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Red-Hot Summer Sport Fishing at Venice, Louisiana

Doug Olander — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 02:31:06 +0000

Monster of the Marsh

Venice, Louisiana, has earned an international reputation among serious anglers as one of the world’s great sport-fishing destinations. But midsummer in Venice is reputedly too hot, too many tropical weather systems make any plans dicey, plus the bigger redfish that left in spring won’t return until fall. During my visit to Venice with three fishing buddies in early August, we enjoyed marvelous weather, and apparently someone forgot to tell the bull reds they were supposed to have left the marshes. It was hot and humid, as we’d anticipated, and nothing could change that. But it wasn’t unbearable, particularly with the action proving as hot as the weather. Here, the author (left) and Hunter Cole with Penn/Berkley, share a moment of triumph before releasing one of the golden monsters of the marsh. (This gallery is based on the feature Smokin’ Hot that appeared in Sport Fishing magazine.) Capt. Brent Ballay

Fishing “the Ponds”

We planned four fishing days, the first and last inshore, day two offshore in blue water, and day three nearshore in the delta. That way we would truly experience all the major fishery options Venice has to offer, and the remarkable variety of these waters and varied habitats. That meant our first day would be spent casting the seemingly endless labyrinth of semiclear, weedy shallows with warm, muddy bottoms. The four of us fished in two skiffs, with captains Brandon and Brent Ballay of Venice Outdoors, longtime guides here. Doug Olander

Surprises in the Shallows

Being a longtime guide, I thought, is a really good thing here, as the two boats expertly raced through a daunting maze of long narrow channels that cut through shallow marsh ponds. Anyone without such years of local knowledge, even with GPS, would be navigating these waters at great risk. Along with Hunter Cole, I watched Brent Ballay strike first blood when he quickly put a red-and-white surface walker near a big swirl on the mirror-calm surface about 15 yards away. But it wasn’t a red drum, or anything similar. “Gar!” Ballay called out as the toothy 3- to 4-footer thrashed about. In fact, he said, it’s not unusual to see some pretty big alligator gar in these shallows. Doug Olander

Aggressive Reds

Soon we began seeing our primary quarry. In fact, with none of us being color blind, it was tough to miss redfish. It seemed that the farther back in the shallow, weed-choked ponds we fished, the more brilliantly glowed the goldfish that were red drum. That color popped from the dark shallows as if lit from within. We caught some fish while blind-casting, but not surprisingly, we spent much of our day sight-casting. No matter where in the world or what the fish, casting to individual targets provides some of fishing’s most exciting moments, and it was a real kick here to watch big reds charge from under patches of vegetation to clobber a lure. Doug Olander

Soft Lure Works Magic for Big Reds

Most often, the lure these reds went after would be a soft bait with a single hook, hidden to make it weedless. I threw a few crankbaits in open spots, but for the most part, this habitat was decidedly not treble-hook friendly. In fact, my go-to lure this day turned out to be a Sebile Magic Swimmer with almost no weight. That allowed me, with light braid, to make it dart and dance erratically but slowly, yet without falling into masses of weeds a few inches down. (Before casting, I would push the lure up on the hook as it is shown here, to cover the point and make it truly weedless.) Doug Olander

Black Bushwhacker

Hunter and I were surprised not only by just how many shots at redfish we enjoyed that day, but also by the size of many of these fish, legitimately in the “bull” range. I cast my Magic Swimmer to a drum, but one definitely not red. Ballay had spotted a large black drum hanging out where a small feeder canal dumped into the pond we were fishing. I dropped the lure 10 feet beyond the fish and pulled it right in front of its nose, which was apparently more than the fish could resist, and suddenly the fight was on. Hunter Cole

Obstacle Course

Many of our battles with redfish in these “ponds” proved tricky. With fairly light braid, the bigger bulls were able to scream off 100 feet or more with little effort, but unfortunately that was often beneath floating mats of grass and around tall beds of weeds. If the fish went straight away from the boat, we might land it. But fish that made sharp turns while running could, more than once, snap the braid from the weight of the weeds on the line. It all made for many exciting moments, though it also convinced me next time to bring reels spooled with at least 20-pound. Doug Olander

Trout Beyond the Shallows

Meanwhile, on the other skiff with Capt. Brandon Ballay, Mike Nussman with the American Sportfishing Association, and Rob Wittman, U.S. representative from Virginia, were having a similar day, giving the four of us plenty to celebrate that evening. Larger trout were a bit farther out as Wittman, shown here, found. Doug Olander

