Category Archive

Without the help of their fearless leader, the crew from the Metarie Small Animal Clinic returned to Venice again this year for another successful late spring trip. Jeff did a good job picking the date, getting one of the very few nice days in April. No doubt due to the offshore expertise of Dr. Baumer, a former pseudo-deckhand, the crew returned to the dock with 9 yellowfin tunas.

Steven Covington and his crew from Meridian, MS, should thank Mike Shankle. After going 1 for 9 on wahoos the day before, we somehow turned it around, going 5 for 5 with Steve and his buddies, and putting the boat back closer to “even steven” for the 2 day wahoo hook-up ratio. You know what we did differently? Nothing! That’s just wahoo fishing. Here’s Duncan with the last ‘hoo of the day that weighed in at 84#, our biggest so far this year. After a long initial run, this fish really threw us for a loop, wrapping the line around one of the lower units. Miraculously, we kept the wahoo on the line during an involved untangling procedure and ended up with a nice box of wahoos.  

Holy mackerel were there some boats offshore on Sunday. Apparently we weren’t the only ones that heard about the good forecast. After a slow day on the Lump the day before, our plan was to troll for wahoos, but there was one problem: there were already 5 boats at every rig by the time we got there…and we didn’t leave late. That’s when we had to get creative. After fishing a couple underwater structures, we finally located a pile of wahoos without another boat in sight. If you wahoo fish much, you know that a hook-up ratio of about 50% is par for diving baits, and that on any given day, you could be on the up or the down side of that ration. Well, Mike Shankle and his brother from Shreveport, LA, were on the down side. I’m not blaming them at all, but it was just one of those days. We couldn’t keep a wahoo on the hook to save our lives. Fortunately, the one we finally caught was a good one. After 8 bites without happy endings, we finally landed this nice 56# wahoo. That wahoo, plus our limit of beeliners from earlier in the day, made for a decent bag of fish for the boys from Shreveport.  

If I was young Louis here, I would stick with my current fishing partners. The crew let him catch the first tuna and the first wahoo of the day. At the end of the day, he tried to argue that you kept what you caught, but once the bill showed up he was more than happy to share.

Here’s a cool catch from a windy day of fishing some of the East Bay rigs: a rock hind. We see a fair number of these guys when we’re diving the rigs, but this is the first one I’ve seen caught on a rod. If you can believe it, the secret bait was a piece of shrimp on a 1/2 oz. jig head. This was just one of many cool fish Eric and John from Wisconsin and Minnesota caught with us on their 3 day trip.

I don’t think Bill Broyle and his crew from Starkville, MS, ever saw this one coming, nor did I for that matter. After a long lecture about how slow the Lump had been and how I had a good lead on some wahoo, we ventured out of South Pass. We caught a few wahoo early and even lucked into a yellowfin tuna with the diving baits. When we saw a blue fin that was too big to a be from a shark, our afternoon was about to take an unexpected change.

After a lot of coaxing, we finally got a little interest from the huge shark and eventually got a bite way out of sight in the open green water. Instead of a blistering run, we got just a little “click click click” of a bite. We got a close look at the shark early on in the fight and I knew my estimate of 300 pounds was way off. After another 2 and a half hours and several close encounters, we acquired a more appropriate form of anesthesia (thanks Hunter!) and finally got the shark under control and wrapped up. Rolling her up on the back of the boat and then running in Flat Boat Pass on low tide were both memorable experiences, as were Inga and Kevin’s attempts to get a weight on the shark in Venice, LA, where neither world-class marina has a big working scale. Nevertheless, the KRAKEN has a new boat record for mako shark, just barely edging out the 496# we got back in 2002. What a fish, what a fight, and what a memorable trip.

Louis Todd brought some clients with us last week and ended up with a nice Lump mixed bag of blackfin tuna, wahoo, and beeliner snappers. This crew will have some white and red meat for the grill and some solid snapper for the fryer. Anyone can catch a wahoo hooked in the mouth, but Louis tried a rather unconventional technique of hooking his wahoo right in the tail. A tail hooked 50# wahoo can make a pretty impressive first run, so even though we did catch the fish, I’m not sure I’m sold on his approach.

When the tuna fishing is slow on the Lump, you can usually find something interesting down below. This one is a first for us: a spotfin hogfish. Ken Jennings from Gary, Indiana brought this little freak up from the bottom. While we didn’t catch any tunas on this particular day, we also set a new boat record for the most beeliners caught in a day at 49. Thank goodness I found my electric knife.

