Paradise Outfitters - Louisiana Fishing Charters » What a day a difference makes

What a day a difference makes

I made my first trip since October this past Monday March 15th..

I was so excited to have a day off work and look fwd to all the great fishing I had been hearing about..

#1 – our charter wanted wahoo, which was one of the reasons I agreed to ride along..weather forecast was good but there was a pretty good bit of wind early inthe day and I had my doubts if the forecast would hold..got out and seas were fair for the winter (2-3 chop) windy enough to make your nose run but not enough to soak you with spray….

The guys had two days booked with one group down a day early staying atthe lodge and waiting upon us at the dock for our return..

Monday’s group, Eddy and Phat from Dallas Tx were excited and anticipating a great day..in fact after I got the baits set I said..”the conditions are so great I dont care if we get a bite all day” (little did I know that I would eat those sentiments with a bitter drink of skunk juice 8 hours later)..we hit 17 historically productive wahoo spots and didnt get a bite all day..water was clean and baits were running great..just no fish – I am still in shock over it..

in fact of all the boats (8 charterboats)  that went out Monday only 1 wahoo (40 pounds) was caught..that boat had one strike..everyone else brought in kings and jacks..dont expect to see a report about thier catches on the internet boards..

In between our unsuccessful wahoo foray, we  tried chumming on two separate occassions – once at a lump and  secondly behind a trawl boat.  For 3 hours of hard effort and spending a whole box of pogies our charter only caught 4 bonita and a big shark; I caught two minor scratches and one pogey spinal punture which hurts even more today..

…the guys were great..they let the captain be the captain and the mate do his job without any suggestion..

..as a disclaimer let it be known that we never put gaurantees on catch – only that we will show up ontime, prepared and give the best effort to ensure the biggest catch possible and that allowed by law which ever comes first.

After we got home, I was anxious for the guys who were staying with us at the lodge not to be discouraged about their upcoming trip.. as we told them – “Today we figured out where NOT to fish for tomorrow”…..this would work to everyones advantage as the bite was stellar yesterday…Our guys (Eddy and Phat) from the day before went with Hunter while our “INN-mates” Stan and Ken went with Scott Leger..

…From what I was told the first half of the day resembled our previous day..nothing doing at all..4 hours of chumming with nothing but kings and sharks..but both boats, crews and customers hung in..in the last three hours of fshing it was on!

Blackfin and yellowfin bonanza..I didnt get the full report from Scott L but he brought in 5 fat BF tuna, one 70# YF tuna, 4 kings, 2 jacks and Stan got to fight a huge blacktip shark (all he wanted was a shark!)

Eddy told me he saw both Stan and Ken bowed up on fish and laughing hysterically..Eddy and Phat had more action with Hunter and Woody..in fact they had a triple going on yellows at one point..they eneded up with 7 yellowfins and 5 blackfins in 3 hours and thus went in a few hours before quitting time..

I am certain I will get a report and pic from Ken and Stan who decided to go back out this morning to try and catch some oddball snappers in east bay and bull reds at the rocks with Scott Leger..they are down at the lodge on vacation all week ..I suspect they willl take Thursday off to watch TV, lounge and drink cold beer, shower and nap…

Other VENICE, LA NEWS…the crawfish are biting in the Venice canal..our 5 test traps yileded 4# of boiled crawfish appetizer Sunday night..

Also attached are pics from Eddy and Phat’s trip with Hunter..I might point out that if Eddy and Phat had complained to the captain about no action Hunter might have felt inclined to move off the “spot” to try something else and the charter customer would have missed the stellar three hour bite…

with all the “captain bashing” going on the public fishing forums and internet boards I thought I might re-state again; that our guys will never gaurantee a limit or world record, but will always gaurantee that our crews will be on time,  will be overly prepared, give 110% and always use thier knowledge to put you on the most fish as they possibly and safely can!

thats all for now..

Scott

attached is the pic from Hunter’s boat courtesy of Eddy Claycomb