Weed-Choked Waters

Brent Ballay clears his trolling motor of weeds. Spotting huge bull reds hunkered down in the vegetation in these shallow, weed-choked waters was a real rush. Doug Olander

Time to Hit the Offshore Rigs

On day two, we exercised the offshore option. Big cats, like that shown here fishing for tuna off a large floating rig, are locally popular. The four of us boarded Capt. Damon McKnight‘s 33-foot Freeman cat a couple of hours after sunup, having waited out the small but persistent squall cluster that lingered off the mouth of the Mississippi until close to 8 a.m. Doug Olander

Poppers At the Ready

After that, we were off into sunny and calm waters — hoping to see some surface activity to throw some of the array of large poppers and twitch baits we’d brought; we had them rigged and ready for yellowfin, like the Sebile Splasher and Stick Shadd shown here. Summer can offer outstanding yellowfin action for fish of various sizes, though 150- to 200-pound monsters are less likely in the middle of summer than in spring. Doug Olander

Hardtail Heaven

Loving to throw lures but also being realistic, we stopped at a couple of oil platforms on the way out (as this photo shows, with a few squalls still lingering) to put a fair number of small hardtails (blue runners) in the baitwell. Hard to beat liveys! Then we headed out to the Who Dat rig, about 50 miles offshore from South Pass. With the yellowfin mostly staying deeper, we ended up throwing lures only occasionally, and at that we had to be fast, since the yellowfin tended to appear and disappear quickly. Doug Olander

Slow-Troll Takes a Tuna

With the yellowfin hanging well below us, McKnight started slowly moving the boat around the rig with live-bait rigs down off two rods. Pretty quickly Wittman (shown here as McKnight applies the gaff) was on; he muscled in a nice 80-pounder. (Though the congressman was clearly delighted with that yellowfin, I knew he’d caught larger — having seen a replica mount in his D.C. office of the 308 he took off Mexico on stand-up gear.) Doug Olander

Twitch-Bait Tuna

Not long before lines-out time, I tossed a fast-sinking Stick Shadd into a small commotion barely within casting range. Just as I started an erratic hard-twitch retrieve, it was nailed, and I ended up with a lure-caught tuna, though far smaller than Wittman’s. Rob Wittman

The Ubiquitous Red Snapper

Our third day out — again with McKnight but this time in his 32-foot Twin Vee — produced excitement of a very different kind, as we fished around nearshore rigs and other structure for various species. Inevitably, we caught red snapper, which are pretty much everywhere offshore and nearshore these days, though we didn’t want to target snapper since it remained (during most of 2013 and again in 2014, in fact) illegal to keep them. Mike Nussman

Where Kings Roam the Rigs

King mackerel, no stranger to the delta in the summer, left us with several snipped rigs, but we also hooked several. The larger fish, like this one hefted by the ASA’s Mike Nussman, put on a good show, screaming away in this or that direction, often taking the angler around the boat in a hurry. Doug Olander

Monster Jacks

Always up for a challenge, Penn’s Hunter Cole put his Torque to the test against 30 pounds of jack crevalle, one of several we hooked that morning. Doug Olander

Gulf Potpourri

It’s tough to guess what game fish will hit a lure in the fish-rich delta. Cole expected another big jack when he cast a Stick Shadd to a single-pole platform but ended up with a cobia of moderate size. Doug Olander

Day’s Best Cobia

Wittman caught the best cobia of the day, a beast that grabbed a metal jig and gave the congressman one heck of a fight on his small Penn Battle spinner with light braid. Doug Olander

Best Angler? The Congressman Has My Vote.

Wittman outfished his fellow anglers not only in terms of quality but also quantity, his mixed bag including bluefish, some good-size trout and other species. Doug Olander

To paraphrase a favorite saying of Harry Truman, if you can’t stand the summer heat, stay out of the delta — or come back in fall. Otherwise, if you like your fishing fast and varied, the dog days are a great time to fish Venice. Doug Olander