This blue devil seemed to think it was a good idea to bite the KRAKEN and then chew on our engine trim wires before eating the bonita slab with the hidden hook. I have to be honest: I took it personally.

Buddy Hall from Orlando, Fl, was kind enough to share the half hour fight with this 201# mako with his brother Michael, providing some welcomed action on an otherwise slow day at the Lump.

I don’t know what your favorite fish is, but this one sure is mine.

Good news: our first trip of the year to the Midnight Lump was a successfull one. Mark Riner and his high school buddies from Nowalt, OK , fished with us this past weekend and had just about the perfect scenario. First of all, the forecast was marginal enough that most of the other boats got scared off, and secondly, the fishing report from the day before was poor enough that the rest of the boats got scared away. I felt it a little on the way home, but that’s just about what it takes these days to have a somewhat “private” day on the Lump. Mark and his buddy Janes tag-teamed this nice 100# yellowfin late in the day after catching some smaller tunas and (if you count the shark-eaten heads) a limit of amberjacks. We’re ready and waiting for the next break in the weather.

Monroe legend Tommy Smith graced the decks of the KRAKEN with his smiling presence during mid-December for a quick wahoo rip. The tunas didn’t cooperate like they had the week before, but the wahoos were there to pick up the slack. Tommy brought his tackle coach Dr. Doug Liles just in case we needed help rigging a B2 squid. Having this crew on board made it pretty easy on me, because with Doug, Tommy and Rifat aboard I didn’t have to worry even once about providing entertainment.

We are just aboat ready to call it a year and 2007 has been a good one. Hope to see you in 2008.

With crew members coming from as far away as Iraq and the Arctic Circle, the Will Roman crew gets some serious points for total distance traveled to come tuna fishing. Some might suggest they were also coming home to see their families for the holidays, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. They were rewarded for their efforts: 7 tunas over 80 lbs in 2 days, including a 122 pounder and the 136 pound fish shown below. Not bad, considering it was their first trip for tuna. 

Outfitter Colby Olford took advantage of a short break between his Colorado archery and rifle seasons to bring his boys fishing down here in Venice, LA. He has put the hurt on several of us who have hunted with him in Colorado and we finally got him to take the bait of offshore fishing. While he certainly never got out of breath down here at sea level, he whined like a baby about our mosquitoes and puked like a champ. After searching unsuccessfully for his buddy “RALPH,” Colby recovered and had a great 2 day trip with his boys Austin and Dustin and guide Josh, but I doubt our laughter at his condition will go unavenged. Here’s Colby, upright, with his boys and a nice late Sept. yellowfin tuna.

Considering these Olford boys have had bears, mountain lions, and moose in their backyard through the years, it shouldn’t be very surprising that they proved to be as tough offshore as they are in their Rocky Mtn backyard. Having previously caught only freshwater trout and pike, they caught on to tuna and snapper fishing pretty quick. We had a great late Sept. offshore trip with them, releasing several other tunas and catching plenty of our tuna on topwater.

Bottom fishing the shallow water in late sept. is never a compromise. With a stiff breeze greeting our crew from Collbran, CO at the dock on day one, it was time to put it on the brown boys. Austin, Dud, Josh and Inga couldn’t help but smile about a pile of big cobias like that.

Summer has come and gone, but some of the year’s best fishing is still ahead of us. After a slow start, Sept. has ended hot. Nearshore tunas, hungry cobia, and red snapper that need to be caught: that’s how we like it. Set up your fall trip now and start thinking about you winter lump dates. This sweet fluking sperm whale shot was caught by Jenn Coulson last month.

Well, so far offshore fishing in Sept. has not been as red hot as I was expecting it to be. In fact, our last three tuna trips were probably the three slowest of the year. Sometimes the truth hurts. However, there have been some nice highlights. Here’s a late summer blue marline caught by Smokey Bauman and crew from Destin, FL.  What do you do when a marlin eats both of your live baits? Well, fight it with both rods, of course. Not surprisingly, 40# of drag catches them much faster than 20#. We didn’t get off scott-free though, as the green blue marlin took it out on the leader man. The gloves with no fingers, while not intentional, were definitely a bad idea. We got another satellite tags in this marlin too, so hopefully in 90 days we’ll get some cool info via Texas A& M.

