Fishing Trip

Today I was off work and my dad and I went fishing in the Atchafalaya Swamp/River Basin. The Atchafalaya Swamp is one of my favorite places in Louisiana because it is filled with wildlife. We saw three alligators, lots of birds, and caught several types of fish. I was looking for snakes but didn't see any. Snakes are masters of camouflage and one was probably near me and I didn't even notice. We also have black bears in Louisiana and I'm still waiting to see one in person. Back to my fishing trip, here are the pictures!

Alligator #1 (above) was a baby alligator, I'd say around 2 feet long. He was hiding in some bushes that draped down into the water. All I could see was his eyes sticking out of the water.

Alligator #2 (above) was a little bigger than the first, around 4 feet long. He was very shy and sneaky and I almost didn't get a picture of him. He was also hiding under some branches. I tried to get a better picture of him and my foot hit the side of the boat and scared him away! The third alligator we saw was so shy I wasn't able to get close enough to take a picture. He was about the size of alligator #2.

This is the catfish my dad caught. This catfish didn't want to pose for a picture, it took me three shots to finally get a good picture. He didn't want to go in our ice chest (and later the frying pan!) and kept squirming around trying to break free and go back in the water. Did you know that catfish will make little grunting noises if you take them out of water?

I don't know the name of this bird, but he was sunning himself way up on a tree branch.

This is a sacalait (pronounced sack-ah-lay) and this is what we were fishing for. We caught alot of fish and had a good time.