Outdoors

Back in 1966, my job took me to the Claiborne Parish seat of Homer. I enjoyed getting to know the folks there and as a fisherman, something else made me smack my lips in anticipation of the new lake that was being built. My timing was spot on as construction of Lake Claiborne kicked off the same year I moved to Homer and I was able to watch the lake expand as it slowly swa l l owe d up some 6500 acres of real estate that would eventually form the lake with water finally coursing over the spillway on May 17, 1968.

As an outdoors-minded guy, there have been several things that have earned a special spot in my memory bank. Getting introduced to turkey hunting is one as well as being so captivated by the sport that I hunted turkeys around the country, ultimately c o l l e c t i n g a coveted Grand Slam by taking four sub-species of gobblers.

He’s back setting lines in the Missouri River again and he’s picking up right where he left off a decade ago. Keith Johnson moved to Ruston after living in Missouri for a few years but a job — and four grandchildren — called him back to the St. Louis area a year ago.

When he was a kid growing up in rural Lincoln Parish, Sontus Mitchell had his eye on a pond behind his Choudrant home. Fashioning a fishing rig of sorts out of a stick, piece of string and an old fishing jig, he lobbed the lure into the pond and was rewarded by hooking and eventually landing a 5-pound bass.