Visiting Venice

It’s become almost clichéd to say in a fishing magazine that there’s not a lot of tourist appeal here, at the end of the highway that runs south out of New Orleans for a couple of hours. But for serious fishing, few places can beat it. You’ll need to drive down; if you fly, plan to rent a car in the Big Easy. There’s good fishing year-round for most of the species mentioned above. Winter fronts can make a trip at that time of year a dicey proposition, but there are always calm days — and there can be outstanding fishing for wahoo as well as tuna, with some big mako sharks thrown in. Of course, most guides have tackle, but many anglers like to bring their own. If you plan to fish all habitats, as we did, you’ll need a pretty good range of gear. For inshore action, we brought light tackle and lots of various lures. If you simply want to crank in fish, you can rely on the standby of popping corks and soft baits — “Some days, we’ll catch 200 to 300 reds, one right after the other, that way,” says Brent Ballay — but we were after a different sort of experience. You’ll find numerous offshore charters and inshore guide services in and around Venice. We certainly had a great time with Capt. Damon McKnight and with the Ballays. A quick Google search will reveal several lodging options. Also most skippers here will suggest or set you up with accommodations. For general information, visit Louisiana Tourism. Doug Olander

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Sizzling Summer Fishing in Venice, Louisiana

Doug Olander — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 00:42:45 +0000

Yes, fall and spring offer fanastic fishing out of Venice, Louisiana.But — even if it’s a less-popular time — so does summer. For a few days in the third week of August, I joined three other anglers to prove that. By any standard, we did, posting a successful outing. And we managed to fish three primary habitats for a fabulous variety of game fishes — sightcasting the shallow marsh ponds; working lures around nearshore delta rigs; and casting/live-baiting the floater rigs far offshore in blue water. I’ll let the images that follow tell the story. Capt. Brent Ballay

Yes, fall and spring offer fanastic fishing out of Venice, Louisiana. But — even if it’s a less-popular time — so does summer. For a few days in the third week of August, I joined three other anglers to prove that. By any standard, we did, posting a successful outing. And we managed to fish three primary habitats for a fabulous variety of game fishes — sightcasting the shallow marsh ponds; working lures around nearshore delta rigs; and casting/live-baiting the floater rigs far offshore in blue water. I’ll let the images that follow tell the story. Capt. Brent Ballay

Navigating the Marsh

Day 1 and our guide, Capt. Brent Ballay, powers his HydraSports bay boat through an endless maze of channels in the cane to reach quiet, shallow “ponds” where the water should be clear enough to sight-cast to cruising or feeding redfish. Doug Olander

… and find reds, we do. These red drum, from a couple of pounds to close to 40, are a strikingly bright copper hue, thanks to the fairly fresh water in the ponds. Doug Olander

First Blood

The massive back of a trophy bull red fills the foreground as Brent reaches out for it. The angler, Hunter Cole, with Penn and Abu-Garcia, caught this and several other reds on a Silver Minnow weedless spoon in a New Penny color. (Taken from inside the boat with my GoPro.)

Alligator Surprise

Brent starts the day not with a redfish but a large alligator gar that manage to get a hook from his surface walker into its bony, toothy mouth. (Another GoPro shot.) Doug Olander

Handle With Care

Though at 25 pounds or so, this alligator gar was no baby, adults reach well over 200 pounds in some areas. Doug Olander

A Pain in the Grass

We quickly determined that the sort of light lines one might use for big reds in the shallows of the Indian River Lagoon were disastrous here since the fish would dart under thick mats of the stuff and break off. With 20- to 30-pound braid, we stood a good chance of landing bulls despite the grass, some of which is evident on Hunter’s line, here.

Making for a Crab Trap

Hunter tries to put the brakes on a nice redfish before it can rub his light Nanofil braid against a barnacled rope of a crab trap. Doug Olander

Here’s Lookin’ at You, Kid

Looking a bit like a ventriloquist’s dummy, a redfish suffers the momentary indignity of a head-on pose for angler Hunter Cole.

Locked and Lipped

Some reds were — thankfully — encountered in relatively open water (free of thick grass). Doug Olander

A Double Handful

Some very large bull reds were cruising the marsh ponds this day. Brent said they should be offshore, spawning, but typical of fishing around Venice — one just never knows.I also took this shot from inside the boat, using my GoPro. Doug Olander

Working Magic

One of the two top producers this day, the Sebile Magic Swimmer Soft worked well for me. With the bait scooted up the hook so the point was tucked in just below the top of the lure, and fished with no weight, it offered lots of action but sank so slowly I could keep it out of the shallow weeds. Doug Olander

Old Black Gets Into the Act

Brent spotted this large black drum (which weighed around 30 pounds, though hard to see that here) sitting near the shore in a pond. I pulled the Magic Swimmer right past its nose. It snapped at the lure and rest is history. Hunter Cole

