BW teal, 4 spoons




Most of the crew is hangin out at camp for the day but I’m going to spend the day and night at home given my health still not being right and help with the kids. Plan is to drive back up in the morning to try em again.

So that's where they went.

Mighty fine, look at those smiles...

Sun Nov 20, 2022
Avoyelles parish/bunkie, La area farm
Phil, Neil, Jeff, Johnny and I with Harry
Winds N/NE 10+, 40 to start, pt cloudy to sunny

Looked up at the moon and stars during set up and wondered if the early sunlight today might have them working better. Sure enough once we could see they were eating us up pretty good when we let them, and we dropped them in the multiples we should. Right about the hour mark the last bird was in hand. Harry was huge rounding up crips in the stubble, he’ll sleep well this afternoon.

(30) 8 spoons, 8 BW teal, 14 GW teal






“I miss out on anything yesterday afternoon?”
“Oh yea we shot a doe off the camp porch that walked out in the field.” Apparently fell in her tracks not 40 yards off the porch.

Sportsman’s Paradise

Fine weekend, that.

I agree, Rick...

Rick wrote:Fine weekend, that.

We've got the dreaded perfect circle of open water (farmer made) on our north side with knee deep water, and a more rag tag broken opening on the south side with about perfect water. They've been eating up both oddly enough.

Great opening weekend reports and Pics Darren

Awesome start.

Nice Job. I opted out of my lease in Morrow this weekend and clearly should have gone there at least on Sunday rather than what I chose. Trying the lease for the first time in the morning and hope to do it again on Friday in what looks like a nasty drizzly day with a frontal passage. Folks should get them moving.

Tues Nov 22, 2022
Delacroix marsh
Will and I with Harry
Heavy clouds, winds NNE 10+, 50s


No one had been in this blind since our opening day trip over a week ago. Area shore birds have apparently been partying in it as it was a mess. Nothing to start but had a flurry around 6:15 that got us 5 grays quick, then lull to after 7:00. Picked up few more but not what we should have given the good ops we had. Wills gun jammed with four grays feet down over decoys and I got us but one.

8 grays








Overall saw a few birds but nothing really encouraging, especially since it’s mostly limited to grays, don’t know for sure that we saw a green wing and the few mottleds seen did their thing sticking to the small holes. Plans for tomorrow are TBD, don’t have a partner yet.

Getting after it

Nothing wrong with that pile of big ducks

Couldn't find a partner for this morning so stayed in, best I rest up anyway, still not back to full health. Wasn't upset to wake up to clear skies and light winds, no thanks. Bunkie blind scratched yesterday and there's a group hunting it again today, figuring it's slow again with this stale weather. Eyeing later in the week/weekend.

Happy thanksgiving, all.


This is what that "deer hunt" from saturday afternoon looked like. Oh yea, deer hunting is really hard.

That’s the deer hunting I like.

That’s the only kind of deer hunting I do anymore. “Incidental”.