Offshore fishing out of grand chenier

[CHUM STAIN]

I will be bringing my camper down to Grand Chenier in a few weeks for the summer. I plan on making some offshore fishing trips weather permitting. I run a 24ft Ranger center console. I try not to go any further than 50 miles in this rig. Can anyone recommend any fishing spots out of the Mermentau jetties? What direction should I head to get to deeper water quicker? Does anyone have experiences to share fishing out of this area? Any and all info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, your friend CHUM STAIN....

[ScubaLatt]

I fished out of Grand Chenier for 10 years out of our 27' Grady White "Sea Hagg". I liked heading slight SE since there is less pressure that way. I usually hugged the rigs right on the East Cameron and West Cameron blocks. We would start catching red snapper at 20 miles around april/may but of course you can't keep 'em til June. Been around 12 years since I fished out of there so I can't remember the block numbers but you should not have any trouble finding good rigs out that way. You should hit some nice water around 50 miles and may even entice an amberjack or two. I always found a rip out of there and found lots of ling and dolphin along them at times. Good Luck!

[jimdecoy]

Looking at the block chart East Cameron 160 is about 13fatom (78’) in water depth, approximately 50miles out of GC @ about 160T and has several platforms. This is the most platform close to one another in your 50mile range. Looks like about 6 platforms in a 2 mile range. This field sits on a ridge so water deeps a few miles north are actually a few feet deeper and there are a couple charted platforms to the north.
Not sure exactly when you plan to try and fish out there but typically in June and July shrimp boats could be working brown shrimp around this area in 10 to 12 fathoms. If you see a fleet anchored out during the day this is a great time of year and depth of water for Lemon fish and King Mackerel.
My computer with a plotter program on it is down right now but if you want when I get a minute I’ll get down the old paper chart and give you a lat. & lon. on EC160 and an accurate heading/distance out GC.

[CHUM STAIN]

Originally Posted by ScubaLatt

I fished out of Grand Chenier for 10 years out of our 27' Grady White "Sea Hagg". I liked heading slight SE since there is less pressure that way. I usually hugged the rigs right on the East Cameron and West Cameron blocks. We would start catching red snapper at 20 miles around april/may but of course you can't keep 'em til June. Been around 12 years since I fished out of there so I can't remember the block numbers but you should not have any trouble finding good rigs out that way. You should hit some nice water around 50 miles and may even entice an amberjack or two. I always found a rip out of there and found lots of ling and dolphin along them at times. Good Luck!

Sounds awesome! I would love to find some Dolphin and big ling. I will definitely have to try this. Thank you so much for the tip!

[CHUM STAIN]

Originally Posted by jimdecoy

Looking at the block chart East Cameron 160 is about 13fatom (78’) in water depth, approximately 50miles out of GC @ about 160T and has several platforms. This is the most platform close to one another in your 50mile range. Looks like about 6 platforms in a 2 mile range. This field sits on a ridge so water deeps a few miles north are actually a few feet deeper and there are a couple charted platforms to the north.
Not sure exactly when you plan to try and fish out there but typically in June and July shrimp boats could be working brown shrimp around this area in 10 to 12 fathoms. If you see a fleet anchored out during the day this is a great time of year and depth of water for Lemon fish and King Mackerel.
My computer with a plotter program on it is down right now but if you want when I get a minute I’ll get down the old paper chart and give you a lat. & lon. on EC160 and an accurate heading/distance out GC.

I hope to start going out of GC as soon as the water temp warms up a bit. Not really sure how warm it needs to be before the fish move into this range though. I would love to find some shrimp boats. Never fished them before, but I have always heard they are good to fish. Have you ever fished the rockpiles out of GC? If so can you tell me anything about fishing that area? Depth? How far out? What kind of fish usually hold there? Oh, and I would love to have the coordinates to EC160 if when you get your system back up and running. Thank you guys. Yall have been very helpful.

[Red Devil]

I had some buddies that worked EC 160 and they used to rape the fish there.