Face to Face

Hunter admires yet another nice pond red that struck a Magic Swimmer. Doug Olander

Fishing a tiny Penn Conflict 2500 spinner, Rob Wittman (right) and Capt. Brandon Ballay enjoy a moment of triumph before releasing a handsome marsh bull. Wittman is a U.S. representative from Virginia — and as an angler, he is the real deal (who consistently outfished the other three anglers on this trip!). Doug Olander

Ready for a Long Ride

On our second day, we got a late start thanks to a storm cell that parked itself just off the Mississippi River mouth. Here, Capt. Damon McKnight of Superstrike Charters picks up (from left) Rob Wittman, Hunter Cole and Mike Nussman, president of the American Sportfishing Association, in his Freeman 33 cat** **for the 45-minute run downriver, then 35 more offshore to the first rig we’ll fish on this, our offshore day.

Sabikis Down

Despite the driving rain, we put sabiki rigs over the side at the Noble Amos Runner rig, which is tethered to the bottom in about 2,000 feet. Doug Olander

Tuna Candy

At least that’s what we hope this small hardtail (blue runner) and a dozen or so more like it going into our live baitwell will prove to be. We’re hoping to see the tuna on top where they should whack poppers, but if not, we’ll drop liveys into their zone. Doug Olander

One of those live runners pays off for Mike Nussman who brought this 35-pound yellowfin tuna to boatside in short order. Doug Olander

Hanging On for Dear Life

Damon, our skipper, holds on as another yellowfin registers its displeasure at being gaffed, as Rob Wittman handles the rod. (I took this photo from inside the boat, again thanks to my GoPro.)

Comin’ Back!

Damon eases the big tuna back along the gunwale toward the stern, where the freeboard is lower, before attempting to swing it aboard. Doug Olander

Big Tuna Proves a Handful

Damon struggles to ease Rob’s tuna into the cockpit. Doug Olander

Primary Target Acquired

Our main objective this day: yellowfin tuna, so Rob’s landing this 90-pounder fit the program nicely. We spotted tuna briefly throughout the day, always near the rig (North Amos Runner), visible in the background. Doug Olander

Monster FAD

Floating platforms like North Amos Runner, tethered in deep water serve as industrial-strength FADs (fish-attracting devices) for pelagic game fish such as yellowfin, but also billfish and at times dolphin (mahi), rainbow runners and other species.

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Some days, yellowfin will be busting on top for long periods. Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of those days, with the fish mostly staying down. Then metal jigs and live baits will get down to ’em Doug Olander

Ready to Throw

Two proven tuna lures wait on large Penn Spinfisher outfits, ready to pick up heave out when tuna come a-busting near enough to the boat. The concave face of the red-and-white Sebile Splasher sets up a fuss on top, while the Sebile Fast-Sinking Stick Shadd work very effectively as a fast jerk-and-pause subsurface twitch bait. Doug Olander

Tuna on the Twiitchbait

Throughout the day, we saw yellowfin explode just out of our casting range — and they seldom stayed up for more than a couple of minutes. Toward mid-afternoon, a few tuna busted momentarily within reach. I tossed out this Stick Shadd, and it landed right on the money. Three twitches and wham! Rob Wittman

Reason to Smile

Finally, after watching tuna too far away to cast to, I got a shot. This yellowfin offered a great strike and fight on the Penn Torque 5 spinning reel with 50-pound braid behind me. Rob Wittman

Ready for a Big Cobia

Cobia were our main target on day three, when we stopped at 20 or more different oil/natural gas structures in 40 to 180 feet of water in the Mississippi River Delta. But particularly around these vertical artificial reefs, one never knows what will strike a lure or jig.

Hunter’s tough fight turned out to be not with a cobia but with this bruiser of a jack crevalle that slammed his Stick Shadd. Much like its close relative, the giant trevally, few fish fight more ferociously or stubbornly. Doug Olander

One Big Jack Deserves Another

Another jack, the twin of that caught by Hunter, is brought to boatside by Rob in yet another GoPro photo. Doug Olander

Even though the “GoPro effect” adds apparent mass to Rob’s cobia, it was in fact on the beastly side at 50 or so pounds. Doug Olander

Face TIme with a Cobia

The ultra-wide-angle perspective of the GoPro makes Rob’s cobia — with an assist here by Capt. Alex McIngvale — seem a bit like a sea monster. Cobia can be around these Gulf Delta structures year round, but September and October are prime months to run the rigs (at least during the week; they tend to be pretty hard hit on weekends). Doug Olander

King mackerel are an everpresent possibility around the northern Gulf at this time of year. Mike Nussman holds up a fine king that struck a metal jig near the oil platform in the background. Doug Olander

Off Limits and Omnipresent

There’s no getting away from these guys. Fortunately this** red snapper** hit my slow jig in water shallow enough that it was able to swim straight back down. That’s a good thing since the season in federal waters is currently closed. Rob Wittman

Cast a metal jig — like this Sebile Fast Cast — around nearshore delta rigs and platforms, and there’s no telling what you’ll hook. Here, Rob prepares to release one of two or three bluefish we caught that day. Doug Olander

Cobia and gaffs just don’t get along. Mate Rene Luminais sticks it to another cobia for Rob and, typically, it goes wild. Doug Olander

Return to the Marsh

On our fourth and final day, a stiff breeze consigned us to the marsh. No one complained at one more day of fishing the quiet shallows not far from the river-mouth jetties. Here, Rob (foreground) looks for cruising redfish as Brandon runs the trolling motor and casts, also. The non-functional lighthouse in the background has been around since before the 19th Century, according to Brandon. Doug Olander

At the Edge of the Gulf

We moved out of the marsh, mid-morning, to drift past shallow rocks where the broad mouth of the Mississippi meets the edge of the Gulf of Mexico. Brandon took advantage of a large Sebile spinnerbait’s flash to entice this redfish in the turbid waters. Doug Olander

Hooray for Spinnerbaits

Spinnerbaits accounted for many redfish on this trip, both this Sebile Pro Shad model and Berkley’s Beetle Spin. Doug Olander

Dodging Freighters

Though that freighter, headed up the MIssissippi, isn’t quite close enough to hook on a backcast, it looks that way. Redfish often feed around the current-swept shallow rocks in the foreground. Doug Olander

Ominous Drum

This isn’t really the redfish from hell, but it does have an ominous appearance as it swims just below the surface. Doug Olander

Working a Pond

Keeping a sharp lookout for coppery shapes against the green grasses and algae, Brent and Mike watch off the bow while Hunter blind casts from the back of the boat. These ponds are not only productive but offer a quiet, wild respite for some very pleasant fishing. Doug Olander

Weed Whacker

Brent lifts the trolling motor to clear some of the thick weeds. Motors and batteries get a real workout moving boat and anglers through the weed-choked shallows in the ponds. Doug Olander

Crankbait: Nailed!

It’s nearly impossible to cast-and-retrieve a lures like this Sebile Crankster in the shallow ponds since its six points quickly collect a mass of weeds. But Brandon used it effectively by placing it near reds spotted cruising nearby; the first few wiggles were too much for several to pass up, and they nailed it immediately. Doug Olander

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Booby Trap Catches Billfish Super Slam off Texas Coast

Mike Mazur — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:42:49 +0000

Jumping Blue Marlin

By Mike Mazur

When it comes to swordfish, I’ve had my share of good fortune as an outdoor writer over the last few years. Back in 2007, I broke the story of the daytime broadbill fishery that was pioneered by the Stanczyk family at Bud N Mary’s Marina in Islamorada, Florida. Along with my wife, the crew caught 11 swords in two days aboard the legendary Catch 22 — we snapped amazing photos and experienced nothing short of an incredible trip.

Now — just last week, in fact – I had the great fortune to fish with another group of excellent swordfishermen, the crew of the Booby Trap. Arguably the hottest swordfish boat on the planet, the Booby Trap has singlehandedly developed another fishery in the northern Gulf over the last couple years, catching and releasing loads of daytime swords out of their home base of Surfside Marina in Surfside Beach, Texas.

But there was a catch – we weren’t setting out to simply catch swordfish on this trip. We wanted to try something a bit more ambitious – an IGFA Super Slam, or catching four species of billfish by a single angler in a single calendar day.

That was an extremely ambitious undertaking. Only 20 had been recorded to date with the IGFA. Yet Booby Trap owner Capt. Brett Holden and his crew (captains Jeff Wilson, Shayne Ellis and angler Travis Joyce) were bullish on giving it a whirl. After all, they had done it once before in 2009 (Travis manned the rod on that occasion as well). Along with these men, I was joined for the three-day adventure by “Disco” Luis Herrera, an old-school Cuban fisherman from Miami, friend of the Booby Trap crew and a great man on the boat.

To make a long story short, we caught the slam – in four hours! I don’t know how that ranks in the annals of sport-fishing history, but it was pretty amazing, the product of sound planning, years of experience and just a bit of luck.

We’ll have a full-length, detailed feature on this amazing, diverse fishery in the January 2013 issue of Sport Fishing, but first, here’s a sneak peek at the accomplishment, the condensed story in pictures. Enjoy – and as the fun-loving crew of the Booby Trap likes to say – Get tight, suckas!

Click here for photo gallery

Mike Mazur

Senior Editor, Sport Fishing magazine

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Texas Billfish Super Slam

Mike Mazur — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:24:59 +0000

So where does one go when looking for a billfish Super Slam? Here’s one place — Surfside Marina in Surfside Beach, Texas. That’s precisely where I traveled last week to fish with one of the hottest boats in the Gulf of Mexico, the privately owned Booby Trap. This was no light task – in the individual angler category, only 20 Super Slams had ever been registered with the IGFA prior to our trip (one of which was actually held by this same boat in 2009). It is a feat that is beyond rare and a huge challenge to undertake. But the weather was looking good for the next three days, and as I walked down to the marina, I was met…. By Mike Mazur

…by Capt. Brett Holden (center) and his crew. The boys of the Booby Trap were feeling confident, and we planned to run out 100-plus miles into the Gulf, to the continental shelf, and overnight for several days. The goal: Catch four species of billfish in a single calendar day. Likely, they would be sailfish, blue marlin, white marlin and swordfish, and Brett and the boys spent the afternoon rigging… By Mike Mazur

…copious amounts of ballyhoo, which would serve well for most of these pelagic swimmers. This was one of many trays of baits that were prepared that afternoon. Tack on 65 bags of ice, unimaginable gallons of fuel, food enough for a small army and a group of six enthusiastic anglers, and you had the right recipe for success. But first…. By Mike Mazur

…local Texan Tom Hilton paid a visit to Surfside. He rapped a bit with Brett, and the two studied some satellite imagery on Brett’s iPhone from Tom’s excellent sea-surface condition website, Hilton’s Realtime-Navigator. By Mike Mazur

With a good idea of where to head based on some nice-looking masses of water, Holden pushed his 52-foot Viking convertible toward the Freeport Jetties and the open Gulf. Equipped with a bevy of Furuno NavNet 3D electronic displays, this boat is ready to fish. But there’s something else that stands out about the Booby Trap… By Mike Mazur

….like all great boats, it has an excellent, diverse team, with each man perfectly capable of running the boat, wiring or wrenching on fish or working in the pits, as Capt. Holden is doing here. It’s all about teamwork when pursuing such lofty goals. And so, the lines were set… By Mike Mazur

…and a daisy chain teaser was dropped back into the spread for good measure. It didn’t take long for one of the lines to snap down from the outrigger. And onto the rod jumped… By Mike Mazur

….Elvis Presley! No! Not even Elvis is as cool as this guy — “Disco” Luis Herrera, an old-school South Florida fisherman who hooked up with the Booby Trap crew a couple years ago in the online forum world, was fishing with the boys on his second trip in two years. The Booby Trap crew fishes hard, but like most good boats, they also have a good time on the water, and “Disco” was just getting warmed up, sparking laughs with his antics, ’70s glasses and afro wig – and, yes, that is a small disco ball hanging from the hardtop. But what was “DL” hooked into? By Mike Mazur

A very nice wahoo, that had smashed a skirted ballyhoo on the surface. The fish came alongside the boat, a gaff was sunk, and… By Mike Mazur

…crewmembers Shayne Ellis (left) and Jeff Wilson held up the nice ‘hoo. The wahoo fishing would stay hot during our entire trip — we caught into the double-digits, despite the fact we weren’t even targeting them. But wahoo weren’t the only game fish feeding heavily around the rips, weedlines and oil rigs, and as another line snapped down from the riggers… By Mike Mazur

…I decided I’d try my hand at Texas offshore fishing. It felt like a very solid fish, and before long… By Mike Mazur

…a monster mahi (or “cheechata,” as this crew calls them) came rocketing out of the water. Take a good look at what 40 pounds of bull dolphin looks like above the surface. And here’s what it looks like… By Mike Mazur

