You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June, 2007.
We must have finally thinned the dolphins out a little, ’cause we’re finally having some luck getting the baits past them for long enough that the tunas have a chance to bite them. If you haven’t seen it yourself, I’m sure it’s hard to believe, but when we would get a dolphin bite we were literally running several hundred yards away and still not staying out of them. We managed to sneak a few tunas out, even though we saw plenty. LG and his crew snatched out a few snappers on the way it to round out a great box of fish.
The potential for the multi-species catch is one of my favorite things about fishing Venice. Where else can you catch dolphins, red and mangrove snapppers, groupers, and red fish, all in the same trip? Chad’s breakfast of strawberry daiquiri’s didn’t agreed with him, but fortunately the rest of the crew picked up the slack and ended up with an awesome catch. This was these guys’ first trip down here, but I’m pretty sure we’ll see them again.
Given some shaky mid-June weather, Vickie and Elery needed 3 days just to get 1 decent one. But as soon as we had a window we went for it, and it didn’t take long. It’s tough having only 2 anglers when your bites are coming in triples and quadruples, but that is certainly a good problem to have. I don’t think we trolled for more than an hour. On top of the mad dolphin bite, we had a few decent wahoos and missed a white marlin- twice. A great 3 day trip for the couple from Edmonds, OK.
Elery and Vickie Brown are great to fish with because when asked what they want to fish for, they say they want to fish for whatever I want to fish for. What a great answer. I was hot to take them swordfishing, but between the wind and thunderstorms, we couldn’t make it happen. Mangroves were my second choice. We didn’t catch as many as I though we would, but the ones we had were goats, with several in the 8-10# range. Add to that a few grouper, some nice reds, a cobia, and a few jacks and you’ve got a good catch (ignore the grease ball).
Most people must have celebrated Father’s Day at home, because it seemed like we had the whole Gulf to ourselves as AC Cross and his crew put the hammer down on the jacks and dolphins. After catching several nice bull dolphins and some nice AJs this crew was toasted, but I think we got the new members of the crew hooked on offshore fishing for sure.
Hoot Gibson spent 2 days trying to convince me that he was a “delicate flower,” though I’m not sure I’m convinced. These guys were the latest crew from Panama City to bring home the tuna bacon. I don’t know how many fish they caught during their 2 day trip, but I do know these’s a chance they might still be black and blue. On day one we caught five nice yellowfin, including one that was just over 100#, and on day two they requested anything but tunas. Our species total was around 12 or 13. We had a great 2 day trip and I’m sure these guys will be back.
Tommy Miguez and company from the Kenner fire department had an awesome day both offshore and on the bottom. After yet another awesome dolphin trip, we made two quick stops on the way in that resulted in a nice limit of snappers, bull reds, and even a good cobia. I’m curious how much of the trip Tommy remembers, but I know the rest of the crew had an great time. Too bad Spencer is such a weenie.
After catching a 189# yellowfin on his first Venice offshore trip, Jarrett Barnett returned with dad Steve and buddy Mike for a first class dolphin rip. I knew they wouldn’t be happy unless I snuck at least one tuna in there. I’m not sure if Steve or Jarrett is luckier and I’m not interested enough in finding out to split them up, but I do know I wouldn’t want to challenge either of them to a cast net throwing competition.
Larry and the Cassons from Ocoee, TN were my first customers when we got back into business last year. And here they are, back again, with a fine catch of dolphins and red snappers. This was one of the first trips of what has become an unprecedented dolphin catching spree unlike anything I’ve ever seen or heard about. A month later, we’re still catch them. In early June, the tuna bite was spotty at best, though here lately towards the end of the month the tuna fishing has become much more consistent. But who cares about tunas- fish for what’s biting!
Intuitive Services needed to have a local meeting and what better place to do so that on the KRAKEN. But talk about fish snobs: after just a few stud dolphin, the boss said that it was time for him to catch a tuna. He must be one of those guys who gets what he wants, because not too long after his declaration, we had this nice yellowfin on. The tuna fishing last week was a little slow, but has gotten better over the past few days. On this particular days we saw several busting on flying fish, and with the exception of the afternoon thunderstorms, it was an awesome day overall. We ended up with 4 big dolphins and 4 tunas. Here’s Jerry with his first yellowfin tuna.
I can handle the wind if it keeps that dolphin biting like this. 20 knots out the southwest has pretty much been the norm this whole week, but the good news is that the dolphins have showed up. The rip held together for most of the week despite the wind and the dolphin bite has been mad. My old friend Rene Baumer set up this trip for some of his co-workers at Metarie Small Animal Hospital and the drug man Jeff Reid. Rene’s offshore skill were apparent all day, and his help was instumental in landing a box full of solid bull dolphins. Here’s Brian Melius himself with a nice bull.
While boat number 2 of this two boat trip stayed at the dock, Joe B said let’s put it on ‘em. Anything for Joe B. The offshore action was not red hot, but we squeaked out a few quick dolphin and headed to the snapper hole. The wind was pumping all day, but only one guy got sick and the rest of the crew didn’t seem to care too much about him. Despite some mishaps from a rusty deckhand, the KPMG crew had yet another good trip. Joe- don’t worry, I’ll take you to the grouper spot next time.
After several cancellations, the Begnauds were finally able to make their annual trip back to Venice. I think it was Mrs. Susan who said, “We’re coming, not matter what.” Well OK. It wasn’t flat calm, that’s for sure. The 2-4′ wind wave from the north helped disguise the giant 6-10′ swells that were coming out of the southeast, but that was only to the eye, because there were a few stomachs on board that were not fooled. After taking a swing at some near-shore tunas, we got this crew back inside and put them on some calmer water action. Wahoo, grouper, snapper, and redfish- not the 15 species these guys usually demand from me, but certainly enough food and stories to get them to come back again. Here’s Zack and Mrs. Inga with a nice mixed bag of fish.
