Two adult anglers at fishing rodeo headquarters this weekend aren’t like the rest of us. Well, they are avid hunters and fishermen, but …

They’re from Arkansas, for goodness sakes, guests of a Lydia outdoorsman who is treating them to heaven on earth, er, water, as they bust bull red after bull red on the western edge of Vermilion Bay.

One of them, Curt Rankin of Magnolia, Arkansas, wasn’t about to apologize for wearing an Arkansas Razorbacks cap in the heart of LSU country. Far from it.

After good-naturedly taking some ribbing about wearing that cap, similar to waving a red flag in front of a bull, Rankin said with a chuckle, “Hey, man, they come up to our camp with LSU stuff. It’s reciprocal.”

Rankin and his buddy Teddy Reynolds, also of Magnolia, hunt on the latter’s deer hunting property that also is frequented when the time is right by Milton Davis, his son Dusty, both of Lydia, and others from the heart of Cajun Country. Reynolds has fished down here before over the past five or six years.

The 47-year-old Rankin, however, was getting his baptism and loving and appreciating every minute of it. He was out with the Davises shortly after midnight Friday morning in Milton’s Strickly Bidness, a Nautic Star.

The Arkansas man was introduced to bullredfishing with strength-sapping results. Davis said they caught 30-40 bull reds — all 20 to 30 pounds — under the stars at Boxcar Reef near Southwest Pass.

“You see television shows and these guys catching redfish. To be there and actually do it … I never realized how powerful they (bull reds) are, going from largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, crappie and channel catfish,” Rankin said while he and his crewmates relaxed at a table after weighing their fish on the first day of the 63rd annual Iberia Rod & Gun Club Saltwater Fishing Rodeo. 

“This is a whole new world, an incredible experience. The people, of course, are outstanding,” he said. “I’ll be back. Hopefully, better boat aware and fish aware and team aware because it takes everybody.”

Early Friday morning, Davis, still on the water with his guests, talked about Rankin’s night of fishing for bull reds. 

“He never caught bull reds in his life. He caught about 20 last night. His arm is worn out,” Davis said with a laugh while they continued to fish.

Davis,  50-year-old owner of Short Circuit Repair, got no argument later from Rankin, who said, “It was exhausting. To catch fish like that — the boat, the pressure. After I got my first bull red in the boat, I was like ‘Holy cow!’ It was wonderfully exhilarating.”

Rankin was slathered in sun tan lotion so he wouldn’t burn. Yes, he and Reynolds said, they plan to be out on the water each day as long as they’re chauffeured by the hospitable Davises. 

Reynolds appreciated the experience, once again, and said, smiling broadly, about Milton, “He’s the best fisherman … and the most cantankerous.”

 

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian