It’s spring in NOLA. For many it means festive parades, blooming flowers, long low humidity evening walks, breezy kite flying weather or the gaze forward to daylight savings time and the spring forward of longer evenings.

But for me, it means totally something different … IT’S BASS SEASON.

And the season I’m most excited about is fishing out at City Park New Orleans.

Spoiler alert: while I don’t give away “ALL” my City Park Bass fishing secrets … um, a true fisher never will … I do give my Top 5 Fishing Spots for Kids in New Orleans as well as the basics on the what, where and how to start and catch something.

Who knows? Maybe you’ll get “HOOKED” on bass fishing, too.

Click here to listen to the interview (I’m at 5:00 til the end) by Thanh Truong of WWL Radio “Why one of the largest urban parks in the US offers easy access to fishing” >

Until next time when I’ll put a fishing pole in your hand and revel when you catch your first City Park Largemouth Bass … Thanks, Thanh!!!

I totally missed talking #kidlit books with kids at book festivals, especially those who are inventing stories of their own.

One girl, barefoot and about ten year old, engaged me on a story she was writing about saving another girl of her age from a house fire. The details were so clear that I asked her if she had ever witnessed or experienced a house fire. It was all in her head. Wow, such vivid storytelling at such a young age. We continued talking for about ten minutes … spooky stories, funny stories, fishing stories (well, I had to do my lil book plug). But in the end, I made sure she walked off with a copy of The Craziest Fishing Tale on the Bayou … on my nickel : )

So why do I write? Because I wish I had someone to listen to all of my overactive imaginative tales in my youth. Days like today make all the hours of ‘butt in chair’ worth it.

On the day, my recent book signing visit at the Louisiana Livingston Parish Book Festival in (you guessed it, Livingston Parish, Louisiana) featured keynote speaker and recipient of the 2015 Newbery Medal for The Crossover, Kwame Alexander. But I was also joined by other fellow SCBWI Louisiana/Mississippi book selling creators Denise Gallagher, Karen Konnerth, Michael Verrett … and my good friends who came to visit Pat Hefler, Phina Schloegel and Marti Dumas (as pictured in the collage above).

Thanks @mylplinfo for a great book festival today. Until 1023 … #keepwriting #keepreading #yall

Well, this one story is, promise and cross my heart, totally for true.

If you don’t believe me, then maybe this picture will show you what I’m talking about.

March 26, 2022, I spent the morning at the 73rd Big Bass Rodeo in New Orleans City Park … which is the oldest freshwater fishing tournament in the country.

HAD A GREAT DAY FISHING WITH MY FRIENDS, Simon and his nine year-old son, Blake. They had a blast catching blue gill and fishing for a bass that was just as stubborn as the crazy tale I’m about to tell you.

On the day, I caught three largemouth bass: a 2.05, a 1.85, a .79 … and the last one is the pic of the gal (fourth) that’s hiding under the top algae. I flipped my lure just behind the middle bass’s tail (above) … and wella … hooked the biggest of the three.

I reeled her up to shore, had my hands on her when she threw the hook, flipped out of my hand and onto the bank a foot below. Naturally, I stepped down after it, sank in the mud about a foot, had her in my hands again for one last wiggle and then … SPLASH … I dove half way in after her. In the end, she got away and I was full of mud.

“Look, I pulled the bass man in the water.” I could hear her and the two smaller bass laughing at me.

Turns out, the top three bass in the tournament weighed in at 5.5, 4.5 and 3.69 lbs. So I wasn’t that upset to have been a towel away from possibly getting in the Top 3 (towel meaning I usually carry a hand towel to grab bass to avoid EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED).

LOL

In the end, I didn’t make the Top 3 in the Bass category , but I did leave with a new Craziest Fishing Tale, with my good friends Simon and Blake.

Til next year, City Park