As oil washes ashore near the mouth of the Mississippi River, fishermen swallow fears about the future of what state license plates call "Sportsman's Paradise."
Crabbers pull up traps.
Shrimpers make a final pass.
Guides earn a few hundred dollars taking TV crews out to the mammoth oil spill that threatens one of the most valuable – and fragile – estuaries along the Gulf Coast.
"It halfway broke my heart when I came to Ernie's Hole, one of our favorite fishing spots, and there wasn't a soul there," says Capt. Cade Thomas. "And there was oil in it, enough that you could see it."
Eerily – sickeningly – the oil spill has followed the path and pattern of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. What didn't look so bad in the beginning becomes a disaster that only gets worse.
Read the complete story at The Ledger.