Louisiana is known as the Sportsman’s Paradise, home to bountiful hunting and fishing, and from saltwater to fresh fish and bait, one place in New Iberia was a go-to spot for local fishermen to get all of their angling needs: Bill Hewell’s Bait Shop.

Normally, a bait and tackle shop is located near boat launches, piers, and lakes but for the Teche Area, it would be bayous.

Once located at the Jefferson Street Bridge in New Iberia, Hewell’s Bait Shop eventually moved to North Lewis Street, but still kept the same traditions and memories alive for many years.

Behind the white building that is there now, Hewell’s Bait Shop had a tin building next to the bayou. Mimi Thibo would visit the bait shop with her dad years ago and still recalls the interactions between her dad and Hewell.

“I would go there with my dad. He and Mr. Bill were very good friends,” Thibo said. “Then they moved to a building on North Lewis where the Oncology Building is now.

According to his granddaughter, Louise Dorè, Hewell didn’t get his start with fishing tackle and bait. He was originally a traveling salesman from Birmingham, Alabama, but after he met the love of his life, Bertha, in New Iberia, he decided to make it his home

One thing that made Hewell’s Bait Shop so special is the memories that his customers still hold to this day.

David Delahoussaye, like Thibo, had memories of visiting the bait shop with his father in his youth and meeting Hewell.

“I remember going there with my dad as a kid in the early to mid-70s,” Delahoussaye said.