Another decent day wahoo fishing. Started off trying them on fly but we fell short of that goal. Got these trolling XRAP’S

Posted in Fishing Reports

Tagged: venice fishing, Wahoo

Here is a mid march fishing and best of all catching report. Thankfully there has been more catching going on rather than fishing. The weather has been a huge contributing factor lately with conditions from very rough to as smooth as a strippers nether regions. The lump has been our go to place up until a few days ago. For one reason it as just been to rough to go anywhere else. But the bite has been pretty decent, but with some up and downs in it. These up and downs did cause me to make a not wrong decision but I could of made a better decision for my group that came in from Pensacola. Thank goodness the wahoo bit ok along with a few blacks AJ’s and one lonely yellowfin that joined us for a ride back to Cypress Cove. But we did miss the best lump day of the season so far because of it. But at least we still made a good day out of it.
From that trip I ran in early march the weather has caused me to cancel way more than I should have. The weather man did cost us a few trips with a forcast that was way off. I hate playing weather Russian Roulette. Unfortunately that’s just part of winter fishing. Enough of *****ing about the weather and on to the meat and potatoes of this report. I started off with last series of trips with David Markovich and his wife on Wednesday the 13th.. A yellowfin was on his bucket list and we set off to the lump to get it crossed off of his list. We did a little wahoo fishing on the way out in some not so favorable conditions but doable. I couldn’t find any that wanted to play with us. But we did find some AJ’s that were willing. Little did I know they were going to be almost non stop companions for us that day. After we got to the lump we couldn’t get away from them they ate chunks and jigs and of course our mullet. We did lose one yellow at the boat so at least David got to have the chance at one. It was a very enjoyable day of catching fish just not the target species we were looking for. David if you read this I will get you your yellowfin when you come back this summer that’s a promise.
After the Markovich trip I had Flip Hubbard and his son Tad come in for two days. On the first day I was woke up around 4 AM with the camp shaking from the 25 knot winds. Great not a good way to start out the day. A call was made to meet at 8 and hope the weather guessers were right with it dropping as the day went on. We went out of South pass and went with the seas and did some wahoo fishing as we worked our way to the west and the lump. The wahoo were a no show although we did mark them but I couldn’t figure out the code to make them bite. We set a drift up at the lump and it was pretty steady with a blackfin here and there and of course the ever annoying kingfish and sharks. But Tad did get his first kingfish. Finally at the end of the day we got on a good bite of 60-80 pound yellows and put three in the boat and the call was made that they didn’t want to kill anymore. It was kind of a hard decision to make, keep fishing and catching them. Or head in with happy customers. They won out and we left in somewhat ok seas. The weather guessers did get it somewhat right. On the way in I saw some signs that I needed to see to change up my gameplan for the next day. On day two the seas were slick and with my poagie net onboard we set out to net poagie and live chum the lump. Well the kings loved that but with no current and everyone else around me looking bored we left and went looking. We found what we were looking for and went to work live chumming a mixture of yellowfin and blackfin. We had a few wahoo cutoffs as well. Remember the rig from the day before that they wouldn’t bite on well they wanted livebait. But they wouldn’t touch a livebait on wire. We did keep two yellows one we gave to another boat and one went to a cookout. We hit a little snapper spot on the way home to let them catch some since they have never caught one so we scratched that species off the bucket list. It was a great feeling knowing that cutting chum was over for the year now that the livebait has shown up.
The Stephenson group was next up and with the slick day we had the day before and what the guessers were guessing. It was a susprise when we hit the gulf to find it pretty darn rough. But the tuna were right were we left them and we went to work putting a box of yellowfin and blackfin together. They get so excited and turned on by live chumming that its almost not fair to the fish. We only had two yellows a typical springtime 30 pounder and one in the 70 pound range. We also had a bonus catch of a 10 pound mangrove snapper that ate a bait meant for a tuna. With the group wanting to go hit up Bourbon Street we left early and got there fish cleaned so they could go and party. The next day with the Huelsman group was carbon copy of the day before except that there were more yellowfin than the day before they were the 20-30 pound models but they were very willing. The only thing different about this day was the front that came crashing down on us. Luckily we had our limit of yellowfin and a self imposed boat limit of blackfin and we left a little before 11 to head back to the marina. It was a good run of trips with plenty of fish to go home and happy clients. Until next time catch’em up.

