The inflatable boat will work, but does have some limitations. It will not be easy to paddle any long distance and of course, when fishing, you deal with hooks, sharp fins and othere things that can puncture an air-filled boat.

Most important is a good PFD. Make sure he gets one that is comfortable and wears it!

Keep gear to a minimum and what's needed for the particular area and fish targeted. He should start off in protected waters like Bayou St. John. Launch at areas without a lot of rocks or stumps to help protect the boat. Bayou St. John has lots of bream and bass as well as some nice redfish.

Plastic worms, gold spoons and spinner baits will work for the bass and reds. For bream, you can't beat live worms or crickets. A soft cooler will work well for any fish he wants to keep.

A small mushroom anchor or even an old plastic coated dumbell will work for an anchor and won't puncture the boat..

Good luck and let me know if you have ant more questions.

All of Chris's advice is perfect. just want to add one more thing. watch when crossing channels and any area's with boat traffic i have found many will not respect the paddle boats like they should. might be they dont see us til its too late. just use caution in high traffic areas

Thanks for all the info. He's got a comfortable life jacket that i just got and an extra one for a friend. Also, didn't think about all the boat traffic, thought it was mostly canoes,kayaks. How deep is the deepest parts of the bayou?

Where can i find a list of the current size/limits for salt and freshwater? They use to make a booklet, but i'm guessing everything is online now.

they still print out the book, it is available anywhere they sell hunting and fishing licenses

is there any calm/safer places for him to fish out in bayou bienvenue?

dannygirl, The booklets are fairly common at many Wal-Marts.

Start him off in City Park and Bayou St. John so he can get comfortable in the boat and your anxiety level will decrease :) (that's a nice boat btw and real stable)

I've been fishing City Park and bayou St. John for around 40 years and I used to put my pirogue in the lagoons north of I-610 and do pretty good.

I was told you can't put your own boats in any of the lagoons at City Park. Can you? He would love to fish in those lagoons as well as bayou st.john. Yes, I am nervous, but trying to get as much info so he can do this right. He is very responsible and has been in canoes and kayaks before, but this is an inflatable (which means it can pop), although i've read a lot of good things about this boat and it is suppost to be very sturdy. He needs to find a smooth area to launch the boat. We're not really familiar with BSJ and the edges of the water and where it will be good to put the boat in.

I've seen kayakers in the lagoons north of I-610 and I used to put my pirogue in them and never had a problem, but I was always there real early in the morning before the security guys were up.
I think the lagoons south of the interstate are a lot more public and they want you to rent their boats. Bayou St. John always has kayakers in it on the weekends, you just have to recon the area to find a good spot.

Put these into google maps and look for the green arrow -- 29.999752,-90.089332 You can sit under the trees and there is a smooth area where you can slide the boat in.

I remember those days, if my mom knew where I went in my pirogue she would have flipped :)

That boat has chambers in it -- if one pops the others stay full of air so you can get back to shore. Find a good spot where he can paddle around and fish and you can picnic on the shore and watch, you'll feel a lot better :)

btw -- that redfish in my profile pic was caught in the lagoons off of wisner here --

30.004572,-90.087491

Thanks so much, that really helps. I think i'll bring my pole out and fish on the sides the first time he goes out until he gets use to it. Really appreciate your input and experience on this.