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Mike Ledet has been a certain kind of captain for a long time. This captaincy comes from being the guy who takes anglers out in his private charter boat, to the places where he has a sixth sense about where the redfish lurk and the trout are plentiful.
Anyone can call himself a captain, of course, just by having a boat and knowing how to get it from point A to point B; the kind of captain Mike has been comes about from having an actual captain’s license, which one must attain from a test and having certain qualifications recognized by the U.S. Coast Guard, and this is why when you call the phone number for the charter fishing his voice, smooth as silk, speaks the words “This is Capt. Mike Ledet …” on the recording.
Mike has a whole different existence, which is his day job, something he has done since 1992, and which is a huge part of his identity.
Mike is a water patrol agent for the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office, which means he works regular shifts on a 34-foot patrol boat.
“There was an opening and I knew the waters and I wasn’t sure exactly what I was getting into,” recalls the 53-year-old deputy.
There is an enforcement aspect to this work, certainly, as there is for all the waterborne guys with badges who work in this parish. There are stakeouts for crab thieves and occasionally there will be the stolen boat or motor. But these are not the things that make Mike Ledet’s heart beat fast, and are not the reason why he has stayed out on the water in this capacity for 24 years now, during which a few things have changed.
“We’ve got better equipment,” Mike says. “Out on the water people have four-stroke motors, which are a lot more reliable and so there are not as man rescues as before People still break down on mud flats and they run out of gas and have other problems and we are there to help in any way we can.”
Mike keeps the day job because it allows him to be where people need him most. Whether this involves pulling a shrimp boat grounded on a mud-flat in the face of an approaching storm in open Gulf of Mexico waters or going about the grim task of dragging a bayou for a crabber gone missing and presumed drowned, it has always been for him about this kind of service.
“It was the biggest reward,” he explains. “I didn’t know when I joined how people would be reacting when you are out there helping them. It turned out to be a real plus for me, to see how relieved people are to see you, helping somebody when they are in a bind, it makes it all worthwhile.”
Monday morning, while people were preparing their barbecues or otherwise enjoying themselves while preparing for the Fourth of July fireworks, Mike was in the patrol boat, pulling a boat that had been left on a mud flat the night before. In this case the boaters were fortunate, someone had come for them. A boater saw the abandoned vessel and called it in, which is how Mike ended up there in Moss Bay.
Even veteran mariners have expressed surprise at how Mike does his job. A trip to a rescue call with him is an eye-opening experience as he guides the big rescue boat throughout the narrowest of canals, negotiating hairpin turns that seem to defy physics, all the while keeping the calmest of demeanors.
On the patrol boat Mike was first a deputy, then a sergeant, and a lieutenant. But last Friday Sheriff Larpenter made the announcement that Mike was elevated to the rank of captain, making him not just one of the seas but one of the uniformed services.
Which means Mike Ledet is now, in all ways, a captain’s captain.
“I was always hoping it but didn’t know I would get it,” Mike said. “It makes me feel like I accomplished something.”
Which may be true but to anyone who has ever needed help on the water and seen him show up, Mike Ledet has accomplished plenty, with or without the bars he now wears on his uniform collar.
