# Venice Offshore-Fish R.I.P.



## captain william wall (Jul 9, 2008)

<HR style="COLOR: #000000; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000" SIZE=1> <DIV id=post_message_1277152>Just wrapping up a string of trips in Venice and all I can say is the fishing remains to be "off the hook!" I started out last friday on the 13th with high hopes despite the date being the title of a stupid horror movie. I had Gary Borden and the boy's from texas. I started off the day looking for wahoo but no love was to had. Pulling the hooks on two, I decided to do a little grouper fishing before heading off to the tuna grounds. In a very short time we iced six beautiful scamps on williamson jigs and released a "ENDANGERED AMERICAN RED SNAPPER" that would have fed 10 people back to the mother ocean! After that we moved on with the day and started tuna fishing. In no time our slick looked like an aquarium! It's still so cool to look over in cobalt blue water and see large hammerheads, bonita's, blackfin tuna, kings, yellows, etc. Something that I have noticed over the past few weeks tuna fishing, is that there is definitely a pecking order when it comes to dinner time. Bonita's, kings and blackfin dart in very quick, taking what they can without becoming a target of a larger predator. Once the yellowfin and larger sharks show, all of the smaller mentioned fish move aside and below only taking the smaller scaps that sink. Back to the fishing. The bite started off with the usual loose 25 hooks to the kings and after that we began to hook up with x-tra large blackfin. We had boxed seven in a row, when a very nice yellow showed in the slick. That fish must have been hungry or dumb because he took the first chunk in the water. A short while later guest deckie, "chopper" sank the gaff in a nice 100lb puls yellow. We reset our drift and another yellow, only this one was bigger, showed up immediatley. After a little bait and switch we hooked him up. This fish had alot of fight to him. He stayed on the surface for the first 30min. and after that he went straight down and out. 45 minutes later we sunk the gaffs in a nice fish that we called around 130lbs. I was gutting the tuna when something didn't feel right in his stomach. Out pops a tracking device that was implanted by Capt. Kevin Beach at an earlier date that I will soon find out along with his weight at the time. Pretty cool stuff. Saturday I had Mark Dixon along with two of his firends. I went straight to the "sweet spot" and upon arrival, mark's friends began changing colors like the predator in the jungle scene. Well, we put them to bed in the bean bags and started fishing. I started chunking and mark was amazed by the amount of sea life. He has spent alot of time fishing just not alot of time offshore. We weeded thru the kings and got a solid hook-up which turned out to be a solid 50lb hoo on a circle hook and floro. After that we went on catching several big blacks and a small yellow. Later that afternoon a large yellow showed in the slick and we hooked him up right off the bat. Mark was doing a great job fighting this fish for about an hour. We had the fish near the boat but after an angler error that I politely call the high stick move, The tuna was able to make a strong head shake breaking the 80lb floro. That fish was 150 plus! Despite loosing the fish, marks spirits were high and he was ready to go again. We reset and on que another fish slightly bigger showed. This fish proved to be picky only taking chunks without the steel. I down sized twice on the floro in an effort to make him eat but with no luck. I continued to feed him just to watch and was leaning over the gunnels washing my hands and looking at this stud taking chunks ten feet below my boat when something caught the corner of my eye. I looked over and a mako was four feet from me and my hands, which were still in the water! With only one able angler I made the decision to leave him alone. I called over to my buddy Capt. Rimmer and told him get over here now. We feed the mako and the damn tuna and Rimmer pulled up right next to me and hooked the mako up. Later that night that mako weighed 298lbs. Interesting to say the least. Monday I had Buster Cases and his two buddies. That morning the fog in the river was very bad! I tip-toed down river and once we left south pass the fog cleared giving way to smooth seas and the sun shining. Those conditions would later prove to be the calm before something real ugly. We started off wahoo fishing and in about 5 seconds of pulling we were hooked up. One large blackfin to start the day. In the next forty five minutes we went 1 for 8 on wahoo. One fish broke the hook on a braid marauder in half! right in the curve of the hook! Another fish took a 111mr mirrorlure and made it look as if you slammed it in the door of your truck. Hummm. All the while, the seas are calm and we went on to do a little jigging before going tuna fishing. We had boxed seven large scamps and one aj on the jigs when a very cold wind came from no-where. In about enough time to make a sandwich the sky tuned balck and a 30knt plus wind turned the seas into a washing machine. I opted for the barn along with the rest of the fleet. On Wednesday I had Richard Tauber and his son in from Houston. With a short time to fish due to a early flight we started the day tuna fishing. The first bait in the water was taken by a wahoo. Luck struck again and we landed him on 80lb floro and a circle hook. After that almost every chunk was taken by some sort of fish. Right at lunch time we took a box count and we had 2 yellows, 7 blacks, 1 wahoo, and 1 amberjack. We left the tuna grounds and tried our luck jigging for a few minutes before we had to roll. Thirty min. later we had two scamps. The larger of the two around 20lbs. Mr. Richard was on the road with fish cleaned and packed with time to spare headed for the airport in N.O. On Friday I had Robert Dixon along with his lady friend Mrs. Kristy. After clearing south pass I was clipping along at 38 but the closer we got to the tuna grounds the rougher it got. By the time we completed the last 10 miles we were only able to make 18knts! Despite the sea conditions, drifting was not bad at all. I stated off with instructions on chunking and in no time we were putting fish in the boat. The Yellows were defintely hungry as we picked up four in a short period of time along with two blacks and a very confused amberjack that came to the surface eating chum. Not one to pass up an opportunity, we had another wahoo come thru the slick and he made the mistake of eating two chunks with hooks. We landed that fish on floro and a circle hook! Third time in a week! After that we landed a nice fish in the 50lb class and the last fish of the day to comlete a two person limit of yellow was a nice 90lb fish. Both Robert nor his girlfriend had ever caught a yellowfin and were all smiles. We rolled back to dock in following seas and cool tunes. They left Venice with more than enough tuna and memories of a fishing trip that they won't soon forget. The fishing in the last week has been great to say the least. I can't quite say that for the weather. With spring upon us, the tree's are in bloom and so is the fishing. Give me a call to book your next offshore adventure in Venice. 
Captain William Wall
Pelagic Charters
1.225.454.5365</DIV>


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## BlueWater2 (Sep 27, 2007)

Great reading,,thanks for the post and Pictures


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

damn will you have got to learn to post pictures, not as attachments. ill show you how this weekend.


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## captain william wall (Jul 9, 2008)

I hear ya BLUE HOE!


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