Offshore Venice La
I ran five trips in the last 7 days off Venice and also fried my camera in the process which cost me a lot of great pics. Started the run on sunday with Joe Duncan and his crew. They wanted some tuna and snapper which is not something I normally do but since he actually owns my contender we did it. Started out with the tuna fishing which was slow all morning. At noon I dont think we had a fish in the boat. Then they got real hungry real fast. Over the next three hours we went 4 for 8 on 60 pound class fish. At 3 the decision was made to go get him some snappers. In one hour we put a five man limit of snapper on the boat with chunked rainbow runner and pogies. None of them were big but most were 17-18 inches.
On monday night I had a sword trip but we wanted to start off with some tuna action so we ran south to a floater and put 7 yellowfin in the boat before dark. We then headed north and set up our drift at 10 we had our first whacker but he missed the hooks. At 10.30 we had a mystery bite. Not too sure it was a sword. Around 11 we had the real deal bite on the shallow line and Steve Dudas got to put his first sword in the boat. It was right around 50 inches. About 2 we called it a night and headed to the dock.
I was on my way home at 730 when I got a call from another captain who knew I was around. He had found a crew who had gotten stood up by another captain and needed a boat to fish. So I turned around and went back to venice. The other captain came along to help out and we left the marina at 830 and headed south. The bait was down by the time I made it out but the fish were being stupid. Pretty much every drift with chum we were hooking up and we went 6-7 with four 50-60 pound fish and one 100 pounder and one about 110 pounds. We were back at the dock for four with a strong catch.
After that I needed a long nap before a day trip on thursday. I had Mark and friend from Texas on that trip. We made good bait on the way out but of course the fish didnt want it so we started drifting and chumming again. That was the ticket. It wasnt quite as fast as the day before but we still put in four quality fish with one weighing in at 150 pounds. We also caught a nine foot long tiger shark on straight 50 pound leader. Talk about a bummer although it was the first tiger I have ever seen.
I had an overnighter on friday with Marty Griffith, Todd Hanslick and Patrick we left midmorning and proceeded to make it offshore just in time to get hit by a rainstorm. We sat that one out underneath a rig. we hit a couple spots but didnt have our first fish on until about 6 when they started jumping. We put two in the boat before dark and then headed south. The first two rigs were duds but the third one was the charm. Every drift there was a nice 60 pound yellowfin or a blackfin or a 30 pound yellowfin. Between 2-5 we put 7 more 60 pound class in the boat and released 3-4 thirty pound yellows. At daybreak we had nine fish in the box. I was going to try for a morning bite but the porpoises kept eating my live bait so we headed back closer so shore and put three more fish in the box in three drifts and headed to the house with `12 yellowfin kept and four released
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On monday night I had a sword trip but we wanted to start off with some tuna action so we ran south to a floater and put 7 yellowfin in the boat before dark. We then headed north and set up our drift at 10 we had our first whacker but he missed the hooks. At 10.30 we had a mystery bite. Not too sure it was a sword. Around 11 we had the real deal bite on the shallow line and Steve Dudas got to put his first sword in the boat. It was right around 50 inches. About 2 we called it a night and headed to the dock.
I was on my way home at 730 when I got a call from another captain who knew I was around. He had found a crew who had gotten stood up by another captain and needed a boat to fish. So I turned around and went back to venice. The other captain came along to help out and we left the marina at 830 and headed south. The bait was down by the time I made it out but the fish were being stupid. Pretty much every drift with chum we were hooking up and we went 6-7 with four 50-60 pound fish and one 100 pounder and one about 110 pounds. We were back at the dock for four with a strong catch.
After that I needed a long nap before a day trip on thursday. I had Mark and friend from Texas on that trip. We made good bait on the way out but of course the fish didnt want it so we started drifting and chumming again. That was the ticket. It wasnt quite as fast as the day before but we still put in four quality fish with one weighing in at 150 pounds. We also caught a nine foot long tiger shark on straight 50 pound leader. Talk about a bummer although it was the first tiger I have ever seen.
I had an overnighter on friday with Marty Griffith, Todd Hanslick and Patrick we left midmorning and proceeded to make it offshore just in time to get hit by a rainstorm. We sat that one out underneath a rig. we hit a couple spots but didnt have our first fish on until about 6 when they started jumping. We put two in the boat before dark and then headed south. The first two rigs were duds but the third one was the charm. Every drift there was a nice 60 pound yellowfin or a blackfin or a 30 pound yellowfin. Between 2-5 we put 7 more 60 pound class in the boat and released 3-4 thirty pound yellows. At daybreak we had nine fish in the box. I was going to try for a morning bite but the porpoises kept eating my live bait so we headed back closer so shore and put three more fish in the box in three drifts and headed to the house with `12 yellowfin kept and four released
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