Lake D’Arbonne in northeast Louisiana is huge: 15, 250 acres. It is a fishermen’s haven: bass, crappie, catfish, bream. On a clear, warm day in April, fishing boats criss-crossing the lake–from jon-boats with small outboards to streamlined bass boats with twin motors–is a constant. Thus turning my kayak to face the oncoming wakes of passing boats was also a constant. Interestingly, the slow jon-boats that sort of wallow through the water rock a 12-foot kayak much more severely than a high-powered bass boat on plane, with only a few inches of propeller actually in the water. Exploring a lake that…

Hooboy, February last year must have been a humdinger. Going through my archive, I find just two photography outings and neither of them amounted to much. I was at Camp Hardtner, but for a meeting and as I was leaving, I stopped in my car on the road to take 6 shots of a flock of robins in the trees along Fish Creek at the edge of camp. Mostly, they showed me their behinds. And I visited Black Bayou Lake NWR once and made about 10 shots, none of which are worthy of standing for the month of February. But…

Where has the time gone? I usually do my #YearInReview in December, making the 12th post on December 31, that is after all of my shooting done for the year. But… late is better than never, so here goes… In January of 2021, I visited a couple of areas in the Kisatchie National Forest down in Vernon Parish, but spent more time at Black Bayou Lake NWR, that treasure of great value practically in my back yard. I was there the 17th, exactly one year and two days ago. It was late afternoon and I was there only a short…