When I told them to hold up their tunas, I had no idea they’d start firing their guns off like that! What a pose-down. Terry Duke and crew from the Baton Rouge area had a great trip this past week, catching several nice tunas. We had a great streak of fishing here to end an awesome summer. We’re off for the annual Colorado elk hunt, but we’ll be back on the water Sept 2nd. 

Kane, Ben, Scott, the man-grabber and the mouthy new guy had a great trip this past week with four yellowfins between 90# and 100# and a nice limit of snappers.

Sleeves, that is. When Kane Murphy showed up to the dock with a rip-sleeved shirt almost as trashy as my own, I knew there were good things in store for his crew. Despite the fact that some of his underlings haven’t been the most faithful charter clients, these guys had yet another great offshore trip aboard the KRAKEN. Mid-August has been hot this year, but at least the fishing has been hot enough itself to make it worth it. Kane’s crew was the 7th in a row to finish up with tunas early enough to catch some nice snappers on the way in. For the record, Kane it not actually in a trance; he just doesn’t smile in pictures.

Doug Williams and crew from Panama City were back at it again this past week. The customers are supposed to catch more tunas than me, but when they beat me with the sabiki rod, that hurts my feelings. Like several other groups this month, Doug and Co. pulled off the tuna/snapper combo with plenty time to spare. Thanks to Steve, yet another successful trip for a crew from Panama City.

Which would you choose? I think I’d go with the tunas, since a 2 man limit of red snapper is pretty pathetic. What’s not pathetic is catching both by midday, and that’s what Mark and Mark from TN did yesterday. Despite showing up as novices, these guys were quick learners and were pretty competent by the end of the trip.

Some crews get all the luck. Kosmoski here has been on a roll for the last few years. Despite being a dirty canceller earlier in the year, his crew came back this week to make a big rip on the tunas. With 8 nice tunas in the box by 11AM, it was time to head to the house. Most of the fish were in the 65-75# range, except the one below. This tuna had the length of a 75#er, but the girth of a 150# fish. I’m sure it was over 100#, and it felt it when Kosmo dropped it on my ankle. Nice fish, though I’m going to have to talk to the photographer about the focus.

What do you get when you take 5 lawyers and a welder offshore? Well, other than 5 potential plantiffs, it looks like you get a boat load of tunas too. Don Burelson and his Dallas crew made another big rip in Venice with a 2 day trip that yielded 8 nice tunas on day 1 and some AJs, snapper, redfish, bluefish, trout, croaker, etc. on day 2. Part of the crew went on from Venice to a WY antelope hunt that was to be followed by a BC mountain goat hunt, while the rest of the crew went back to work to help pick up the slack. How about it.

When the ice is still clean at 3PM, it is time to worry. Honeyhole after honeyhole was turning up dry, and with almost family and my brother’s co-worker aboard, the pressure was on. Fortunately these guys knew when to bring their A-game. They turned 4 late afternoon bites into 3 nice yellowfin and a 33# blackfin. And while Philippe’s french version of “Latino Heat” might not have been that impressive, the trip went from near disaster to a great success in just a matter of minutes. That’s tuna fishing for you.  

Mrs. Paula got a tuna trip for Christmas, but she must not like cool weather since she waited for the blistering August heat for her offshore trip. After waiting all day long for a tuna bite, she was all focus while cranking in this nice 65# yellowfin. Good work Paula.

Yep, that’s right where where Dr. Harry hooked Doug. But being a skilled physician, he was able to both hook and unhook in the same motion. Doug didn’t seem to mind, but Dr. Harry felt awful, and as a result he lost focus and ultimately lost the 2007 offshore limerick contest to Inga. While this was going on, the rest of the crew was catching fish, assembling yet another record-book catch for the Marascalco Marauders from Meridian, MS.

What’s the best way to catch tunas if you live on the east coast of Florida? Get your butt to Venice. Seven tunas early including four between 85# and 110#, then snappers, redfish, and even a bull croaker on the way in. I wish it was like that every day.

John Roach made it look easy, catching this 110# yellowfin in no time at all. Too bad he didn’t seem to be able to get any respect from his crew. John set the whole trip up and apparently feeds his friends for free all the time, but his buddies were on his back the whole time. Not only did the guys from St. Augustine have a great tuna trip, but they caught a quick limit of snappers on the way in both days as well. With the red snapper minimum size set at 20-something inches by the Southeastern Atl. Council, these guys were insisting on killing the 16-18″ snappers given the chance.

