A bit rough and bumpy today on Wednesday..I started off by taking 3 advils..not much wind about the dock but as soon as we cleard SW Pass it was rolling about 15 knots out of the NE with a large groundswell from the east..the bluewater was close today..8 miles from the pass and moving north into the wind..it was a good 3-5 most of the day..I had Eddy Calycombe and Papa Joe and Phil Bowman..we had tried to switch thier inshore trip from Tuesday but we couldnt work it out..anyway they had a ball catching bull reds on topwaters yesterday with Clint Stewart while we sat around the dock swatting gnats..fishing was good and worth the beating for sure..plan A was to troll for wahoo and then look for trawlboats and lastly fish for cobia if the wind and seas proved to be too much..well they were too much but we stuck it out offshore til about 1:30pm..never saw any trawlboats they must have moved west across the hole..lots of action on the troll..although realistically we could only make downsea passes..bites were regularly spaced..no fish piled up anywhere like in previous trips from last week..although we did have two doubles today and both with a wahoo and 40 pound yellowfin at the same time..reminds me of the old days when this happened alot..when the spray settled we ended up with 5 wahoo, 1 mahi mahi, 1 blackfin and 2 fat yellows and all fish on the troll.. I had used up my entire memory card shooting video and couldnt delete the old pics to make room for a dockshot..Eddy will send me pictures..would have been tough to shoot under the conditions..too much rocking..anyway we tucked into the delta for the afternoon and finally found some decent cobia..we had 3 opportunities landing 2 of 3 bites..a 50 and 60 pounder..fat brown white bellied cobia have finally invaded our area..we will likely go and target them a little more these next few weeks..Not many ups and downs the rest of the week unless you're describing sea conditons; With that said, it's still been worth the beating just about every day..
After taking it on the teeth Wednesday we opted to ride along with Capt Bill Delabar on his 32 twin vee..we knew we were going to get pounded by a long period swell and head chop but we went anyway..We had a bunch of Calgarians and they had travelled too far and heard too much about the tuna bite not to make the run..First time Bill and I have fished together in two years and we had a ball..it wasnt even like work and the tuna bite was consistent making the day a real good one..no fish under 80 pounds today which is exciting in itself and the action was off the charts..its nice being the only boat out somedays..pretty much doubles and singles with little wait in between the bites and no pressureto stay on top of the fish..fight time was about 20-30 minutes except for the 120 pounder landed on the 60 pound outfit which capped off the take..this fish grazed my ankle with its teeth as it was flopping leaving a nice gash..witht that and each angler getting to handle the rod three times it was a wrap..Murray, Eric and Rob from Petrobank kept 6 of 9 fish caught. If the entire crew of 5 had showed up, it would have eased to burden not only on the rod but in carrying the fish home on a 12 hr plane ride..we sent them to Harbor Seafood in Kenner to get the catch ready for the plane ride hope it all worked out for them, the meat looked so good I kept a slab
Friday was the only calm day we had this week and the fishing was off the charts..first time we could really go looking for cobia but not without finding a few wahoo beforehand..I had the Haydels from Score and Stain in Slidell..they fish with me every five years which is an oddball interval and someone in the group commented that I would see them before Jay's 60th birthday after this trip celebrating 55 years..covered alot of ground but in the end found 2 wahoo two forty pound yellowfin, 2 bull dolphin and 18 cobia..kept 11 browns releasing 2 babies and five 1 inch shorties..Bill had Mark Hoyle and his son for the first of two offshore trips..he found 4 yellowfins but it was too rough for them and they came home early..
Tried to cancel Saturday's trip with Alligator Irigation but everyone was too excitied not to come and with the fishing the way it had been I was willing to take them..the weather, though rough wasnt as bad as expected and the fishing as good as it had been wasnt as fast and furious as I had hoped for..found it to be tough most of the morning 3 bites in the morning although it all came together after 12 noon..I had half the crew down on account of the Vencie flu during the trolling portion of the trip but my lone angler Kevin would net 2 wahoo and a blackfin while seeeking out new spots..wahoo's were solid 60 pounders too..we ran off to the cobia spots from the previous day findng 5 short fish; I figured them to be the only ones that made it through the 37" mesh screen just east of Cocodrie but we would find another hole with a school of 40-60 pounders.. I guess that these fish were big enough to jump the fence..we quickly added six of the biggest ones in the school and all but one angler handled the rod..still with a nice box of fish we could have headed in but the guys withnew vigor wanted to make one last stab at wahoo and snapper..we tried for both finding only short snapper at half a dozen stops..final take was 2 wahoo a blackfin and 6 of the fattest cobia yet..Capt Bill went tuna fishing and found 9 yellowfins and a wahoo, Hunter struggled searching for wahoo in a new area and had troubled fndng one jack and a small yellowfin..Capt Kerry Milano who was supposed take Mark Hoyle and his son redfishing but instead found a limit of snapper and a few cobia, dont know the details other than the take.
Capt Scott L. ran yesterday's trip and found two tuna (one barley legal one 80 pounds and a single 40 pound wahoo..
My camera memory card filled up shooting on Wednsday and without the software to unload it installed on the new laptop I have no cool pictures of my own, so I am waiting on some great footage from the customers..off the next few days altough Bill has a crew out today looking for tuna..we plan on possibly going sowrdfishing tomorrow night after Tuesday's scheduled maintenance day..Paradise Outfitters 1-888-FISHWUS (888-347-4987)