The Venice of My Dreams – With Mike Frenette

Long before HPFC was in the making, Pete said we were going to “LA” to chase redfish and I immediately got excited. Once we were off the water we could go shopping on Rodeo Drive, meet friends for dinner and perhaps bump into someone famous.

The joke was on me

“LA” wasn’t Los Angeles.

In this case it meant “Louisiana” – Venice, to be precise -- and although I had no idea what I was getting into, he’s never (well, rarely) led me wrong. It was fishing and I loved fishing so it couldn’t be terrible.

Without going into too many details, the trip was a disappointment. The lodge we booked through a friend’s recommendation was not awful, but the food was mediocre and our guide was uninterested. The wind blew all of the water out of the marsh, which can’t be helped, but he was crass and pretty much gave up early. He wanted to be off the water asap, and while 2pm was the appointed time, by about noon he was holding tight to the ramp. We caught some fish, so it wasn’t a total loss, but we left with a bad taste in our mouths.

When we got back, Pete posted on social media about the experience (without naming the lodge) and several people just asked a simple question: “Why didn’t you use Mike Frenette?” His lodge is apparently well-known for being the best. Pete had tried to book him but he was booked up well in advance, as he often is. Rather than forcing the issue, we clearly should have found some days when he was free.

At the recent Knoxville Classic Expo, our good friend Mark Copley of Rather Outdoors (Lew’s and Strike King) introduced us to the legend (in our eyes), Mike Frenette. Mike agreed to answer some questions, including why a bass angler would want to go redfishing.