GOLDEN MEADOW, La. - As you drive through Coastal Louisiana you weave through the canals and pass over the bridges that tie each small town to another.
Those small communities are closely connected to the waters that surround them.
The waterways that surround the towns are the lifeblood of the area's economy.
Commercial and recreational fishing play a huge part in the survival of each parish.
"Most everybody fishes down here, said Chad Dufrene, a professional fisherman and charter boat captain. "It's a way of life."
Dufrene grew up in Galliano, La., and went to the University of Southern Mississippi on a track scholarship.
He stayed with his passion for running and was an assistant coach for eight years at USM.
He lives in Purvis, but returned to the area more than a decade ago to join the family business.
"I decided to quit coaching and start taking people fishing," Dufrene said. "I wanted to get back down here to the culture and get back on the water."
His father, Calvin, was one of the first charter boat captains in South Louisiana more than 30 years ago when he decided to start taking clients out on the shallow marshes to go fishing.
Dufrene had his detour into coaching, but has found his place back on the water.
"It's a good job," Dufrene said. "I really enjoy it. I enjoy taking people fishing."
"It has its days, the good and the bad. Nobody wants to be out there when its raining and 38 degrees, windy and cold. But in the winter time, you have to go. Sometimes the fishing is really good when the weather is like that in the winter."
Dufrene was a talented long-distance runner at USM, but his real gift is his ability to visually pick out a fish swimming through shallow waters.
"A lot of times I can see fish that my customers can't," Dufrene said. "I'll say 'there's one right there,' and they'll say 'no there's not."
That gift comes from years of spending time fishing the inland waters on the Louisiana Coast.
"There's a fish," Dufrene said during an April fishing trip I took with Dufrene near Golden Meadow, La. "You can see the back glistening in the sun in that corner. Not to the right, to the left. You can see her back come up now and then."
Dufrene not only makes sure you leave with your limit of fish, but teaches technique with the confidence of a former USM track coach.
He is worthy of the confidence of his clients and he has proven his talent in competing with some of best redfish anglers in the U.S. on the FLW series.
Fishing partner Mike Friday of Naples, Fla., and Dufrene took third in the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western in Lafitte, La., on March 10.
"That one was a big major tournament," Dufrene said of the televised event. "It's really taking off and it's really competitive. It was always competitive, but you have more of what you call full professionals that are getting money to fish through sponsor money."
The fishing tournaments bring out the competitive nature that Dufrene developed from years of running.
"You miss the competition," he said. "I've been about four years on the redfish circuit throughout the Southeastern U.S. It gives me a chance to apply my skills against some really good fisherman."
When Dufrene is taking part in a tournament, he's concerned about bringing in the biggest possible catch.
That mentality contrasts with his mindset when he takes a group on the water to hunt out redfish and speckled trout. Many times he's watching over children while their father seeks out a big redfish.
"I'm just trying to take care of the children when they bring kids along," Dufrene said. "I allow them to have a good time so they don't have to tend to the kids so much.
"A lot of them are hardcore fishermen. When you get families, you take a step back and take care of them. Some bring wives and some bring children. That's what they're paying for, good service."
A day in the life of a charter boat captain is much more than making sure his boat comes back full of fish.
"My day starts two hours before daylight," Dufrene said. "I start getting everything ready. I make sure the boat has gas, make sure the lines are ready and get ice.
"I meet people for breakfast and feel them out to see what they want to fish for. I'll clean the fish when we get back. I'll wash the boat and take care of what got broke during the day. I'll respool the lines for the next day. Then I'll return phone calls, do paper work and post reports on the Internet about the day."
Hurricane Katrina put a big dent in Dufrene's business more than 20 months ago.
"Katrina killed our end of the summer-fall season," Dufrene said. "There was no work. Everybody was in a big turmoil. They didn't know if the economy was going to come back here. They didn't have a place to stay, all the hotels were full of National Guard or relief workers. It was rough."
Things have been on the rebound ever since life returned to normal for South Louisiana.
"Last year was a great year," Dufrene said. "It was the best year I've had some far. I think it was Katrina fatigue, people had to get out of their house.
"Some people still think the area down here is still devastated. The local economy is back. We're back in full swing. We didn't get as devastated as Chalmette."
Charter captains along the Mississippi Gulf Coast are also recovering from Katrina.
"Personally, I was off 55-60 percent," said Tom Becker, a charter boat captain in deep sea fishing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. "The overall industry was off 80 percent.
But Becker is close to being fully booked for the summer.
"It's nice to see," said Becker, president of the Mississippi Charter Boat Captains Association. "People are coming back. I'm booked for every weekend until the second week of September."
While storms like Katrina are a threat to Dufrene's business, another growing concern is coastal erosion.
"Oil and gas companies come in and dig pipelines, allowing salt water to come in here," Dufrene said. "Storms don't help. It's slowly eroding away."
Dufrene can see a day when erosion could dramatically affect his job.
"It could be 10 or 15 years if we have storms like we did in 2005," he said. "It tears up these swamps real bad.
"Everybody wants to do a study, but nobody wants to take action. Do something, even if it's wrong. You never know, it might be right."
Being a charter boat captain is a time-consuming occupation. His wife, Ginny, often travels from Purvis to Louisiana to see her husband on the weekends.
"You're looking at 80-90 hour work weeks," Dufrene, 40, said. "When it gets busy, you just can't stop. I might fish a total of 175 days a year.
"Any day is a good day when you can take people out there and they catch fish. They're satisfied and you get paid doing it. That's a good day right there."
