About the Publisher
My name is Eddie Smith.
I'm a husband, a father, a lifelong Louisiana fisherman, and the publisher of LAInshore.com.
A Personal Introduction
Before any job title, I'm a fisherman.
By Eddie Smith | LAInshore.com
I'm not a journalist by trade, and I'm not a politician. My career was in manufacturing and logistics, where I spent years working with complex systems, forecasting, planning, and solving problems. But before any job title, and long after them all, I'm a husband, a father, and a lifelong Louisiana fisherman.
Some of my earliest memories are on the water with my grandpa, Buddy.
He was a quiet man with a kind heart, a smile that never seemed to leave his face, and usually a highball in his hand. He taught me to cast from the old Fourth Avenue dock in Covington, showed me how to run crab traps, and insisted that catfish would eat Popeyes chicken. Whether people believe that last one or not, he swore by it.
By the time I knew him, he was already an old man. He passed away when I was twelve, but the lessons stayed with me.
Fishing has never just been about catching fish.
For me, it's an escape. It's where I reconnect with myself when life gets loud. A day on the water has a way of quieting everything else. But it's also something much larger than any one fisherman. Fishing is woven into Louisiana's identity. It's in our communities, our economy, our food, our history, and our families. It's a culture worth practicing, protecting, and passing down.
That belief eventually led me to build two very different projects.
The First Project
Why I built SELA Fishing Forecast.
SELA Fishing Forecast started because I wanted a better tool for myself.
I grew tired of digging through Facebook posts, conflicting weather reports, and services promising “secret spots” or guaranteed success if I simply followed directions.
That was never what I wanted.
I don't need someone telling me where to fish. I need reliable information that lets me make my own decisions.
I wanted weather, tides, wind, water conditions, and other relevant data organized in one place, broken down by location, without anyone trying to steer my choices. I built that tool for myself. Friends started asking to use it, and eventually it became SELA Fishing Forecast.
The philosophy hasn't changed.
Provide information. Respect the reader. Let people make their own decisions.
The News Desk
Why I built LAInshore.com.
LAInshore.com was born from a different frustration.
Whenever I researched issues affecting Louisiana's inshore community, I found myself jumping between state agencies, scientific papers, legislative websites, social media arguments, opinion pieces, and headlines that often seemed written to persuade rather than inform.
I wanted something different.
I wanted a publication that gathered information from as many credible sources as possible, represented differing viewpoints fairly, cited those sources whenever practical, and trusted readers to reach their own conclusions.
That is much harder than it sounds.
Like everyone else, I have my own opinions and biases. They don't disappear because I publish a website. But when I'm writing for LAInshore.com, my goal isn't to convince you what to think. My goal is to understand an issue as honestly as I can, present it fairly, and give you enough information to continue your own research if you choose.
People are capable of thinking for themselves.
Civil disagreement isn't a weakness. It's part of a healthy community.
Earning Trust
Trust is earned, not given.
I don't expect anyone to trust me simply because I own a website. I'm not a moral authority, a political authority, or the final authority on the facts. I'm just a Louisiana fisherman writing down what I can see, what I can find, and what the available evidence appears to show.
An Open Invitation
Read it. Check it. Challenge it.
Read an article.
Check the sources.
Tell me where I missed something.
Challenge the reporting if an important fact, perspective, or piece of context was overlooked. I welcome it.
If I've made a mistake, I want to know. If new information changes the story, the story should change too. I'd rather be corrected than confidently wrong. That's how forecasting improves. That's how reporting improves. That's how we all learn.
My responsibility is to approach each subject honestly, verify what I reasonably can, distinguish facts from claims, and correct the record when necessary.
Your responsibility is to think for yourself.
If the work consistently proves useful, accurate, and fair, then perhaps LAInshore.com will earn your trust over time.
Looking Ahead
A trusted resource for Louisiana's inshore community.
My hope is simple.
I want LAInshore.com to become an independent, trusted resource for Louisiana's inshore community.
I hope readers leave knowing a little more than when they arrived.
I hope they discover something new, send me stories I've missed, point out mistakes, challenge assumptions, and become part of the conversation. Good journalism shouldn't end when an article is published. It should continue through respectful discussion and a shared pursuit of the truth.
Most of all, I hope these projects help preserve something that is bigger than any one fisherman, business, organization, or elected official.
Louisiana's fishing culture isn't a campaign slogan, a marketing strategy, or a political talking point. It's a way of life.
It deserves to be respected, protected, and passed on to the next generation.
If these projects help even a small part of that effort, they'll have been worth building.
Welcome
Thank you for reading.
— Eddie Smith
Publisher, LAInshore.com