[LaAngler]

WC 272 is about 55 miles it's a good spot to dive too (AJs start here) , another several miles to 280 is good. Calc rocks 118 block/steep rock are good for snaps, get your dolphin/trips on the weedlines coming and going. There's a few single piles to the SE of 280 that hold big ling, vermilion blocks are also a good area.

the good grouper fishing is further out

[CHUM STAIN]

Originally Posted by LaAngler

WC 272 is about 55 miles it's a good spot to dive too (AJs start here) , another several miles to 280 is good. Calc rocks 118 block/steep rock are good for snaps, get your dolphin/trips on the weedlines coming and going. There's a few single piles to the SE of 280 that hold big ling, vermilion blocks are also a good area.

the good grouper fishing is further out

Ok bud. I can find WC 272 and 280 on my map, but do you have any coordinates for the single piles that are SE of 280? Do the rocks ever hold any other species than snapper and the occasional ling? I have read that the depth at these rock piles can reach 100ft. Is this true? Thanks for the info. Its nice to have people that dont mind sharing info. I have not fished this area before and gas is too expensive to just drive around in the gulf without doing a little research on the area you are going to fish first. Thanks again.

[CHUM STAIN]

where are the vermillion blocks?

[CHUM STAIN]

Originally Posted by Red Devil

I had some buddies that worked EC 160 and they used to rape the fish there.

SWEET! I hope we rip their lips when we go in a month or two!

[bluewing]

Originally Posted by CHUM STAIN

where are the vermillion blocks?

They are to the east, best to go out of Freshwater City.

[CHUM STAIN]

Originally Posted by bluewing

They are to the east, best to go out of Freshwater City.

Thanks. I will check it out on my map.

[CHUM STAIN]

My dad said that years back there were some guys that would always go offshore from the mermentau river to a place called oil city. Anyone ever here of this? Im assuming its an area with alot of oil rigs close together. Have any of you ever fished or heard of this place? If so how far offshore are they? Depth? Anything you can tell me will be appreciated.

[jimdecoy]

Originally Posted by bluewing

They are to the east, best to go out of Freshwater City.

I've never noticed a boat lunch/ramp around Freshwater, always seen boats coming down from ICY. is there one in FWC?

[LaAngler]

Originally Posted by CHUM STAIN

My dad said that years back there were some guys that would always go offshore from the mermentau river to a place called oil city. Anyone ever here of this? Im assuming its an area with alot of oil rigs close together. Have any of you ever fished or heard of this place? If so how far offshore are they? Depth? Anything you can tell me will be appreciated.

you have north oil city and south oil city, north oil city is 20 mile range and south is 30 ish.

to the west of oil city you have the tennacos and the magnolia's to the east.

[CHUM STAIN]

Originally Posted by LaAngler

you have north oil city and south oil city, north oil city is 20 mile range and south is 30 ish.

to the west of oil city you have the tennacos and the magnolia's to the east.

Are the oil cities shown on the Fishn Hook map that they sale at academey? Tennacos and Magnolias? Are those rig names? I know nothing as you can see. Thank you guys for being patient with me.

[H2OFwlKlr]

Originally Posted by jimdecoy

I've never noticed a boat lunch/ramp around Freshwater, always seen boats coming down from ICY. is there one in FWC?

There is one, you take the gravel road off of hwy 82 and turn left at the T. Pretty long gravel road to Fresh water city dock. They have a cement landing next to an abandoned seafood processing plant/Ice house before the dock. Be careful at landing on low tide, gets pretty shallow. Some don't like to trailer down gravel road, but makes for a short boat ride to Gulf.

[jimdecoy]

I sold to that fish-house a few times in the 80's, back when I trawled. Their use to be a trailer house next door that was a bar room, that was a long time ago. I've made crew change a few times down there since but usualy night time going in and coming out didn't care bout nothing but getting to the house.

[Finfeatherfur]

If you are in Grand Chenier, I would not travel (by road) all the way back to launch in FWC. In my opinion, it is not worth it, I would just launch at the park and head south from there. You also have more of a chance of cast netting for bait there than you do at FWC.

I made several snaper/blue water trips last year and have post on here. Here is one:

Offshore Fishing Discussion: The first snapper in the new boat! - SaltyCajun.com

Offshore Fishing Discussion: The first snapper in the new boat! - SaltyCajun.com

[Finfeatherfur]

Also, if you are looking for deep water (> 100'), you are in the wrong area of the state or you need a bigger boat w/ more range on it. At 58 miles south of the coast, you are in 84-90' of water. Do not get overly hopeful on blue water species. I go out a catch red/mangrove snapper, the occasional ling, and we let the kids play around with the sharks. I will not keep King Mackeral so we do not target them, but they are plentiful.

I will go out, do the snapper thing, then head in looking for ling and tripletail. The ling are usually closer to the 10-15 mile rigs in 20-30' of water.