What's new Boudreaux

If you are ever in South Texas and find yourself in the need of fishing, hunting supplies or a bite to eat look up Boudreaux Bait and Tackle. The sign out front reads Burgers-Bait-Bullets. There is a shooting range in the back of the store as well as a boardwalk along the parking lot with tanks you can fish in. The real surprise is when you meet the owner Matthew Boudreaux (just call me Bro) . Bro has made a career of changing hobbies and will gladly show you any and all of them, He has everything from archery to zumba and has a place set up for it all. If you befriend him Bro will make sure that whatever your interest is there will be a place for you. This place is a old manufacturing plant and it has every kind of class room you could imagine. Bro is someone who is interested in just about anything that comes along and he is a people person. If you have a hobby you are interested in and share it he will listen and get you started. The one shortcoming he has is that nothing last too long.

He is always ready to help and is able to find any supplies you need. Yep that is Bro. once you start and get the first group together Bro is gone on to the next group or adventure as he likes to call it. Bro also sponsors every sport in town. The 4H clubs love him as well. It doesn't matter if it is piglets, rabbits, lambs or calves Bro always seems to be putting together kids who love animals at the right place to start. You can almost always find him at every livestock show there is and it is the closest thing to a full time hobby. Bro calls it the best investment anyone can make.

He loves to cook and he started the town BBQ cook off years ago but he does not attend. He loves to fish but instead of stocking his tanks himself he pays the local kids to catch fish and bring them to his store. He loves to shoot at targets but

never goes to his own range. He loves to build old cars but usually donates them to vocational school to let the students finish them. He has a metal forge

that came with the place but hires a blacksmith to run it. Bro has a ear for music and can play just about anything he can find. He buys old guitars, horns, drums, organs and piano's. He joins in with any local performers who welcome his baritone voice for a show when he can find them. He is always donating his supply of instruments to the local churches and schools. Once when he was giving a piano to the Vietnamese church he learned that Pastor Nguyen was a martials arts master. He offered an old conference room to start a dojo for a church outreach program and came to the first few meetings. It is still an outreach program but now it is mostly for housewives wanting self defense classes. Bro was having back pain and found a yoga instructor and got a class together, he made two meetings before he moved on. This is where most everyone learned about Pastor Nguyen's marital arts classes since they were in the same building. Bro seams to fit in wherever he goes and whomever he is meets.

Bro started a woodworking club with the local VFW. He bought an old sawmill and he moved it into his building but never goes to the meetings. Most of the projects are donated to the habitat for humanities. There are a few projects he still has in the building unfinished of course. Bro loves all kinds of old equipment. His place is lined up with old metal working equipment such as saws, motors, engines, generators and kilns. There are yard statues all over his properties and his personnel home. He keeps the molds from the statues in a barn and shares them with the town for Parades and games. Bro has not been left out of the computer age and has several 3D printers in the store to make a variety of plastic parts of different sizes. They are next to the metal stamps to make signs and across from the wine press. There is a computer driven sewing machine designed to make boat sails and hang glider wings. Bro's one hang glider hangs in the open ceiling of his barn not quit finished. The boat sail with his name on it is mounted on the flag pole. He was going to build a Dutch style windmill to generate power and use the sail as the wind vein. The most impressive computer driven device is a 3D wood sculpture machine that scans a person and makes a full size replica from a wood log although it still needs some programming to make it work. A few have questioned how he is able to afford so many different ventures. The local banker Mr. Jones has stated that he has never borrowed a dime and more than once bailed out the bank when needed. Mr. Jones also stated that for the record Matthew Boudreaux holdings are legitimate and beyond reproach. Bro is not what you would expect a man of means to be. He never was one to dress fancy but always was clean well groomed. I have noticed that he speaks French, German, Spanish and bits and pieces of many other languages, which he learned mostly from his parents and grandparents who where stage performers. Bro says he has had all he wanted of a life on the road as a child and it is very seldom is he away for more than a day. His life has been full of good memories and good people.

Once you gain his trust he is generous to a fault. Bro may not be very good at hobbies, but his ability to communicate and meet people where they are is always on target. Even people who do not like him still have respect for this man.

So if you are ever out on a country drive and find yourself in front of a old plant site with statue, tanks, old equipment and a big white sign that reads Burgers Bait and Bullets. Come on in.

Maybe you too can ask him " What's new Boudreaux ?