Back in Venice

[captscott]

Its been another long while since I made a full report here..fishng for tuna and wahoo has been great particulalry for wahoo,,we are gearing up for the snapper and bluewater season right now I have made full daily reports on my home website..Getting ready to make the wholesale transition to Venice this upcoming week and things are taking shape for us at the yard and for the marina down river where they are full service with accomodation for 180 people..The new restaurant and store now have a roof and the new fish hanging baord is worth the price of admission..you'll have to see it for yourself..Things are going to be really nice..it almost has a "theme park under construction feel" to it..As for our crew, we still have 2 of 4 boats in the yard with time enough to make the last few improvements before the journey down the MRGO is made.

Since my last trip over a week ago, the wind has blown steady so missing trips has been of no consequence - I do know this..yard work is no fun and we have all had our fill of it..but its the necessary and unglamorous side of the business.

Time to move on to the fun..It was great to get the 36 twin vee back to Venice where Capt. Sonny and I made our first trip of 2006. Lance was also out on charter yesterday running the 32 cat out of Grand Isle; Leon get's his chance to wet a line today....Yesterday our trip got off to a rocky start but everything would come together in the end..bluewater is still on the shelf but the grass was so thick it was really too hard to troll for wahoo in many places..in fact we didnt even try trolling at stop one; opting to make quick work of amberjacks instead..and they were big too..we had 4 jacks over 50 pounds..I also saw another boat bring in a load of slob jacks so be sure your tackle is ready..Upon reaching the second stop, grass was equally thick so we ran 3 baits close to the boat and did our best to keep the lines clear long enough to pick up a double on the first pass. Both fish made a decent run away from each other but to thier advantage doubled back close enough to become tangled at the wire leaders..We saw them thrashing on the surface about 80 yards away churning white water until each got loose..when we reeled the lines back in we had fun untangling the wire web..it was a tough break but we would steadily pick away at them as the day wore on upping the average to 13 fish for 17 strikes with three more doubles and two triples..when the dust settled the count in the fish box was 12 wahoo and one blackfin and 6 jacks..3 of the hoos were standard fatties but 10 of them were on the sleek side..one was less than 36 inches so we released him....Lance had better luck on the big hoos to the west of us picking up 7 total. He also added 6 amberjacks to his box along with a big grouper....We have both cats open the early part of next week should anyone want some wahoo before snapper season starts..we have had an increadible year for wahoo and tuna and look forward to bottom fishing and marlin and dolphin soon!!