SpurHunter
Well-known member
SpurHunter, Gulf, Grande Isle, YF Tuna, AJ, Snapper, Shark, 3-19, BBdown,DRC,Puddlejumper & friends
I have wanted to get after tuna for several years, and finally got a trip organized for a 12 hr trip out of Grande Isle.
I will say this right up front, we knew our plan was going to wear us out, but we didn’t realize how bad the fish were going to be a part of that.
We left town at 7AM sharp and arrived in Na’wlins for a few hours of well, whatever it is you do there. The drinks are STRONG, the food sucked, and it’s a filthy place. (Bourbon Street) We did our duty supporting those poor souls working to put food on their tables and headed south to Grande Isle.
About 10 Eastern we got to the Fish Commander cabins, waaaay out in the middle of no-where. Most of us were pretty jacked up and had a hard time getting to bed, but by 4:15 we were loaded into Shawn’s truck and pulling out……scratch that, changing a flat tire, in the dark, after unloading the coolers, removing the hitch hauler, unloading the stuff in the trunk space to get to the jack, yea, aint that fun? Tire changed, a healthy portion of curse words appropriately spewed about to no-one in particular, we were off and only arrived at the dock 30 mins late.
Chis Moran has a fantastic 34’ Venture with twin 300 4 stroke Yammy’s on it, and every electronic toy known to man. We pulled off the dock by 5:30. As is standard in the area, fog was present, as well as pitch black, no problem getting out of the harbor and pass, when the radar is working, to day it was on the fritz… Luckily Chris has friends that were leaving the pass at the same time and we just slipped in behind them to navigate out into open water.
The water was insanely calm on our trip to a random oil platform, Id tell you which one, but with 3500 rigs in the that zone, I’m pretty sure the location is safe from googans like us. In about ten minutes we had enough blue runners and hard tails to fill the tank and off for another ride. All told I think we ran 80 miles off shore to the top secret rig. Two baits into the water and in 10 minutes the first rods screaming. Shawn lands a fat 90lb yellowfin to start off the day!
About two hours later we had landed three more, (one more 90, and 2 70lb) hooked up 4 that came unbuttoned or broke leaders and the bite had pretty much stopped. We were still seeing random explosions of tuna hitting the bait in the vacinity, but couldn't get another hookup.
We decided to go after some other fish and chose another rig to catch some giant amber jacks in the 45-65lb range, also landing about 10 sharks up to 7'. Next stop some deep water wrecks, in less than 20 mins, 11 endangered red snapper later (that you have to release for the sharks to eat), we were off to troll some rigs for Wahoo. We never did see a wahoo, but as it was we got back to the dock about 7:00 to get pictures and let them get the fish cut and bagged.
There is a great restaurant at the marina, Im talking white tablecloths and all, and the steaks were the BOMB. Our plan had been to buy some things to go with fresh fish, but most of us couldn’t raise our arms higher than belt height so cooking was out of the question. We all stunk, looked like crap, and they welcomes us like family.
We made it back to the cabin by 9:30 and cleaned up and crashed out.
Packed and on the road by 8:00, we planned to go to Café Du Monde for some hot beignets, on a Sunday morning at 10:30 AM, there was only about 600 people waiting to get into the door! We hit the second best place according to the petti-cab girl next to us, Morning Call, located in the NOLA City Park. Some of us liked them, some called them dinner rolls with powdered sugar. That gave us enough fuel to head north and make it home by 7:00.
I booked the trip through Fish Commander, but he and Cajun Made Charters work together during busy times, I would go with either guy again in a heartbeat.
We only have one video loaded onto the web, look really closely when I am filming under water and you may see a surprise, you will also see Shaun with a look of sheer pain half-way into the fight.
http://youtu.be/yz5YDuyP2mg
I have wanted to get after tuna for several years, and finally got a trip organized for a 12 hr trip out of Grande Isle.
I will say this right up front, we knew our plan was going to wear us out, but we didn’t realize how bad the fish were going to be a part of that.
We left town at 7AM sharp and arrived in Na’wlins for a few hours of well, whatever it is you do there. The drinks are STRONG, the food sucked, and it’s a filthy place. (Bourbon Street) We did our duty supporting those poor souls working to put food on their tables and headed south to Grande Isle.
About 10 Eastern we got to the Fish Commander cabins, waaaay out in the middle of no-where. Most of us were pretty jacked up and had a hard time getting to bed, but by 4:15 we were loaded into Shawn’s truck and pulling out……scratch that, changing a flat tire, in the dark, after unloading the coolers, removing the hitch hauler, unloading the stuff in the trunk space to get to the jack, yea, aint that fun? Tire changed, a healthy portion of curse words appropriately spewed about to no-one in particular, we were off and only arrived at the dock 30 mins late.
Chis Moran has a fantastic 34’ Venture with twin 300 4 stroke Yammy’s on it, and every electronic toy known to man. We pulled off the dock by 5:30. As is standard in the area, fog was present, as well as pitch black, no problem getting out of the harbor and pass, when the radar is working, to day it was on the fritz… Luckily Chris has friends that were leaving the pass at the same time and we just slipped in behind them to navigate out into open water.
The water was insanely calm on our trip to a random oil platform, Id tell you which one, but with 3500 rigs in the that zone, I’m pretty sure the location is safe from googans like us. In about ten minutes we had enough blue runners and hard tails to fill the tank and off for another ride. All told I think we ran 80 miles off shore to the top secret rig. Two baits into the water and in 10 minutes the first rods screaming. Shawn lands a fat 90lb yellowfin to start off the day!
About two hours later we had landed three more, (one more 90, and 2 70lb) hooked up 4 that came unbuttoned or broke leaders and the bite had pretty much stopped. We were still seeing random explosions of tuna hitting the bait in the vacinity, but couldn't get another hookup.
We decided to go after some other fish and chose another rig to catch some giant amber jacks in the 45-65lb range, also landing about 10 sharks up to 7'. Next stop some deep water wrecks, in less than 20 mins, 11 endangered red snapper later (that you have to release for the sharks to eat), we were off to troll some rigs for Wahoo. We never did see a wahoo, but as it was we got back to the dock about 7:00 to get pictures and let them get the fish cut and bagged.
There is a great restaurant at the marina, Im talking white tablecloths and all, and the steaks were the BOMB. Our plan had been to buy some things to go with fresh fish, but most of us couldn’t raise our arms higher than belt height so cooking was out of the question. We all stunk, looked like crap, and they welcomes us like family.
We made it back to the cabin by 9:30 and cleaned up and crashed out.
Packed and on the road by 8:00, we planned to go to Café Du Monde for some hot beignets, on a Sunday morning at 10:30 AM, there was only about 600 people waiting to get into the door! We hit the second best place according to the petti-cab girl next to us, Morning Call, located in the NOLA City Park. Some of us liked them, some called them dinner rolls with powdered sugar. That gave us enough fuel to head north and make it home by 7:00.
I booked the trip through Fish Commander, but he and Cajun Made Charters work together during busy times, I would go with either guy again in a heartbeat.
We only have one video loaded onto the web, look really closely when I am filming under water and you may see a surprise, you will also see Shaun with a look of sheer pain half-way into the fight.
http://youtu.be/yz5YDuyP2mg
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