Another great Bluewater trip out of Venice, LA
Holy cats have I been busy. I've had little time to keep up with email and no time to check my favorite websites like FAOL. Finally home for a week of catch up.
Just returned from a very successful trip to Venice, Louisiana with some good friends and some great writers. The last 3 days of the trip were focused on chasing fish offshore with the long rod and that is just what we did. Tropical Storm Ed made for some real interesting seas this past Tuesday but hardcore as we are we braved the conditions and managed to put several Mangrove Snapper, Spadefish, Jack Crevalle and even a Cobia in the boat on the fly. With the exception of a few Mangroves for the dinner table, all fish were released. The surprise of the first day was seeing and catching a small Dolphin of around 4 pounds in just 90' of water while chasing Mangrove Snapper. Guess the strong SE winds pushed her in a bit : )
On the Second day the goal was to get a Yellowfin Tuna on the fly. Having put my share of time in chasing these fish down there on fly I have learned a LOT about them (the flies to use and the methods to catch them). So after a few tough trips, I'm happy to say I'm batting 1000 the past many trips down in search of them on the fly. Well this day was no exception. Soon after arriving at a floating rig in around 4000' of water, the Yellowfin Tuna from 40 - 110lbs made their presence known as they blasted baby Bonita on the surface. What a sight to see.
I tied on my trusty flying fish pattern and got to casting. Not 30 minutes later a nice fish plowed my fly and went some 300 yards into my backing on the first run. Gotta love these fish! After a solid hour of give and take with my T&T 12WT and Islander 4.8LX reel, I won the battle and the fish was on ice. Mission accomplished!
After a beverage and a short rest I was back at it and split time between casting and shooting photos of the air show the Tuna were putting on. It was like we stepped right into the filming of the Blue Planet series. A while later, one of my fishing partners hooked into a real good Yellowfin but as luck would have it, the fish sounded straight down as soon as it felt the hook and was immediately tail-wrapped and parted the leader - OUCH! That was the last Tuna we connected with this day on the fly and we eventually headed in for some fresh sushi.
Day three had us focused on finding some good Dolphin to catch on fly. Problem was that the '08 Dolphin season was nothing like the banner seasons of '07 and '06 so we had our work cut out for us. After several stops we found some fish holding around a large stand by buoy positioned near a floating oil rig. As we caught a couple smaller fish we saw a flash of blue and here came a real nice cow Dolphin of around 20 pounds all lit up, surfing in on a wave. She crushed my fly as soon as she saw it and after many jumps, the fish was in the boat. It took some running and gunning to locate more fish but when we did, holy cow!
One of the guys on the boat hooked up with a nice cow Dolphin and as he was fighting it, a HUGE bull Dolphin showed alongside the boat. This fish was 6' long and lit up, ready to eat something. I offered up a nice tiger bunny tube fly and it ate it willingly. When it jumped we really understood just how big this fish was. This fish was easily over 40 pounds and was the largest Dolphin I've ever hooked up on any gear. After 10 minutes or so the fish was out about 200 yards and was quartering in. All looked good. Then as it was sulking on the surface it gave two very sudden and violent head shakes and the leader parted. I was sick! Heck, I still am sick BUT that is part of fishing. You win some battles and you lose some. I lost this one and it cut me deep.
Shortly thereafter while looking for more fish I saw a Frigate Bird on the deck (low to the water feeding). We made a turn in that direction and as we approached, the Gulf just exploded with Blackfin Tuna and smaller Yellowfin Tuna. As we readied the rods I grabbed the camera and began shooting photos. As we got closer it was another Discovery Channel moment. A good sized Whale Shark had just swam up and got a huge mouthful of Anchovies from a bait ball and was sitting near vertical on the surface with its mouth out of the water as it strained the water from its mouthful of anchovies. WHAT A SIGHT!!
I should have kept shooting photos but instead I grabbed the mask, fins and camera and jumped overboard to get some shots from below the surface. By the time I got my gear on the show was over and the shark dove on us. Before it dove however, one of the guys landed a fly right on its nose and a Blackfin Tuna immediately ate it off the Whale Shark. Fish on! We landed and released the Blackfin and managed to see the Whale Shark one more time before it vanished.
As we headed in we managed to happen upon a Sperm Whale Bull resting on the surface which was great to see as well.
It had been an amazing 3 days with the long rods and we caught plenty of fish (although I sure wish I had landed just one more).
For anyone looking for a true bluewater adventure with the fly rods, Venice (Louisiana) is THE place. Nowhere else can you get so many species in world class size and quantity and be treated to natural wonders like you do down there. Can't wait to get back there for the next trip!
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Thanks for the report.
Originally Posted by SteveGibson
