Mile 44.0 - Sherburne Bend

44 Sherburne Bend

A series of eddy-holes around the outside of Sherburne Bend make for good picnic stops and possible campsites. It is a favorite fishing spot for Cajun fishermen catching shad. You might have already seen this above Krotz Springs. If not, you’ll see it further downstream. From the John Ruskey Rivergator Journals: “Some burly Cajuns were scooping shad out of the deep muddy waters using a large hoop net with a long handle. They were tied up to some trees in a strategic place where the water concentrates and is propelled outwards and downwards. The shad prefer this type of fast water environment. They swim upstream into the strong currents and snatch up smaller fish. The Cajuns take advantage of this habit. They create an additional acceleration of water speed by building an angled wall out of plywood along the tree’s edge, which pushes the water off the shore and makes an swirling eddy place below. Here they park their boats, in the eddy at the ending edge of the plywood wall, and then stand up and swish their nets downstream with the water flow in a cyclical pattern, like a waterwheel. The poor unsuspecting shad get caught swimming upstream by the downstream moving net, and are collected by the crafty Cajuns.”