Despite some serious huffing and puffing, Det. James Jackson dug deep into his bag of tricks to land this feisty 115# yellowfin. In doing so, he barely edged out John Roach’s 110# tuna in their 2 day tournament, winning James the $20 pot. These guys from St. Augustine, FL had a great 2 day trip, and had several tunas over 90#. Here’s James with his tuna that really stretched him to his limits.

Joseph Tate and crew were one of our few groups from the Corpus Cristi boat show earlier this year. Though rumor has it that some members of the crew complained about the drive, no one was complaining after a full day of tuna, dolphin, and snapper. Not only did Joseph, Jimmy, Michelle, and Scarlet put it on the fish, they also did a pretty impressive job on the beer cooler too.

Kathy and John Watts made it down to Venice from OK City for the eigth year in a row. If I had their luck, I guess I would keep coming back too. Learning from past experience that a strong back and a weak mind are great qualities to find in a partner for an offshore trip, they brought along Timmy to do the grunt work. The tunas eluded us one day one, but we did find several nice jacks and some some good dolphins, as well as some blackfin and skipjack tunas. but on day two we had their number. We caught 8 tunas and 4 dolphins in about 2 hours. Four of the tunas were throw-backs, but 4 were nice 70 pounders. Once again, 2 days of fishing sent Timmy and the Watts back to OK with a truckload of fish and a reason to come back again.

Tim Giraud and crew were dealt a tough morning. I hate to start a trip by turning around in the river, but with lighting bolts and black clouds looking like a Poltergeist, it was the thing to do. These guys waited patiently around the marina for about an hour and a half until it looked like we might be able to sneak out. We poked our nose out the pass and caught a quick limit of snapper. We snuck a little further and caught a limit of big amberjacks. Then we made a move and found some pretty blue water in close to the pass. The first bait in the water produced a bull dolphin in the upper 40# range. We caught another dolphin and a nice yellowfin and it was time to head in. All in all, despite a rocky start, it turned out to be a great day.

Inga and I snuck away for a quick 5 day reprieve from the heat. With lows in the upper 30’s and highs in the 60’s, Alaska sure wasn’t a bad place to be during the summer. What do fishing guides do on vacation? Go fishing, I guess. Here’s a Kenai River king salmon that made a mistake last week. Thanks to Mike and Michelle for being great hosts.

Summer tuna fishing has really heated up over the past week, with several tunas over 100# and some red hot bites. The dolphins are still pretty thick in areas where the water is pretty blue, but fishing the green water has really paid off with the tunas this week. We’ve only got a few summer days still open, so give us a call before you miss the boat

That’s what I said when the previous clients for July 7th called to say they wanted to cancel their trip 5 days out because they didn’t feel the tuna fishing was going to be good enough. Fortunately Tim Frederick and his crew from St. Amant were more than happy to jump on the last minute opening. Talk about lucky winners. We saw an awesome aerial show with tunas busting on 100’s of flying fish and flying squids and were lucky enough to catch 15 yellowfin tunas before noon. Four were thow-backs, but the rest averaged 60#. Awesome trip and a great crew. 

After proving himself last year with the bait net, Scooter graduated from baitfish to big fish this year, catching his first bull dolphin. At age 8 he knows more about Peterbuilts and Kenilworths that most people ever will and now he’s starting to sharpen up on his offshore fish as well.

Brothers Cliff and Phillip Blaylock started their offshore careers off right. The first bait at the first rig produced their first tuna: a 140# yellowfin. I almost had a heat stroke just watching them fight the tuna in the blistering heat. Even though the picture looks like it was taken at midday, it was actually before 8:30AM. We added some dolphins, wahoos, and jacks to the fish box and sent these guys home as heroes.

If John Rae and crew don’t feel lucky after this trip, they never will. How do you top a 142# yellowfin in the dead of summer? How about following up that tuna with a 98″ LJFL blue marlin? We’ll that’s what these guys did on July 3rd.  Even crazier was that we caught the blue at the same rig that John’s son Wes caught his white marlin a few years ago, also aboard the KRAKEN. We were also fortunate enough to get one of our Texas A&M satellite tags into the 325# marlin, so in 60 days we’ll know a lot more about this fish. Here’s Dedo with an awesome summer yellowfin.

