“All my fishing is kayak fishing,” Dustie Latiolais said with a grin. “I’ve been doing it three years. Cory Werk, who owns Bayou Teche Experience in Breaux Bridge, got me into it.”
After Werk broke him in, Latiolais made a pilgrimage to Pack and Paddle in Lafayette where he bought a 12 ½-foot sit-on-top NuCanoe.
“I wanted a sit-on-top kayak for its stability,” he explained in his high-octane Cajun accent. “I also wanted a tandem so I can bring my wife Denise and 4-year-old son Dawson.
“We fish together.”
They fish in the Atchafalaya Basin, in state parks, and along the edges of the marsh for speckled trout and redfish at Cypremort Point.
“You can go anywhere with a kayak,” Latiolais said. “The depth of the water doesn’t matter. A kayak is convenient and cheap. You don’t have to worry about buying gas or the engine not starting.
“It’s a very different experience than using a trolling motor in a big boat. You are closer to the water and get a more natural experience. The fish even seem to fight harder.”
Latiolais particularly enjoys fishing for bass and bream — the fish he grew up fishing for.
His family likes to eat bream, which he calls his favorite fish to eat. But he is quick to admit that largemouth bass are fun to fish for.
Editor’s note: Cory Werk’s Bayou Teche Experience (337-366-0337) loaned Latiolais the kayak used by the author for this story.
