Bender’s Reach – A Sportsman’s Paradise
My father rowing while my grandfather is fishing at Bender’s Reach on the Calcasieu River in 1942.
I’ve always liked this photo of my father and his father – Robert Joseph Landry, Jr. and Sr. This was taken in 1942 on the Calcasieu River. It was my grandfather’s favorite (and evidently secret – according to my cousin Kenny) fishing spot that is called Bender’s Reach.
My first thought when I look at this photo is, “Aw, Daddy and Pee Paw were fishing alone one early Saturday morning.” But then I remember that it is a photo that had to have been taken by someone in another boat. I don’t know who the photographer was, but I’ll go ahead and make another assumption and say that it was probably one of my uncles. Okay, I won’t be sexist and agree that it could also have been one of my aunts or my grandmother.
Either way, it’s a cool photo from almost eighty years ago. Another thought that runs through my mind is that the photo is reminiscent of many of the paintings that my mom did. In particular, it reminds me of a painting that was in our family home all through the years. I wonder if the painting ever reminded my dad of his long ago fishing trips with his dad? Too bad the original photo was so small that it didn’t come into my mom’s notice. It would have made a nice painting.
I’m glad that these rather small photos scanned so well. You can see that my grandfather was right in the middle of casting his line in that first photo. His hand and fishing pole are just a blur. These other photos show the pole a little better.
Or is that a crease in the photo? I’m not really sure, but I thought I’d post all of the photos I had from the fishing expedition. I’m surprised there are three photos of that day. Nowadays there would not only be photos of the fishing expedition, there would also be photos of the fish being cleaned. And to top it all off there would be a few photos of it being served: Fresh! Local! Organically grown! Caught just today in the waters of the Sportsman’s Paradise – otherwise known as Bender’s Reach.