Fortunately amberjack, cobia, red and mangrove snappper, and triggerfish must be color blind because they bit despite the loud green team shirts of the Lancaster, MO Animal Heath Center’s fishing team. After day one, these guys were calling for anything but tunas. With dolphins and tunas from day one on top of this mixed rig bag, these guys made off with quite a haul.

I don’t know how many grandkids Doc Foster has, but he keeps coming back with more each summer. Fortunately he brough a little back-up as well. This 128# yellowfin made its way through the rotation a few times before the chef from Nebraska got him within gaff range. I hadn’t seen a big tuna in weeks, but the boys from Missouri, Colorado, and Nebraska put a 116# and a 128# on the dock in the same day. In Venice, it can happen anytime, anywhere.

Some crews are just lucky. For a while I thought that Don and crew would have to have at least one slow day eventually. Yet they keep coming back and hammering the fish year after year. I’ve got to get with him and find out how he’s picking his dates because he’s certainly doing something right. With Dr. Harry fresh off a double knee replacement and a torn tricep, I wasn’t sure if this crew would have it’s same mettle. Shame on me for even wondering. These guys are fish killers. Here’s Don, Harry, Frank, and the new guy with their latest tuna haul. 

Dwight Jones of St. Louis, MO returned to Venice for some more offshore action. Here’s me and Dwight with a nice yellowfin we caught in open water. While we didn’t catch a marlin ourselves, we saw five other boats hook up with blues in one day. Don’t know what that means about my marlin catching skills, but Dwight and Maria had a great day with both tunas and some bottom fishes.

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.

That’s right. 200 pounds. James, Stefan, Kasey, Cristian, Jim, and Brian all got a piece of this one. Well, several pieces to be exact. But despite several hand-offs, the fight time was still just at an hour and a half, which isn’t bad at all for a fish this size. This is the second 200 pounder to hit the deck on the KRAKEN. What a brute. Now we’ve got nothing at all to complain about, but guess what was in this guy’s stomach? Nothing- not even the bait we caught him on. So while we were all pretty pumped, I sure wouldn’t have minded having a 5 gallon bucket of chum stuck in his belly. But I’ll forego that bucket to catch this size fish without another boat in sight. I guess I’m going to have to ditch my line about not catching big tunas in the spring.

Wayne Templet Jr. and family came down to Venice for a little bit of everything, and that’s what they got. The tuna bite the past week or so has been over by mid-morning, leaving plenty time during midday and early afternoon to scrape together a decent bottom catch. I think they’ve got just about every color in the fish world in this mixed bag.

Jon Riner teamed up with offshore near-pro Lane Foil for what seemed to be instant success. Our first pass at the first rig of the day resulted in a hammering strike and a blistering run that had the 50LRS hot to touch. Jon did a good job on the rod, but between the relentless fish and the steep chop, he had to call for back-up. Lane got on the rod with a knowing grin, imlpying that he would quickly see this affair to an end, an end that would no doubt be him smiling with a big tuna on the deck. I don’t think events went according to his plan. First of all, his pants ripped so we had to see part of his butt for the entire fight. Secondly, though Lane is experienced and usually comes prepared, he had traded his trusty deck-grippers for what must have been a cheap sale item in the women’s footwear department at Dollar General. Lane could barely turn the handle on the reel without slipping and falling, both on the deck and almost over the side. With Jon exhausted and Randy KOed with seasickness in the bow, calling for his friend “RALPH!,” I had to run the boat and hold Lane by his other grippers so he wouldn’t go over the side. An hour later, his knowing grin had been exchanged for frothy white spittle on his lip and full-body tremors. But he refused to hand over the rod. After a little fancy foot-work, we got a gaff in the tuna and wrestled him aboard. 159# is an awesome spring-time tuna. Lane’s new lucky hat is the “Black Samurai” one he’s wearing in the picture, but I wonder if he can handle the success it brings him.

Eric Johnson and crew came down from Meridian, MS for a day of bottom fishing aboard the KRAKEN. After we caught our limit of red snappers in about 30 seconds, it was time to tend to the species count. We ended the day with a mixed box of mangrove and red snappers, amberjack, scamp and gag groupers, triggerfish, white trout and we even added a few redfish on the way in. Here’s Mitch, Mitch’s dad, and Eric Sr. with a fine red snapper triple header.

