Friends: show

Jean Thibodaux is from Cajun Country, Louisiana. He is Bud Guidry?s Best friend. Not only do they play in the swamp together but they tie flies. You?ll hear about that in a minute. Jean hasn?t sent any bio information so I?ll have to ad lib. I?ve spoken to Jean a couple times by phone but mostly Bud tells me about him. The fact he has time to play in the swamp and tie flies amazes me as from what I understand he is one of the busiest people there is. He supervises a crew on a drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico as his full time job. For a part time job he is a Deputy Sheriff and the local Animal Control Officer. When he is not on patrol he travels the area giving live animal demonstrations to interested groups. His menagerie includes a Boa Constrictor, a giant Black Widow Spider as well as various exotic ducks, Pheasants and other critters he can catch or find. When Bud and Jean aren?t in the swamp in their mud boats they are tying Contemporary Salmon Flies. Jean has been at it only a short time but he obviously has a great teacher in Bud. Bud will say ?He?s crazy like me!? when he tells me about Jeans exploits. Sometimes I think he might be a little crazier than Bud. When Bud caught the biggest Black widow Spider he had ever seen (in his truck bed) he gave it Jean and Jean keeps it at home. That?s Crazy if you ask me. One of the times Jean came over to Bud?s to tie flies he brought all of his fly tying tools which consisted of a vise, Toenail clipper, fingernail clipper and the little scissors on a Swiss Army Knife pictured above. When I heard that I felt sorry for Jean and sent him a nice pair of fly tying scissors. He liked the scissors OK but prefers those tiny but very sharp scissors built into his pocket knife. As I mentioned earlier Jean has been at this a very short time but has made great strides in his tying. Pictured below are some of his early flies. The first picture is Bernalla Beach his 17th fly he has tied. He has later flies that he has made and likes better but at the time I?m writing this he is on the platform for seven days (without his tying kit) and the flies are at Buds waiting to be photographed as soon as he can get there. I?m not sure if it?s beginners luck or excellent teaching but his flies sure are nice. Click on the thumbnails below to see for yourself:

August 15 2005 Jean has been busy tying as you can see by the row of flies above. Bud has sent me a clipping from their local newspaper telling about one of Jeans exploits. See for yourself bu clicking on the thumbnails below: