LOUISIANA FISH COLLECTION

...Some of my best memories are drenched in the scent of muddy river water mixed with oil and gas, and the sound of an old fishing boat engine puttering on a hot aluminum skiff packed with kids and ice chests full of False River fish.

This little collection of Louisiana fish is my homage to the fish in our bones, the ones caught in mud-brown rivers, backwater swamps, and pasture ponds.

• The sac-a-lait – the first one most of us remember catching ourselves
• The largemouth bass – the first of our “big fish” stories
• The catfish – the slimiest, with those wild, long whiskers and terrifying spines
• The redfish – the one on the best menus in town
• The speckled trout – the ones almost too pretty to eat
• The garfish – the not-so-scary river monster
• The flounder – the too-weird-to-be-real, one-sided mystery
• The blenny – the quirky obsession of my favorite fish biologist