Lots of planning and discussions happen for months before Paddlepalooza. Al Chee was on it!
Beside the being on the board thing, each participant must make accommodations, prep and load gear, and plan. Planning fishing trips in 20-30 mph winds is usually as easy as staying home, but not this weekend.
My search for clear water started in Golden Meadow at 515 Friday morning. Thanks to MotoGhost, I did almost 15 miles searching for trout green water, which was nowhere to be found. Loaded up and headed south. I launched on the south side of LA1 in extreme lower Lafourche where I found nice water, and no fish. Lovely.
Loaded up and rolled over to Bridgeside. Paddlepalooza was coming together. Prizes and trophies out, people showing up, dinner being prepared. Paddlepalooza and Fall N Tide are my favorites! I can hang out for 2 days with all my fishing buddies exchangingpleasantries and fish! It’s a wonderful thing as far as I’m concerned! This year we were fortunate as Eric Stacey cooked pastalaya for the Captain’s Party. This was a long standing BCKFC tradition that’s was overlooked for a while, but the meal was awesome!

Eric usually brought cookies for desert and was disappointed that we’d forgotten the cookies, until Sean Rastanis whipped out the birthday cake and we all sang for him. Pretty Cool!

After the briefing, I headed to the Purple Trailer where I’ve stayed 5 times now, very welcoming, this time with the Lafayette crew, as usual. After a shower, I passed out while everyone else was hanging in the living room, unbothered.

Saturday

Woke at 4 and pushed the Café Bustello button. Dressed, coffied and cleared the colon before going over to the marina and icing down. I launched in an area I’ve never fished,  based on a tip from a local. It was supposed to be full of big trout and everything I needed. Started casting at 6 and caught a 18″ red on topwater 5 minutes in. Good start. When I got to my primary trout spot, nada. Lovely.  Fished the area hard with 4 baits then changed up to a double Gulp rig on 1/8 oz jigheads. I was blessed with my first flounder, 10.5″, which led me to believe their might be another. I went into a shallow, skinny marsh and started catching rat reds all over then hooked a biggun which wound up 28″, too big to shrink. A few casts later, a flounder that I didn’t have to measure. And then there were 2. I fished my way back to the truck and loaded up.  I called Jonathan Aucoin who I’d seen launch in an area I was considering and asked was he still there, yes, is the water green, yes, are you catching trout, yes. Shortly later I launched and within 10 minutes, caught a 20″ trout on topwater. And then there were 3. Bobby Triche showed up and started catching as well, then Josh Lewis.  I hung out about an hour and caught a few more then went to a nearby shoreline to look for a redfish upgrade, nada. 2 hours later I was headed back to the launch, and Bridgeside.

The weigh in line is always fun, that’s where the tournament stress starts for me because I know how hard I fished for what I had and expected others had better fortune. With a slam, I hoped to be in the money, but quickly saw fish that worried me. Ryan Gaudet and his crew from Spahr’s cleaned our fish and fried em up, along with mac n cheese, coleslaw,  French bread and shrimp.  This was another long standing BCKFC tradition that Ryan made happen! Awesome!

I’m on the board but they are pretty tight with the scoring and noneomy buisness, so I  wait like everyone else. All the trout were bigger than mine. All the reds were bigger than mine. All the flounder too. Of the 12 slams caught,  mine was ninth and based on entries, we paid 9. So I got a check!

There’s a new guy in town. He graduated high school Friday and rented a kayak. He showed up with a 4.86 pound trout and a slam over 2 pounds heavier than 2nd. Hail Luke Greer! Now the proud owner of a Outback sponsored by The Backpacker. We are all in awe!

I was lucky in the raffle and won a rod and an ice chest. The night wore on and I cruised back to the Purple Trailer for a shower, and passed out.

Sunday

When the alarm went off at 5, I couldn’t find it to turn it off. Once I did, I realized how sore I was, then the wind shook the trailer. I put my head back down and fell asleep. Luke got up at about 630 and left. I pushed the Cafe Bustello button and had a cup to flush my digestive track, then loaded up and cleaned my award winning catch. I hung out with some stragglers then rolled home and passed out.

Congratulations to our winners and thanks to all who participated. Half the fun is just being there! Thanks to the BCKFC Officers for working hard and pulling off a successful event. Thanks to our sponsors for helping. Great event and I can’t wait till we all get to do it again!

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