J. EDMUND BARNES

PHOTO: Alan Berthelot sits in the drivers seat behind Jerry and Sandy Davis and Tony and Pam Taylor. BLIND RIVER – Alan Berthelot has lived his whole life in the Gramercy area. He has been fishing and hunting Blind River for almost as long. “A bunch of buddies and I go fishing here,” said Berthelot, here being the Lutcher-Moore Cypress Swamp. Berthelot is now using the first-hand knowledge gained by all those years of fishing to bring the swamp to tourists. Working for Gramercy-based Airboat Adventures allows Ber-thelot to show off and spread his knowledge to the tourists, who might not know a thing about the Louisiana wilderness. The Lutcher-Moore Cypress Swamp is named for the turn of the century lumber company that harvested the cypress trees which lined the river. Now owned by Champion Lumber, the area is being allowed to reforest and return to the condition it was in before the Lutcher-Moore company began taking trees. The swamp is navigable by bayous which depth varies from several feet to only a few inches deep. The only boat with a draft that shallow is an airboat. This past Monday Berthelot took Jerry and Sandy Davis and their friends Tony and Pam Taylor of Mesa, Ariz. on the tour. “We do a travelling vacation every year,” said Jerry Davis. “We were planning on slowly working our way to New Orleans from Texas, but the BassMasters made us rush here. Now we’re slowly working our way back to Texas.” Both Jerry and Tony do freshwater fishing, but neither had been yet able to get in any fishing. They expressed hopes to do so further along the coast. As for the bass, Berthelot said the places to fish for them are the deeper bayous and holes. “Largemouth bass to catfish and everything in between,” said Berthelot. In the shallower water one can find garfish and bullfin choupique. “There’s a rodeo at the St. James Boat Launch every April – the Choupique Rodeo. There are different weigh-ins for different prizes,” said Berthelot. During hunting season Berthelot goes after whitetailed deer and ducks. According to Berthelot, the same tactics used in field and woodland deer hunting are used in the swamp: either still stands or dogs. Because the Lutcher-Moore swamp is private property, hunting clubs can and do lease the land for the taking of deer. Not that Berthelot gets to do much hunting or fishing nowadays. Airboat Adventures and the Gramercy Volunteer Fire Department keep him busy. “The busiest season is summer and spring,” said Berthelot. “Most of the people come out here to see gators. We saw four or five today.” Berthelot shrugged off the possibility of severe weather due to Tropical Storm Barry. “This is a tidewater swamp. The tide rises with the winds. When the wind is either east or south, the water rises. During (Tropical Storm) Allison we had a foot and a half of water in the parking lot,” said Berthelot. As for the fishing, Berthelot said it would improve after a couple of days. “(The storm) affects the fish a lot. After three or four days the fish come back and it’s just as good as usual.”