Jersey boys come to Venice

[capt hoop]

The trip for Saturday was to be offshore but the winds and seas put a stop to that. I knew that so I offered them an inshore trip and they agreed to that. Mark the son is getting married soon and he and his dad John wanted to spend some quality time together before the wedding. They fish stripers and blues off New Jersey but have never been here or caught any redfish.

With all the good trips I have been having I was waiting for a bad one to hit me soon. After a colorful ride through the bayou I hit the open bay where I had a very successful scouting trip the day before. I went to the same point and set up in the same spot. This entire type of fishing was new to them. After I showed them what we do here Mark started things off with a keeper.



I did not have a good feeling about this place today. The winds had the water stirred up and dirty. A comment was made about how the fish could find the bait in the water. It was evident they were seeing the bait because most of the strikes came right after a little twitch of the bait.



I made the decision to just sit tight and let the fish find us. We went through a lot of short redfish with an occasional good one thrown in.



Even with the high winds and cloud cover it was very hot. Later in the morning the winds had eased a bit which made the heat more intense. Once we had our limit of keepers I went out looking for some bull reds to introduce these guys to some hard fighting fish.




I am trying a new lure for Russelure and was hoping to land a bull red on one. I had a monster bull on but with the treble hooks the fish was able to rip out and get away. I did manage several gaff top sail cats.





The first bull red did not fight much at all. It gave a few pulls and more of less came to the boat. Once at the net the fish decided it did not like our looks and made a dash for the other side of the bay. Unfortunately that was the only run and the fish came to the net.



Mark enjoyed the fight but I knew he was soon to get indoctrinated to the thrill of bull red fishing. His second one "hit like a freight train" in Marks own words. After he landed this one he had to get some water and give his wrist and arm a break.



We got some sail cats also and John was having a blast watching his son put on a fish catching demonstration. With out any warning John gets woken up by a hard hitting bull redfish. It was his turn to get pulled around the boat a bit. They both were now introduced to La. red fishing at it's best.



I think Mark had 4 bulls and John had about the same amount before they called it. With arms burning from fighting bull redfish and a limit of slot size redfish in the box in upper 90's temps they were ready to head back to the marina.



The next day I had a Voice mail saying they had time to reflect on the trip and discuss the wonderful time they had with me. I wish Mark a marriage as wonderful as the trip they had with me.

Life is Good!
Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM

[swamp snorkler]

You don't eat sail cats?

That's some fine eating.