The perfect afternoon!

[laflyfisher]

Friday afternoon I took a ride to Franklin, Louisiana to visit my dear friend Roger Emile Stouff. Roger has been a journalist for 25 years and author of the award-winning column "From the Other Side" in the St. Mary and Franklin Banner-Tribune. Roger is also an accomplished author who has written two terrific books; Native Waters: A Few Moments in a Small Wooden Boat and Chasing Thunderbirds. Roger is a member of the Chitimacha Louisiana Indian tribe and lives in his family’s 160 year old home on the Chitimacha reservation. Roger has a rich and wonderful heritage of which is he very proud.

I met Roger at his home and when I walked in the door I felt like I had walked into a lodge or a cabin. It had a wonderful atmosphere and I immediately felt right at home. Roger gave me a tour and showed me his museum of family artifacts and history. It was awesome.

Then it was lunch time! We had a delicious fried catfish and shrimp platter at the Cypress Bayou Casino. If you’re ever in the neighborhood you just have to sample the cuisine! Later, we went back to Roger’s home to cast a few rods. Roger’s backyard is Bayou Teche! Incredible! I got to cast several bamboo rods that Roger had refurbished. Did I mention that Roger is also a talented carpenter, woodworker and rod builder? When we got to the last of his rods, he handed me a banty bamboo that he had recently crafted. As I was casting, he asked how I liked the action. My response was that I liked it better than the banty I had purchased from Ebay. Roger replied; “That’s good, I built it for you!â€Â

 

[sheena's dad]

Now that is what I call real quality time with friends. You be a lucky man.

One more thing to add: He did an AWESOME job on that banty. That is a true treasure, in more ways than one.

Steve

 

[Jimmy W]

My family is going to have a get-together in June, and my father decided that he wanted for us to stay at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park in La. About a week ago, I was on Google searching for info about the area and ran across one of Roger's stories that he wrote for the Fly Anglers Online website. I recognized his name from his stories on the Far & Away Website that you had told us about. I spent several nights reading all of his Native Waters articles on http://www.flyanglersonline.com and http://www.native-waters.com. He is also a wooden boat builder and sometimes fishes out of the wooden bateau that his father built. I am looking forward to paddling my pirogue that I am just finishing up on his native waters.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Spending time with friends is special.