I have been dealing with some family issues so my fishing has been limited. I have not been able to scout or even touch base with the other guides to get intel. Last week I had Chris from Michigan inshore. The winds were out of the east blowing at 20 mph with gusts. I ran south into a pond that gave us some shelter. There were many other guides that had the same idea. The fish were pushed way back into the canes. Nobody was doing anything even with live shrimp. I spent most of the morning in this area and was only able to land this one beauty that was his first ever redfish.



This 31 inch fish was as a big disappointment to me. Although hooking up a long way from the boat if came in like an rat red only bouncing the rod a bit. Once near the boat it decided to wake up. Even then it seemed very lethargic. The fish never fought the way it should have. If all the fish were shut down this way due to conditions that would explain why nobody was doing well at all.

After killing most of the morning there I made a drastic move from the south east of Venice to the north west. My first place was a big mistake. I then attempted to go into Yellow cotton bay. It was rough as heck and chocolate. It was getting late but I had to find something even though the conditions were horrible. I found some almost clean water. While working that I saw some pelicans diving. I could not get there due to very shallow water. I found a stand of canes nearby that had a bit of water moving and we were suddenly on fish. . We found a limit of keepers and even released some as well as black drum, sheepshead, and even stingrays. Finished strong.



This weekend I had the pleasure of running with Tim Euting on his 26 foot Calcutta. The first day our target was wahoo. We knew the tuna bite was hot and this would be the best day to get offshore. I spoiled him last year when he landed a 105 pound, 31 inch wahoo to break in his boat that was so new it had not even had the break in oil changed.



We went to the west instead of the east like the rest of the fleet. The water was beautiful I was feeling a good day. Our trolling around several rigs did not bring up anything at all. We marked a ton of fish. We took the time to jig some of the heavy marks hoping to find a blackfin or even a yellowfin. A Striker Tackle flat fall jig proved deadly for this very nice Amberjack. The hooks were into it's gullet. No need to measure this guy. Just put him in the box.



We had some meat in the box. Our morning continued going from rig to rig looking for some wahoo. There were a few caught in this area the day before. Conditions were great. On our fifth or sixth rig we get a knockdown. This fish is burning line. This is what we came out here for. We had our first wahoo hooked up. It took quite a while before we had a chance to see the fish. This gut took out a bunch of line and made a few good runs to boot. I stuck it and only one of the hooks on the purple Russelure deep diver was stuck in the back of the head once the fish hit the deck. Luck was in our favor this time.



We now had our targeted wahoo in our hands. A kid that goes 6 foot 5 makes the fish look smaller than it is. Good start.



We finally found the wahoo or so we thought. Several passes around the rig with no other hits. As we were talking about out next move we get another knockdown. Great! This guy was diving deep and I was thinking a tuna. They were in this area according to our marks on the screen. It turned out to be our fourth and last amberjack. Looks like purple Russelure was the bait of the day. We now had 4 AJ's and 1 hooter.



The rest of the day went uneventful but Tim was happy with a box full of meat including his nice wahoo. We decided to make a quick stop for some state water red snapper. First stop we got one but the current was against us. Our next stop was covered up with short red snapper. It was getting late and the fog was closing in on us so we headed in. Just outside of Southwest pass A boat flagged us down. He was moving but we went over to see what he had for a problem. He spun a hub and even though he was making some headway he had gone from 6 mph to 3 mph. His hub was getting worse. Once he got into the river current he would have been done. We towed his boat to a small structure in calm water and secured it. There was no way we could have towed them all the way in making the towing speed we were doing under those conditions. We then brought everybody back into Cypress Cove Marina as well as some of their fishing gear. We made it in at dark as it was.



Our last day we knew the conditions would get snottier as the day went on. It was already blowing at 13 before we even left the dock. We made an attempt to get out to the tuna grounds. As we were getting further out conditions were getting worse. Just when I was thinking time to go to plan B, Tim slowed up, I knew we were both thinking the same thing. We were still in state waters. This area gets very little if any red snapper targeting because it is out of the way. We tied up to a rig and dropped down. The bite was almost non existent until the fish figured we were dropping down food. Once that started we quickly put a limit of good red snapper from 10 to 16.5 pounds in the box.

The day was very early and we were not looking to go in yet. We had no choice but to make a long run around the horn in order to finish our day. It seemed like hours before we got to out targeted area. Our first place gave us some very small red snapper. There was no danger for them being hurt because we were in very shallow water. We started bouncing around until we found a rig with fish feeding. We spent the rest of the day getting bites on every drop almost instantly. Many small redfish and several over 10 pounds as well as some very nice lane snapper. We ended up with 4 of these cherished beauties along with a mangrove snapper, some white trout, and redfish.



Some of the fish were already being cleaned before I was able to get a shot of the full cart of fish. Made for 2 good days fishing with Tim on his beautiful Calcutta boat.



Life is Good!

Beautiful boat and great fish!

Great fishing and report as always.