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Louisiana - Venice & the Gulf of Mexico
Capt. Damon McKnight
January 30, 2007
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report
Offshore Fishing Venice, La.
What an incredible past 4 days of fishing this has been. We had a lot of ups and downs but yesterday seemed to make up for a lot of missed fish. Last week we had the John Potts gang come down for 4 days like they do every year. For the past two years John has caught two Yellow fin 190+. This year he was looking to up it again. Their was a group of six guys split between two boats. We didn't get out on Wed. but we were able to fish Thurs.-Saturday. Thursday was a tough day with only a few black fin tuna and amberjack. Friday was a different day. Right from the start we got a yellow fin on and put him in the boat. About a 55lber. Second fish just about spooled us and after about a 20 minute fish the line broke which we would see happen for the next couple of days. The highlight of the day was about a 79lb. amberjack caught by Dr. Grafton. We finished out the day with 4 yellow fin, 2 black fin and 1 A.J. Saturday the weather was very questionable but it looked like we had a small window of opportunity. We took and it almost paid off. Our first fish in the boat was a 60lber. Next fish took the line down to the spool but we were able to catch up with him. The weather was deteriorating fast with the seas building to 4-5ft and a 20 knot plus wind. We hooked the fish at 8:45 a.m. and fought him until 12:30 p.m. drifting and chasing him about 6 miles. We finally got him just so we could see him circling under the boat. This went on for about 30 minutes and we just couldn't get his head up. He was a monster, finally the hooked pulled out and everyone was heartbroken. With the weather the way it was we took off back to the dock with our tail between our legs. Capt. Bob K. ran the other boat and finished off the day with about a 165lb. yellow fin and 65lber. before heading back at noon due to the weather. Sunday was weather out. Yesterday would be our day to get revenge. Mr. Macadoo and friends came over from Destin. The weather was questionable but it laid down nicely yesterday morning and we made it out to find it much nicer than expected. Our day started off quick with a double on black fin tuna. After that we had a huge fish on only to break him off after 1 hour of fighting. They have been stubborn lately. The next five fish we put in the boat which were five yellow fin tuna in the 55-65lb. range. Then the big boys showed up. We broke off about a 150lber. just out of gaff range, then another one around 110 just out of gaff range. Things were starting to look grim. Then it happened. Next fish hit and slowly came to the boat. Then he took off like a freight train and got the spool down to the knot. Somehow we were able to catch up with him going around 15 mph. We got about 50 yards. of line back and went to a stand still. He took off again and all we could do was ride along with him. Finally we were able to get all but about 70 yards. of line back and that is where it would stay for the next 1.5 hours. The fish stayed on the surface and we were basically chasing him down getting on top of him and then he would cut a circle around the boat trying to get away. The huge blister in the center of my hand is proof on how many times I had to turn the power knob to keep going in circles. Mr. Buchanan was the angler and this was his first time tuna fishing. After a long fight the fish came up and rolled over on the opposite side of the boat. Stuck a gaff in him and it was game over. We got back to the dock and weighed him. He weighed in at 222.2lbs. and should be number 7 in the state. Awesome fish! That about sums up how the fishing has been. Back at it next decent weather day.
Capt. Damon McKnight/Super Strike Charters/1 800 318 1720
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