Bait it, hook it and serve it

Longtime fisherman Phillip Picou knows the true meaning of “bait it, hook it and serve it.”

“I can’t get enough of fishing,” he said. “That’s why I keep coming back to it.”

Picou has been in the seafood industry for more than 15 years. He was a trawler on an ice boat, but after he lost his thumb in a boating accident, he stopped for a while.

But he couldn’t stay away from the water. Picou soon purchased a 30-foot skiff boat and started trawling again.

He also joined the staff as a seafood cook at Bogwalk Seafood Restaurant on Polk Street in Houma.

“I love catching seafood, cleaning it and cooking it,” he said. “No matter how much I catch, I always make sure that everyone has enough to eat.”

Although he still enjoys trawling in his spare time, Picou prefers watching his three daughters and grandsons fish the bayous just as his father Elam watched him years ago in Chauvin. “My dad’s deceased now, but when he was alive he loved to go out on the boat,” he said. “My mom, Dorothy, is 84 years old and when I was young, she was one of the best oyster fishermen I knew.”

To this day, the fishing is the line that binds the Picou clan. “We all love fishing together,” he said. “I love to bring [the family] out on the boat to cast nets and watch them throw out their lines when we fish in either Robinson or Boudreaux canal.”

Picou said his grandsons, Daytton and Braxton Turner, are even beginning to find their sea legs. “Like little boys, they love being outdoors,” he said.

When it comes to fish tales, Picou said his favorite laugh came while out with his son-in-law Bryson Thaxton.

Picou snagged what he thought was a “big one.” To give Bryson some experience, he let his son-in-law reel in the catch. To their surprise, Picou had hooked a stingray, which sent Bryson running to safety at the the back of the boat.

“As soon as the stingray came out of the water, Bryson was out of there,” he said.

This Father’s Day, Picou said he will celebrate the sheer pleasure of being a dad, and the pride he has having something to pass down to his children and grandchild – a love for fishing.

Phillip Picou, the seafood cook at Bogwalk in Houma, preps a batch of crawfish for the evening’s meal.