Reverends Mike and Ed from north Alabama pose with Gary and their haul from day one of their two day trip. We had a nice tuna/snapper combo on day 1. After catching 3 yellowfins and some skipjack tunas, we managed to catch our snapper limit in under 20 minutes. One day 2, not only did the tunas disappear, but they took with them our lucky rig and our nice forecast. Nevertheless, we still caught a limit of snappers and some redfish on the way home. These guys had a great trip and from the sound of it, there’ll be extra fish at the church fish fry this weekend.

Who was it that said we never catch big tunas this time of year? Oh yeah… that was me. But I’ve never been happier to eat my own words. Steve Barnett brought a new crew over from Panama City, FL, but it was his son who was the hero this time. Jarrett battled this 189# yellowfin for right at 2 hours and never even hinted that he might give up the rod. I’m still waiting to hear how sore he was the next day. What an awesome solo catch for a 15 year old.

Crista and her co-workers from the New Orleans Aquarium of the Americas came down in mid-April just before the snapper opener with one thing in mind: being the first aquarium to display a live Warsaw grouper. They’ve caught Warsaws before, but always in deep water (300′ plus) where post-catch survival was poor. The challenge they put before me was not just to catch one, but to do it in shallower than 200′. Well, mission accomplished. We caught this 40# warsaw in about 180′. The picture was taken in the big livewell they put in the back of the boat. Despite their best efforts, this one didn’t make it either- unless you were thinking of the frying pan. In addition to the Warsaw, we added a nice cobia, several gag and scamp groupers, and a school of red snapper to the Aquarium’s current collection. Hopefully the aquarium crew will be back to try again.

Walter Garner and his group from Grenada, MS, earned it the hard way. To say the action was non-stop would certainly be an overexaggeration. These guys gutted it out two days in a row with much more than flat seas, and were rewarded in the end. On day 1, we didn’t have a single fish in the box until 3 PM. After a double strike or two, we ended up with a pair of nice yellowfin, a handfull of blackfins, and almost a wahoo. On day two, we had more fog and wind, but pretty water was close to the pass so we decided to try some of the closer rigs and see what happened. What happened was it got rough. Someone on the boat must have packed the lucky horseshoe, because in the middle of nowhere, trolling open water along the 100 fathom curve, we got two bites. And what a pair they were- a 76# and a 94.5# wahoo. Interestingly, both wahoos were almost exactly the same length, but look at the difference in girth. That’s a double header that will put a smile on anyone’s face.

Denise and Perry Olson came all the way from Wyoming to check out a few days of Venice fishing. I think they were also fleeing the tail end of their Wyoming winter. Even though the tunas and wahoos eluded us in the morning, I think the Olson’s might have been a little sore from the afternoon bottom fishing. I know I was sore- from releasing big red snapper! We caught big redfish, red snapper, and a few grouper until it was time to go. Here’s a big bull red that might be on the grill in WY tonight.

What I had originally thought would be an honest shot at the wahoo category for the Venice Marina Tuna and Wahoo tournament ended up being a photo-shoot for grouper fishing with Shimano butterfly jigs. Fortunately, the crew was happy with either result. Capt. Dan and his crew from Southside Cafe ended up sweeping the grouper category at the rodeo. After a full afternoon of jigging, we had almost 20 groupers, most of which were nice gags like this one. And if you haven’t yet, I’d check out the cover of the April issue of Marsh & Bayou.

Caleb “Pirate Perch” Branscome and his sidekick Ryan bowed up on an awesome wahoo double header. I think it was actually a triple header at one point, but we’ll stick with the positive. Ryan’s wahoo tipped the scale at a hefty 89# and Caleb’s wasn’t far behind at 72#. The wahoos have been somewhat elusive so far this year, but we had their number this past weekend. And while our catch to bite ratio was not impressive, the ones we got in the boat were all goats. We ended up with 6 wahoos, all over 50#, and a blackfin just for good measure. Incredible wahoo action.

The first thing Kristin told me when she got on the boat Saturday morning was that she was going to catch the biggest fish of the trip. She was almost right. Her 76# wahoo, while a very impressive fish, was second to Ryan’s monster wahoo pictured above. After watching several good examples of what not to do with mutliple hook-ups on wahoo, Kristin jumped into the order at just the right time for one of our few single bites of the day. Pretty fish.

