With the Bass Master's Classic coming up in February, I got to thinking about times I had traveled to Louisiana.  The Classic is in Shreveport, which is in the northern part of the state.  I have never been to Shreveport and am looking forward to the Classic there.  I have been to New Orleans several times, and like most, have enjoyed the food and good times. 

I remember one time, back in 1990, several of my friends and I decided to go deep sea fishing.  The plan was to go to New Orleans in a motor home and then drop down to Empire, Louisiana where we would charter a boat.  I had been salt water fishing a couple of times, but nothing like this--40 miles out in the Gulf to fish for yellow fin tuna.  I was both excited and a little apprehensive. I'm here to tell you, I love boating and this was a whole new adventure.

I might have known I was heading for trouble the moment I met my friends at the motor home: #1-- the guy responsible for the whole week's beer supply brought Keystone Light.  I'm not a fan of light beer, much less Keystone Light.  We are from Missouri, where's the Budweiser?!  #2-- we ran out of gas somewhere in Mississippi.  The same guy who brought the Keystone was driving. He said he wasn't paying attention to the gas gauge--probably due to the Keystone Light.  Anyway, we finally made it to New Orleans. 

The plan was to stay in New Orleans a couple of days then head to Empire.  This was another bad decision--too much fun in New Orleans.  We left New Orleans with a lot of headaches.

We arrived at the dock in Empire at 4:30 a.m. and boarded our charter fishing boat.  The first thing the captain said was that there were wind warnings for the day--35-45 mph winds with thunder storms later.  That was mistake #3.  I  should have predicted what was to happen, but I had already forgotten about the Keystone Light and running of gas.  Now I was about to experience how rough the sea can be.