It’s getting to be that time again. Our deposit letter has arrived, but, as usual, there are several changes that need be made. Seems we have 13 Louts for the June float this year. Brothers Mike D and Bob S (no, not that one, the other one - don’t worry about the deep fried turkey disappearing) cannot join us this year - Mike’s wife’s 50th and their wives are best of friends. They will be missed around the fire! Fred makes a repeat performance and is bringing his son along. Joe is always game for a Thursday night social call and our guides are all invited to drink our scotch and tell lies on Thursday night as they come off the river. Linden will challenge himself to get John D off the topic of fishing - a task he has yet to accomplish at the Troutskeller Bar or around our campfire the past several years. Scotch bottles will go down one by one with little more than a whimper. Bugs will hatch, fish will rise and great times will be had by all along the banks of the West Branch. We are occupying 3 cabins this year, our two normal ones on the end as well as one of the new ones replaced after the flood. We’ll make our traditional cocktail hour and dinner plans for Thursday night with everyone bringing a dish or bottle or both. Look for e-mails to all Louts for the deposit soon and write the dates on your calendars in blood (June 6th or 7th through Saturday morning the 9th). And PLEASE - watch out for those 80 lb beavers!!!

I bagged, tagged and dragged yesterday and was out of the woods by 8:15 am.  Venison for the Louts!  Don’t ask about the rack - as the old saying goes “you can’t eat the horns”.  He was legal and will be tasty.  I’ll head out Saturday and look for his grandpa on the final day of shotgun season here in Jersey.  Should I score again, I’ll bring along the backstraps, perhaps the finest morsels ever to be cooked over a wood fire!  If not, there are always venison skewers for the Trout Louts come June.

I hit the salt with Shore Catch Guide Service on Saturday.  Despite the best efforts of our guide, Capt. Kevin Halek, we only managed 4 runts for 3 anglers.  The fall bass season is going to be another late one this year.  I hear tales of fish the past couple of days now that the winds have switched steadily to the north and northwest.  I hope some of you salty dogs can get out the next few days, I cannot.  I’m headed to the hollers of Pensyltucky to hunt Bambi’s father and shoot many, many, many high powered firearms!  Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

After 9/11, Kenton packed up his family and moved to Oregon and hasn’t been heard from since. Maybe one day he’ll Google himself and this picture will turn up and inspire him to drop us a line.

I stopped by my local post office and was shocked at what I saw. There, in black and white on the wall for the world to see, was a picture of four of my fishing buddies. I’m just glad the authorities haven’t caught up with me yet! Hmmm, wonder if there’s a reward???

As you can see, Bob has been busy at work on the new site. Please ignore the rings on the page, he keeps leaving his singlemalt on top of it whilst he edits. Welcome to the online world of the Louts! Tell lies, tell the truth, but at any cost, tell something to enhance our fishing lives for this sport and these friends we all love so much. As you’ll see, the site is in its infancy so bear with Bob as he builds away. What better place to take a shot at a buddy, share a story about a trip, post pictures of the big one that didn’t get away or to generally keep in touch with this crazy group of men we share a cabin with every year. If you can’t be with us on the water often enough, at least live vicariously through those of us that do get together from time to time and, of course, always check here first for our annual West Branch trip plans. By the by, that date for 2007 is June 6-9. Prepare ahead - NO excuses will be allowed or you’ll be lambasted here for all the world to see.

Float King

It was bound to have happened eventually - a relative newbie gets the honor of high hook. While he imagines himself an accomplished fisherman, it was actually due to guide extraordinaire, Darren Rist, who was putting Bob Simpson on the fish all day. This year will be different my friends! Good ‘ole Float King will not allow lightning to strike twice. My plan is to poke holes in his waders, smash his hooks flat, get him more drunk the night before than is usual and pay his guide to keep him catching nothing but fallfish in ‘07. Here is our hero squeezing an extra inch or two (that’s not the only thing he’s squeezing out) of his big fish of the day.

I remember it somewhat hazily, that evening back in May of 2001. Aboard were our guide, Wayne Aldridge and fellow angler Doc Hatton, myself and a certain stowaway. It was well after dark as we arrived at Stockport, our rods long since stowed after a fine day on the water. By this point in time, even our cigars had been exhausted. Looking through the darkness of night ahead to the take-out, we could see several flashlights. Seems that we were the last boat to come off the Delaware that night and there was quite a line of drift boats, guides and anglers waiting to get back to their camps and homes. What to do while waiting? A brilliant thought came to mind. Yours truly had stowed a full bottle -well almost full, save for a couple shots at lunch- of Booker’s Bourbon. Out came the bottle. It was passed liberally between both Doc and myself and was also offered in the same fashion to perfect strangers, fishermen all. Maybe that fact meant they weren’t strangers after all. The details of the day began to fade as the bottle grew lighter. At one point as Wayne brought his Dodge down to the water’s edge, empty trailer rattling along the dirt road, I remember Doc mumbling something about a dead soldier. And there is was, an empty bottle of Kentucky’s finest having fought valiantly but to no avail. Or so we thought until the next morning…..