If you’re not going to catch many fish, you might as well catch records. That’s the approach we took last Wednesday during a slow day on the Lump. After a long day of hard fishing, all we had to show for our effort was five blackfin tunas. But one of the blackfins was certainly memorable: Robert’s monster blackfin weighed in at 36.1#, making it the second biggest blackfin tuna for the LOWA record books. Also noteworthy is that Robert’s monster blackfin is second only to the 38.6# blackfin caught aboard the KRAKEN five years ago by Dr. James Hawkins.

Craig, Keith, and Mr. Johnson all had 150# yellowfin on their minds when they booked their trip for the Midnight Lump. They got much more than just yellowfin. A full-on Lump mixed bag was their reward for travel from Tulsa, OK and Dallas, TX. We caught several blackfin, an amberjack, and the one yellowfin early in the day. Then about midday the sounder lit up: not from tunas, but from beeliners. As I’ve always said, my favorite fishes are the ones that are biting. The Johnsons got cancelled on their second day, but they went home with plenty fish and they’ve got at least two goals for their next trip: less wind and big tuna.

When I told Ralph Wells and his friends from Jackson, MS, to cross their fingers for the last bait, I thought they were supposed to hope for the luck to get one more bite. The luck they ended up needing was to not get spooled. This big tuna smoked the last bait we threw out just as it got out of sight. And it never stopped to look back. By the time we got off the anchor ball and started to chase her down, three quarters of the spool was gone. We chased the tuna for a mile and a half, and then drifted a ways farther fighting it. By the time we gaffed the fish we were closer to WD152 that to the Lump. The scale read 184# at the dock. This tuna was a brute and there’s a reason Ralph’s whole crew is in the picture. They also had a little help from the crew.

Pierce shows off a nice 68# wahoo he caught last week on the KRAKEN. We had some awesome weather during the week, with three back to back slick-calm days. The tuna fishing slowed a little, but the wahoos were there to pick up the slack. Pierce’s wahoo was one of four nice wahoo we caught last Wednesday with Mark McGavok and his crew from Water Valley, MS.

Mitch, Toni, and the rest of the crew from Regency Homes of Gulfport, MS, get the award for the most cancellations so far for 2007. These guys had to reschedule at least seven times just to get one fishable day, but it paid off in the end with several nice yellowfin tunas, wahoo, and blackfin. Mitch was the only one to not catch a yellowfin, which means that he’s due back the soonest.

Mike and Tim Heller played their cards just right on Saturday. We knew we only had a half day to fish before the weather fell apart, so we made it count right off the bat. We hooked and caught this pretty 161# yellowfin with the first bait we threw over. Mike has been on several long range trips for tunas in the Pacific, but his biggest yellowfin tuna to date came on a day trip out of Venice, Louisiana aboard the KRAKEN.

My hands have been too cold and pogiefied to do much writing for the past few days, but the wind layed down just enough for us to get out and the tunas were waiting and hungry. Our biggest this past week was this 80″ long 191# yellowfin.  Look how wide its tail is! In addition to this tuna, Kevin Sitton and his crew from Oklahoma had two other big fish (136# and 159# yellowfins), several amberjacks and some other miscellaneous tunas. That was just about more than the fish box could bear. What  a trip.

Four days of calm weather and great tuna fishing was not what I had expected for mid-December, but that’s what we got and I’ll sure take it. Despite the heavy fog, we were able to put two more crews on great tuna action over the weekend. Ricky Pierce and his crew from Kansas City had a good trip on Sat. with several 50# yellowfin tunas and a few blackins. Andrew Staurter and his bachelor party crew from Slidell got to see an incredible tuna bite yesterday. It’s one thing to leave them biting, and another to catch 8 yellowfins to 128# and leave them still blowing up out of the water. Not seeing another boat all day was just icing on the cake. Check out Dustin’s pretty 128# yellowfin tuna.

After years of practice Lane Foil, a truly gristled veteran of Venice offshore fishing, finally broke the 150# mark on yellowfin tuna with this 155# stud. He was whipped enough after the fight that he didn’t even think to hide his lucky ant hat from the camera. The strike was spectacular, as the tuna came 15 feet out of the water with the mullet in its mouth. These guys had an awesome day, with 3 of their 4 tunas weighing over 130#. We’ll be back at ‘em this weekend, and then that will probably be it for 2006.

