The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

inonussm37to 1999 economist sun stouffville tribune leisure cajun castin hidden treasures can be discovered in louisiana by mike hayakawa staff writer jean lafitte and his infamous band of swashbuckling- pirates never had it so good as when they reigned terror on the louisiana intercoastal waterway themaze of countless bays and marshes that empty into the gulf of mexico provided refuge for lafitte and his crew from the local authorities it also served as a place where they could hoard any newfound wealth there was however one valued treasure they left behind that todays angling fraternity covets inhabiting these waters which combine incoming tidal salt water and fresh water from the north are schools of speckled trout redfish drum and flounder when hooked on the end of a line these fish can put up quite a scrap and once landed and placed in a cooler they can provide a culi nary delight rumour has it the famous cajun chef paul prudhomme one day accidentally burned a side of redfish on the skillet and concoct ed a dish called blackened redfish go to any seafood restaurant today and order blackened redfish your wallet will feel the pinch fishing the intercoastal water way can be done yearround however the arrival of fall begins a productive and ideal time to wet a line suggests veteran louisiana angling guide phil robichaux providing expert advice to novice piscators for almost 40 years robichaux points out the fish are attracted to the intercoastal waterway during the autumn months because it harbours an abundance of food its like a chinese food buffet where people line up at the table says robichaux describing the assortment and availability of for age not only does the fishing activi ty pick up in the fall but for those anglers wishing to try their luck along the louisiana intercoastal waterway during this time of the angling guide phil robichaux holds up a 15pound redfish caught by mike hayakawa year the weather conditions begin to provide relief from summers scorching heat and humidity making a trip to the big easy of new orleans in midoctober the timing could not have been better to get in on what promised to be an exciting outing for sea trout and redfish accompanied by angling side kicks john yancey al may and dean angerdina we took a 30- minute southerly drive to the out post of lafitte and met robichaux before sun up setting out behind the back drop of towering petrochemical refineries that occupy the shore line we boarded robichauxs 22- foot customdesigned bay boat and ventured onto an enlarged body of water known as barataria bay maneuvering our way past sev eral shrimp trawlers and pipeline freighters we had a 20minute boat ride before reaching our fish ing grounds robichaux knew where the motherlode was upon arriving at our spot mullet were clearing the water surface this was a sure sign that these baitfish were attempting to escape their predators with the thermometer hovering near 88 f we wetted our lines in relatively shallow and stained water of five to six feet utilizing openfaced spinning gear and baitcasting reels equipped with 12pound monofil ament test line and a onefoot berkley fireline shock leader we tossed our quarterounce round head jigs tipped with a white plas tic shrimp imitation body towards the shoreline robichaux suggested i make a sharp but slow jigging retrieve it wasnt long before i felt a sharp tug on the end of my line within moments a onepound speckled trout surfaced as it tried to free itself of the hook embedded in its mouth the fish eventually succumbed to the boat and was placed in the cooler at the same time i was battling a fish yancey may and angerdina were preoccupied with sea trout on the end of their lines robichaux also got into the act and promptly hooked a fish handing me the rod i sensed the fish on fee other end had some big shoulders as it tried to muscle its way towards the gulf of mexico robichaux knew right away i was in the midst of battling a red fish after making my reel sing soprano on several occasions by peeling off a few yards of line the redfish at close to 15 pounds was a welcome addition to our cooler comparing the fighting charac teristics of this fish to an ontario steelhead robichaux promptly coined my catch as a louisiana steelhead the action we experienced was not centered on one specific loca tion at each locale we came away with assortments of sea trout red fish drum and the odd flounder by the end of our sevenhour outing we had boxed 100 fish with that many fish in our pos session one would assume that we would spend a long day cleaning them under a hot sun under robichauxs guidance however fish cleaning is part of his duty in louisiana each angler is allowed 25 sea trout with a 13inch size limit five redfish and five drum with a 16inch minimum limit and one measuring over 27 inches fishing this playground requires a saltwater licence which many guides provide the cost for a oneday licence is 250 most guides also supply bait and tackle anyone wishing to try their hand at fishing the louisiana intercoastal waterway can call robichaux at 504 3483264 ph0t0madeune c0ujns historian iain craig of kleinburg left and kortright curator allan foster will lead a historic hike up the humber saturday hike along the humber bymikeadler staff writer why not take a trek this saturday on the oldest road through vaughan those who do will be follow ing in the footsteps of european explorers pioneers and the abpv riginal people who first followed the east humber river north the path is called the carrying place trail and the sevenkilometre hike north from boyd conservation area on islington avenue to kleinburg is sponsored by the toronto and region conservation authority theyre going to be covering some fantastic territory promised iain craig a retired teacher who is organizing the walk to point out historic areas along the river in 1793 john graves simcoe upper canadas first governor followed roughly the same trail north to the holland river and then reached the lake which still bears his name there is still a lot of hope for the humber but few natural pockets are left along the river in vaughan those remaining are underpressure craig said even on the edge of boyd where vaughan is threatening to extend pine valley drive over some sen sitive ravines i want people to see that he said the walk leaves boyd at 10 am and finishes at 230 pm return transportation will be available at kleinburg but par ticipants should bring a lunch more information is available from craig at 8931323 or from thetrca at 4166616600 ext 5237 rsun iteentbaraier fstoufivffleltibune the liberal 75 you exclusive discounts at mcdonalds home hardware grandtoy sears whole h0me sunoco global petfoods 6askin robbins dynamic tlf hakim optical dairy queen london cleaners compucentre ii rmlvi m mm