WE ARE FISHING!!!!!

The spill has shut down shrimping, oysters, the pogy (menhaden)plant, crabbing, and our general day to day living. Our offshore and inshore fishing is NOT shut down just closed in some areas.

The dominant winds are from the east down here as yours is from the west in the north east. This and the eddy from the Mississippi has been holding a lot of it in the pocket caused by the finger of land and the pocket formed along Alabama, Mississippi, and the panhandle of Florida. The cleanup Effort is massive. They have an armada of shrimp, mullet, crab, jackups, air boats and many other types of boats all manned by locals working around the clock to stop it fron getting into our bayou (marshes). My boats are not desired because of the oil being hard to clean off the white fiberglass.

I am not involved in the spill because I have been fishing. The East side is closed. This leaves us the south and west to fish and we have a lot of area to still fish. I can not see the entire gulf being closed any time soon. I lost my camera so untill I get into the city I will have no pictures.

We did an overnighter and had a little trouble finding the yellowfin. The blackfin were in good numbers but not as heavy as in previous years. The Yellowfin have been shutting down at night as they did last year also. We did manage a few yellows in the 40-50 pound range and a good bunch of blackfin. On the way in we stopped and got some nice amberjack to 60 pounds to add to our box.

2 interest things happened.

(1) We caught a swordfish on a diamond jig. It was only a pup and went back after a quick picture. What a surprise that was to see a bill coming at us. You never know in these waters.

(2) About 4 in the afternoon, over fifty miles offshore, a cormerant swam to our boat and came aboard. First thought was oiled bird or sick bird. The cormerant was smaller than standard and it was more brown than black. As I was taking in a live bait to make a move he ripped it off the hook and devowered it. He stayed with us all night and the next day all the way to the dock. I gave him 2 more fish during that time. Because of the oil spill we have an audabond (SP) wildlife set up at Fort Jackson. They came and got the bird. On the way home I stopped and they told me that the bird was lost and starving. It is not from here. It is not found north of Brownsville, Texas. I will spend a night or two in the vet clinic and most likely end up in the audabond (SP) zoo here in New Orleans. By the end of the second day the bird was domesticated and he came right up to us. It also got very comfortable on the boat. I know will go there because it may not survive in the wild again.

Yesterday we ran in a different direction due to the closed area. The seas drove us to the edge of the closed area as we found out the place we wanted to fish was not closed so we went there. We got there late. The bait was hard to get but the boats already there had a few yellowfin. The bite was slow. The fish were busting but not hitting topwater baits. We lost 2 on chunks and got one. Late in the day the blackfin and bonito came up. This provided us with some good topwater action. As we were drifting and casting I ran a live bait out and it was hit. It wound up being our best yellow of the day. Nothing big but a 50-60 class fish is always welcome.

We are still fishing. I am looking forward to red snapper season opening. Unfortunatly the place I Want to fish may still be closed but that is too far down the line. The open water places change as the wind blows so we will see. The marsh (Bayou) is the disaster that can break this whole parish.

Life is Good!