# Venice Offshore- Whacky Winter!



## captain william wall (Jul 9, 2008)

<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>The fishing in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City><st1lace>Venice</st1lace></st1:City> for the last ten days when we could get out was definitely a mixture of good days and not so good days and days when sanity was questioned by the elements. On 2/12 I got a call from Bill Bahr, he was down in <st1:City><st1lace>Venice</st1lace></st1:City> with boat problems and had a crew in need of getting offshore. I obliged him and we met the next morning. The forecast was calling for some pretty heavy stuff in the morning so we left the dock at <st1:time Hour="9" Minute="0">9:00 am</st1:time>. Upon arriving offshore the conditions had subsided to a comfortable 3-4 ft. We pulled for wahoo for the first couple of hours and no love was to be had. We made the decision to tuna fish and a few minutes later we had arrived on the ?tuna? grounds. I set up for the chunk and the guys were running four rods off the starboard staggered from bow to stern and the current was making it easy. The kings showed up quick like a gang of bad kids stealing every hook that hit the water. At one point I eventually starting putting little piles of Frenzy hook?s everywhere so the guys could just turn around and grab one. On drift # 418 a nice yellow shows in the slick and game on. Bill?s son was soon hooked up to the biggest tuna of his young life. The heckling soon commenced from his dad and crew as they were having a ball watching him get his butt whooped by this fish. Youth prevailed and a nice fish around 115-120lbs was flopping on the deck. A short while later we doubled up and Mr. John, I call him Mr. out of respect for his age and the fact that he absolutely man handled a 90lb fish in about 8 minutes! The other was a small fish in the 40lb class. It was getting late but we kept fishing anyway. Bill hooked up again but the fish pulled off after 10 minutes. A cool day all around and I really enjoyed fishing with these guys. The next morning dawned as a new day and the forecast was slick calm. I was really excited about the prospects of the day but the current had dyed over night and the ?chunk junk? was the only thing to be had. After donating more hooks than I cared to, we hit a few rigs and tried out the new Frenzy jigs that Capt. Seiner had brought along. We caught everything from amberjack to jack crevalle. No tuna that day and no tuna for anybody else for that fact. On 2/18 I had a good friend, Captain Herk, along with his gang from Grand Isle. These guys wanted tuna so with the given forecast we ran long in an effort to find some tuna. After covering pretty much of the northern gulf we settled in an area that was marking fish and small blacks were busting all around. At <st1:time Hour="15" Minute="0">3:00</st1:time> we caught our first and only tuna of the day. We stopped a little after <st1:time Hour="16" Minute="0">4:00</st1:time> and headed for the barn. Tough day indeed, we made it back to the marina and only one other tuna was brought in. The next morning I was intent on killing some fish. My crew were guest of Salt Grass Lodge and after letting them know of the mysterious disappearance of our yellowfin, we set off with wahoo in mind. We hadn?t made it 12 miles offshore when I spotted a large group of birds working in the distant. We eased closer and stumbled on a giant open water school of menhaden that was getting pounded hard by giant blackfin. We picked up three in the 20-25lb class on the troll quick. I pulled out the ole? cast net and decided to get some for livies. I threw the net once off the bow and was nearly yanked off when the rope came tight! It took four of us to roll it in the boat and I would guess somewhere around 200lb plus of fresh menhaden. After that, the guys were hooking the blacks four at a time on livies. All the while the surface was erupting with explosions as predators were taking full advantage of the free meal. We stopped at twelve and decided to check out the wahoo bite. Soon after we doubled up and upon inspection it was nasty jack crevalle. I switched from structure to open water in an effort to get away from the trash. I changed the spread up a little running two stretch baits short and in the wash along an islander/ ballyhoo combo medium long and a blue-water candy/ ballyhoo combo with a 48oz weight forward way long. After two pull offs we soon hooked up again. This fish was in the 25-30 class. We reset and repeated the same track only to get bit a minute later. The first run on the strike was impressive. The fish settled down only to make two more hard runs in twenty minutes. A short while later we sank two gaffs in a wahoo that would go 80-85lbs. The girth on this fish was stupid to say the least. After that we got bit on the long bait only to pull the hooks and head for the barn. The next day the forecast had gone to crap. We stayed in the same area as the day before but the wahoo didn?t want to play at least not with me. We enjoyed triple hook-ups to the every popular jacks. I again hit open water and stumbled on yellows busting a pogie ball. I found them a little too late as only a few pogies were left and they wanted nothing to do with the chunk, nor the top-water. The fact that they were there, made it promising. We fished the rest of the day in 4-5ft seas and with no love on the wahoo we ended up with a limit of amberjacks in the 30-45lb range. As you can tell from my point of view behind the helm, the fishing has been up and down as earlier stated. Sometimes you are dealt jack and kings but you can bet that there is an ace somewhere. The upcoming full moon should take it back to full gear on the tuna and wahoo. I still have a few days left in March and it should be good.<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>Captain William Wall<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>Pelagic Charters<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>www.pelagicchartersllc.com<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>1.225.454.5365 <P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>







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## captain william wall (Jul 9, 2008)

Sorry for the crazy format.


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## Ultralite (Oct 1, 2007)

good report capt. that's stud 'hoo! thanks for posting...

if you can get your cursor in between those pics that are lined across the screen and hit enter each time, the format will be fixed...


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

That wahoo is proportioned like a tuna. Congrats and thanks for the report


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## Heller High Water (Nov 1, 2007)

Thanks for the report captain.


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## NaClH2O (Feb 14, 2008)

Thanks for the report and pictures. Sure do wish the wahoo would turn on.


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## younghooker (Oct 7, 2007)

those are oversize trebles on the pink stretch 30 (wahoo).. what do you use ?? thanks..


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## captain william wall (Jul 9, 2008)

Owner 4xx strong size #4 on Stretch 30,s and Bomber cdr 30. #3 on X-rap


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## Bill Me (Oct 5, 2007)

That WOO is a PIG!


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## prostreet78 (Mar 2, 2008)

nice hoo and nice job all around


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## flipjohnson (Apr 14, 2008)

Hey I saw you out on the 19th but we came in late and I did not get to see your catch. Fishing was a little slow but we caught some nice fish anyway and had a great time.


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## how2fish (Jan 21, 2008)

Thanks for the reports Capt...damn I wish I could get down to your neck of the woods..


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## Snatch it (Feb 17, 2009)

Nice Report Thanks


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## Sea That (Dec 12, 2009)

Thanks for the report. Wish they would put up some oil rigs around here.


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