….when onboard. Travis Joyce (left) and Jeff Wilson wrangle with the monster. We caught more than a dozen dolphins, and the majority of them weighed between 25 to 45 pounds. Almost all of the fish were big bulls and they all swam as singles along the weedlines and rips. I can’t think of a time I’ve seen better quality dolphin. By the way… By Mike Mazur

…perhaps these dolphin were so big because of what they were eating. Yes, those are two small turtles (about the size of baseballs) that we found in this fish’s stomach. By Mike Mazur

While the turtles kept the dolphin full, that first evening we enjoyed some of Capt. Shayne’s terrific mahi ceviche. This is the beautiful thing about overnighting offshore – with a bit of improvising (and good fishing), you can eat very well. By Mike Mazur

The next morning looked to be another very nice day on the Gulf – and we needed to get serious. While we’d caught a boatload of mahi and wahoo the first day, our only billfish had been a lone sail. We had a sound game plan for the spots we intended to fish, but we needed a bit of good fortune for the day, and luckily… By Mike Mazur

…Disco Luis found “MJ,” the unofficial mascot of the Booby Trap. That’s MJ on the left of Luis and Travis – yes, that totem-pole-looking thing. “MJ” stands for Michael Jackson, though I never quite got the story on how his name came to be. But soon, the good-natured Booby Trap laughter started in, and, sure enough, MJ brought luck! At about 11AM, after a number of cheechatas and wahoos, Travis hooked into a small white marlin around the East Pocket and scored a quick release. A half-hour later, around the Little Sister platform, the short-right line snapped from the rigger and… By Mike Mazur

…out of the water flew a wild sailfish! By Mike Mazur

Capt. Jeff wires the fish behind the transom and prepares to execute a safe release. And just like that, we were suddenly in good position. We’d need more than a little luck, but the plan was coming together – and, make no mistake, it was a plan. Brett called both fish – the white and the sail – at both areas. And now, he knew exactly where he wanted to run…. By Mike Mazur

…the oil platform known as Cerveza. Jeff Wilson watches the spread as we trolled around the rig, working both in tight and along the outskirts of the iron structure. With two billfish already in-hand, we were beginning to feel pretty good, and soon… By Mike Mazur

…Luis broke out his classic blue marlin dance that he learned from the old salts of Chub Cay, Bahamas, back in the day. Would it work? By Mike Mazur

Yes, it did! A hot blue slashed the long-right, and Travis dropped back to the fish and then came tight, the 30-pound outfit doubling over like a willowleaf! With the 125-pound fish going crazy on the surface, Capt. Brett…. By Mike Mazur

…backed down on the fish like nobody’s business, while Travis cranked like mad keeping up with the slack. Then the blue… By Mike Mazur

…launched into a series of spectacular leaps like only a blue marlin can. We all hooted and hollered, and then… By Mike Mazur

…Travis began to work once the fish sounded. But soon, the small blue succumbed to the gear. Jeff wired the marlin, brought it alongside and pulled it off along Booby Trap‘s starboard side. The celebrating had begun — and no one was happier than… By Mike Mazur

….this man, Brett Holden. All that remained was the swordfish – and over the last two years, the Booby Trap has been without question the top boat for daytime swords in the northern Gulf, and perhaps in the southeast U.S. We’d run to a spot the crew calls the “Booby Trap Dome” and broke out the big, deep-drop rods. Then… By Mike Mazur

…Holden grabbed one of his squid rigs, tossed it overboard and began the drop, while Travis made his way to 80-pound outfit. One fish was all it would take at this point. By Mike Mazur

Amazingly, it only took 30 seconds once the squid hit bottom. The rod bumped, the reel was wrenched, the blank doubled over and – just like that — Booby Trap was tight, sucka! Travis worked the fish to the surface, when out at a distance… By Mike Mazur

…the familiar “windshield-wiper” action of an angry sword cut through the water’s surface! As the fish got closer and closer, it… By Mike Mazur

Swordfish Jumping

….made a lunge in the wash towards the transom, flashing it’s sword and huge eyes above the Gulf’s surface! By Mike Mazur

As he’s done hundreds of times now, Brett Holden leaders the fish closer and closer, and then he released it back into the depths of the Gulf. The Super Slam had been accomplished for angler Travis Joyce and the Booby Trap – amazingly in only 4 hours. After some raucous celebrating, we decided to have some fun, so we dropped again…. By Mike Mazur

….and scored a double on swords! Luis and Travis worked these fish up from the depths, and before we called it a day, we added yet one more sword for good measure. By Mike Mazur

