Offshore VEnice La

[CaptEddie]

I think I ran my last overnighter of the season on friday night With Gabe Galster and crew Not cause the fishing is bad though just the weather. We finished up with the strongest trip of the overnighter season. We left out around 11 and made bait at a rig. Fished in close for a half hour or so and landed one fish about 30 pounds. The decision was made to go out to the final destination. We rolled south and got to the rig around 3 in the afternoon. The first half hour was slow and we picked up one 30 pounder on a livie. Then like a light switch the last 2 hours before dark was a slaughterfest. I couldnt even get one live bait out before we had a fish on. I did manage to get two baits out 3-4 times and everytime was a double hookup. the fish started off small and ended up big. The first five fish of the trip we caught were 30 pounders. 12 of the next 15 were over 60 pounds. Everyone was getting in on the action and we were even jiggin up yellowfins with the knife jigs.
All of the fish were biting on live hardtails on 80 pound line with frenzy 7/0 circle hooks. By the time night rolled around we had 14-15 fish in the box. We just needed a couple more to finish out our limit so we started chunking with blackfins. The yellowfin showed right up and we were handfeeding them in the slick. It wasnt quite as fast as with live bait but by 730 we had put number 18 in the box and released a handful of yellowfin as well. The decision was made to go swordfishing. We headed north and set up our spread. We drifted about 2-3 hours with no luck and headed to the barn to get eveything cleaned up. A lot of the bigger tunas had mullet in their stomachs and I saw plenty of mullet in my green light while I was swordfishing.

[Verado06]

Man thats is catching right there!!!

[Boboe]

Are they those pretty electric blue mullet that I've seen offshore? They look like a flier without wings basically.

[CaptEddie]

Nope they are plain old inshore mullet. They have to go offshore to spawn here though so thats why we find them swimming around in 6000 feet of water.

[LT Nemo]

Captain Eddie,
I posted this in another section but I think it may have gone under another persons post. I just wanted to make sure the right person gets the right post.

I am in the Army stationed at FT. Polk. I got a bigger boat last June and I have always wanted to catch a Tuna. Some friends and I are planning to come down and try our luck with Tuna and possibly try and put a few Grouper in the Boat(26th-28th DEC). I have never been down to Venice and I have a few questions for you.
1. Which inlet do I need to go out from (SW or South Pass) I have a 26ft Mako CC with twin 150s.
2. I have the coordinates for the top of the Dome but are there any other places that your willing to share, that we might improve our chances of boating at least 1 tuna.
3. The question is do I even need to troll or is it better to drift with live bait?
4. What depth do I need to be in to catch grouper? I have only caught short ones from the Cameron area and they were caught in the 150-175 ft depth range.
I would appreciate any advice you can give.
Sincerely,
__________________

[jbrad1973]

Hey Capt, How much would a tuna charter set me back. Are there group trips I could get it? I would like to take my 7 yr old son as well but I dont know the age limits.. I saw a trip on "HOOK THE FUTURE" on dish and I would love to catch some tuna.. Any info would be appreciated...

[Boboe]

[quote=LT Nemo;36107]Captain Eddie,

3. The question is do I even need to troll or is it better to drift with live bait?

Troll your livies. Don't troll them hard, just keep them moving. I hook my hardtails through the shoulder and run them both on the outriggers and off the corner. Sometimes we'll fish them on a downrigger too. Hardtails are super hearty baits, and hooking them through the shoulder keeps them alive for a very long time.

4. What depth do I need to be in to catch grouper? I have only caught short ones from the Cameron area and they were caught in the 150-175 ft depth range.

What species of grouper are you hunting? In general, you will find gags from 60'-400', with a most of them in the 150-250' range. To target scamps, you want to be in 200'-400'. They like little live baits. Unlike most other species of grouper, they're reluctant to eat something dead. You can keep on going deeper and fish for snowies and yellow edges from 300' to however deep you want to go.

QUOTE]

[LT Nemo]

I am not real perticular about a specific species as long as they pull hard and taste good. I am accustomed to catching Gags and Reds in North Central FL. I have heard they have some really large grouper that are caught off the rigs in LA and would like to hook up to one. I will try what you suggested.
Thank you very much for the information and I will be sure and let you know how we do next week.
Happy Holidays
Eric M Folsom

[Boboe]

Fishing grouper on the rigs isn't something I enjoy. You get rocked by small fish due to the legs of the rig. Even when you catch them, your line is often shredded way up. Be prepared to drive off on nearly every bite in water over 200'.

The "big grouper" you're probably thinking about are Warsaws. They're giants, and I'd like to catch a big one once. They're not very good to eat. Even a 50# Warsaw isn't great, and a 300# Warsaw is very unpalatable and tough. I'd rather fish for scamps.

[CaptEddie]

Sorry I missed your post about being in La. Were you guys in a yellow mako catching mullet at the marina wed morning.