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Posted in Fishing Reports

Tagged: tuna fishing, venice fishing

I am done with the winter sailfish charters I had out of Palm Beach. And hunting
season is winding down. The time not spent in Florida and the woods. Has been
spent in the very windy and not so fishing friendly winter in Venice getting
Relentless ready for our winter big tuna and wahoo season. I have also spent
considerable time in getting the daytime swordfish dialed in and will offer
daytime sword trips this summer as well.
Now that all required boat work is
done we are itching to get out there and hit the usual winter time spots. It’s
looking as it will be a good Febuarary as the yellows are on both of the humps
we generaly fish in the winter. Although they are around the wahoo have taken
the stage for right now with some very good fishing for them. Speaking of the
wahoo I have been working closely with Eagle Claw to come up with the ultimate
replacement hook for the plugs that we use for them. I should be getting the
prototype hooks in a few days. Depending on the number they send me. If you
shoot me a email I will try and get a few handed out for people to try. We will
need good feedback before the final production run comes out. They should fix a
lot of the 1 or 2 for a bunch of bite days. And allow you to increase the fish
caught to bite average. I will be updating my website on a weekly basis and you
can also go to the VideoFishingReports channel on YouTube for a weekly video
update. Until then catch’em up a d if you ready to go fishing so are
we.
Capt. Mike

Posted in Fishing Reports

Tagged: Tuna, venice fishing

With the winter season that was not the typical winter season starting to wind down. Well I say winding down it never really got started to wind down. There were a few flurries of big fish and some scattered ones to be had. The best way this winter season could be described as, fun fishing. Plenty of small yellowfin were to be had to make up for the lack of there older bigger brothers and sisters. My last group put it perfectly with the quote; I have never bass fished for yellowfin tuna before. Pretty much all winter I shifted gears and went with what mother ocean had decided to throw our way. I made some adjustments in tackle and lures and pretty much fished for the tuna the same way you would fish for largemouth bass chasing shad. It definitely made things fun since it was hands on. When a fish was lost there was no accusing looks. It was man I should have waited to set the hook or I knew I should have sped the retrieve up. The lighter tackle was just much more fun to use. Some days we could have caught a few more fish by using more standard methods and did so. But quickly switched back due to the fun factor which is what it’s about anyway.
My trip with Matt Paulk brought the fun factor into things. We went on a big fish search that was not to be. With the onslaught of kings and sharks that day. We switched over to topwater lures and jigs and fished for the fun of it. Suddenly even kingfish became fun instead of just a nusicence. When they are in the 20-45lb class it’s a fun fish. It makes a perfect target for throwing topwaters at. After that trip I fished my next seven or eight trips the same way. Well except no kingfish we just made more runs to the floaters and beat up on the smaller yellowfin and on most days had no problem with getting a nice box of the smaller yellowfin and a few blackfin along with tons of released blackfin
I told you I switched out my tackle to better accommodate the smaller fish. I went with 30-50lb braid on Quantum Cabo 50’s. On 20-30lb. spinning rods. Never once were we undergunned or felt at a disadvantage with the light line and tackle. I do have a shameless plug for some gear that I got to use while filming an episode of Addictive Fishing with Blair Wiggins. We used Blair’s line of rods and reels from Wright McGill. The rods were powerful light and had great action. I was very impressed with them. So much that I went to ****’s to try and pick a couple up. The jigging tackle was pretty standard with 300 gram rods and 160-270 gram flutter jigs color didn’t make a difference. But they kept the fish coming in when the yellows went down. Also on thing that helped the catch is a lure I discovered last year before the spill. It perfectly matches the hatch right now. The lure is a Japanese import from Tackle House and it’s called a Flitz it’s pretty small but can still be cast a mile with traditional topwater rods with heavier braid. The other lure is the new Shimano Waxwing and a DOA swimming mullet lure they really seemed to like those three the best.
Now that the cold weather should be behind us the tuna should fall into hopefully an early summer pattern. We have had a springtime pattern for about two months. The one real exciting thing is that the tinker mackerel have stared to show. They are a little to small to fish right now but at least they are here. It shouldn’t be long until they become the goto bait.
Capt. Mike

Posted in Fishing Reports

Tagged: Tuna, venice fishing