 Come check us out in 2007.    -Capt. Brett

I don’t know what Lance told this yellowfin tuna, but whatever it was certainly worked. He brought this 148# tuna to the boat in under 20 minutes! In my haste to get the baits back out, I forgot to wipe the fog off the lense, but you can still tell this fish was a goat. We were sure we had the big fish of the day….. until the next bite.

Offshore veteran Michael MicKelvin and tuna virgin Chris tag-teamed this 131# yellowfin. This tuna smashed the first bait we threw in the water as soon as it hit the water.  An awesome strike and a great way to start the day- especially after fighting the fog and the 6′ ground swell on the way out. I can’t believe Michael let us drift that far from the rig while fighting the tuna, but at least it’s in the boat.

Gary Lairdon and crew came over from Texas to check out some late November yellowfin tuna action in Venice. The 2′ seas were more like 4’s, but we still managed to track down the tunas. Hardtails became almost impossible to catch overnight, and hooking 60# yellowfin on big mullets requires much more luck than skill, but these guys still went home with plenty tuna steaks to hold them over until their next trip.

Mitch Magner and his crew were lucky enough to pick one of the few calm days this November. And we took advantage of the weather, giving them the full tour of the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Nevertheless, the search for tunas ended with one small 40# yellowfin. As I was more than happy to point out, one is way more than none. We caught a limit of stud amberjacks, sending this crew home with plenty fish to hold them over until their next trip, and we saw a big blue marlin tearing up rainbow runners, but couldn’t get him to eat our bait. The highlight of the trip for me was watching Kevin do military presses with a big amberjack- a real coup de grace. Capt. Billy had the second boat for this two boat trip and his crew came back with one big tuna, a 153# yellowfin that they tracked down in open water. I know where I’ll start on my next trip.

Mike Beals and his wife Michelle had heard so much about the fishing in Venice, LA that after a full summer season of running their fishing lodge in Alaska, they had to come give Venice a try. In a day and a half, we managed to catch everything from redfish to yellowfin tuna, and even gave them a look at a swordfish that we didn’t end up catching. Our final species count was somewhere around 18 and I’m sure these guys will be back. Here’s Mike with his first ever yellowfin tuna and yes, he did eat the heart.

Even without their fearless leader, the injured crew from Meridian was able to put together a fine tuna catch. Here’s a shot of their 10 tunas from their second late October day. Gigi, Charles, and John claimed that it was an accident that they all wore the same color. Despite our best efforts with live mullets, all our tunas succumbed to live hardtails and pogies.

Don and his crew from Meridian, MS have been on a roll this year. Not only did they luck out with the weather, but they lucked out with the tunas too. We had two great days tuna fishing,  and even threw in a few big amberjacks for good measure.

Inga maxes out with a big AJ caught by Dr. Harry. While the tunas snubbed out live mullets, the big AJ’s couldn’t help themselves. Don and his crew added several big jacks to their fine late October yellowfin tuna catch.

Well it’s about time. It’s no secret that I’ve wanted to catch my own swordfish for a while now, and it looks like preparation may have finally met opportunity. We put lots of people on some great fish, but we don’t get to catch very many on our own. Mrs. Inga and I snuck out last night and had this one on by 7:45PM. The swordfish she caught last year is definitely bigger than mine, but at least I’m on the board. Looks like there’ll be swordfish steaks in Braithwaite this week.

October is go time for the cobia specialists in Venice, LA. While you can catch cobias in Venice just about all year long, the best time to target them is definitely early fall. I’m not saying we caught all these on fishing rods, but I am saying our 4 person limit of 8 was less than a tenth of what we saw.

Kenneth and Kenny Campo made their way back to Venice Louisiana this past weekend for a yellowfin tuna refresher along with their construction buddies from Ponchatoula. The tunas didn’t snap liked I’d hoped, but we tricked 3 decent ones into biting. Kenneth did an excellent job on his tuna, considering he put a nail through his hand with a nail gun the day before. I still can’t get him to stop holding the stand-up rod like a trout pole, but meat in the boat is exactly that. We were able to pick up a few snappers and a lost cobia on the way in.

Look at the sickle fins on this stud yellowfin tuna! Randy Corely from east Texas caught this 158# yellowfin in short order. I suspect that’s because he was trying to break the fish off for most of the fight just to end the pain. His crew says I can’t give him many compliments or his head will get too big, so I’ll lea