Marina boat launch open; ice, bait, other fishing supplies available.
Hurricane Isaac was not kind to Hopedale’s Breton Sound Marina, but it’s back in business, owner Glenn Sanchez said.
The Category 1 storm destroyed the trailer housing the marina office, store and bathrooms, and the facility’s bait shop had the siding peeled off. Everything was marinated in 6 to 8 feet of swamp muck, grass and salt water.“Besides the trailer, we lost our boat sheds, and our fish cleaning station had the roof blown off,” Sanchez said. “I just recovered the tables this morning, about 100 yards away behind the parking lot. This place was more than a mess, it was a nightmare.”
It took weeks of hard, dirty, snake-fighting, non-stop work to get the marina back up and running.
“We just got electricity this past Friday,” the marina’s Karen said, “and Glenn lost no time restocking the live bait tanks. One of the first things that greeted him when he went into the bait shed was a 6-foot rattlesnake. Critters were everywhere.”
Karen said they bought another trailer to replace the one they lost, and it should be delivered Monday (Sept.17).
“Right now we’re operating the store out of a work trailer. I have to go dig for stuff every time somebody wants to buy something,” she said.
The backdowns are open, and lots of boats were launching or returning this morning while the author was at the marina.
Local angler Benny Burst went out with his wife and daughter-in-law, and came back with a good box of mixed fish, reds, drum and specks. Burst said they caught their fish just mere minutes from the dock.
A few minutes later, another boat came back to the dock with an ice chest loaded with specks and reds.
“The fishing is great right now,” Sanchez said. “We’ve got everything you really need: ice, a good launch, and live bait. The fish are waiting for you.”