The final tally was four swordfish, a sail, white marlin and blue marlin in one day, with the slam requiring only four hours. Every billfish was released. If approved, the accomplishment will be the second official IGFA-registered Super Slam for Travis Joyce and the Booby Trap. Only 20 offshore Super Slams have been recorded in the IGFA history books. To have set out with the express purpose of achieving such a feat – and actually doing it – is a once-in-a-lifetime feat, and to have documented the experience was a special privilege. Till next time, tight lines, suckas! By Mike Mazur

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Video: Oil Platforms are Indeed Essential Fish Habitat

Mike Mazur — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 03:07:53 +0000

Rigs.To.Reefs.Fish.Pic

If you fish the northern Gulf of Mexico, you’re no doubt familiar by now with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s misguided “Idle Iron” policy, the federal plan to destroy 650 decommissioned oil platforms in the region.

You’re also aware — thankfully — that strong opposition has emerged to this initiative from a recreational-fishing industry coalition, as well as a bill called the Rigs to Reefs Habitat Protection Act, which was introduced by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and designed to protect these rigs.

What the feds don’t seem to understand is that these rig structures have, over the years, become encrusted with dense, vast colonies of coral reef; in fact, many regard the platforms as the largest network of artificial reefs in the world.

We anglers have known this for years. And now comes a video demonstrating this very thing.

The Louisiana Council of Underwater Diving Clubs (LCUDC) sent us this link, as well as several other links to more videos. This particular film was produced by Capt. Al Walker of the Gulf Production Co.

As you can see, these rigs are indeed essential fish habitat. They must be protected:

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Hope in the Fight to Save Gulf Reefs

Doug Olander — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:53:10 +0000

Dr. Bob Shipp, a member of the Gulf FMC (and a longtime Sport Fishing_ Fish Facts expert) has called upon the the council to clarify what qualifies as artificial structure, an action that could lead to the lush reefs growing on decomissioned oil platforms being classified as Essential Fish Habitat. Read the full story here:_

CCA applauds Council action to protect Gulf habitat
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Anglers have high hopes for debate over value of artificial structure_

A motion made at the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting last week in Mobile, Alabama, could be the first step to protecting what has been regarded as the largest man-made reef in the world – the vast forest of energy-related structures in the offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Bob Shipp’s request to have Council staff clarify the definition of what qualifies as artificial structure could pave the way for rigs and other vital reefs to be classified as Essential Fish Habitat.

“For anglers who have been greatly concerned about the impact of this Administration’s directive to summarily remove all non-producing energy structures, this is a very welcome development,” said Pat Murray, president of Coastal Conservation Association. “This is a chance for the Gulf Council and NOAA Fisheries to take a stand to protect that habitat, and we are grateful to Dr. Shipp for presenting this opportunity.”

In a misdirected response to the Gulf oil spill, the U.S. Department of Interior issued a directive in October of 2010 ordering that all non-producing rigs be plugged and any remaining structure removed within five years of the issuance of that directive. There are approximately 3,500 offshore structures in the Gulf of Mexico and the directive, known as the Idle Iron Policy, would immediately impact roughly 650 structures that have not produced oil or gas within five years of the directive issue date of Oct. 15, 2010.

“Anglers have already noted with alarm the disappearance of some rigs that have been in place for years – sometimes decades – that provided the base for flourishing ecosystems,” said Murray. “It is a completely avoidable tragedy, and we hope that the Council and NOAA Fisheries will do what it can to halt this needless destruction.”

Sen. David Vitter (R-La) and Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-Ms) have filed legislation that would prevent rigs and other structures from being summarily removed from the Gulf of Mexico, but both bills face a difficult road through the current Congress. A decision by NOAA Fisheries to declare artificial structures Essential Fish Habitat would be a significant addition to legislative efforts.

In 2009, Dr. Shipp and Stephen Bortone published a paper on the importance of artificial habitat on the management of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico which credits the deployment of energy structures in the mid-20th century for greatly increasing the harvest potential of red snapper.

“If the habitat limitation hypothesis is correct, and I believe it is, then it would be necessary to maintain or even increase the amount of artificial habitat in the northern Gulf of Mexico to keep pace with fishing pressure,” said Dr. Shipp. “Taking it out makes no sense whatsoever.”

To learn more about this issue, visit the Rigs to Reefs page on the CCA website, www.JoinCCA.org.

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