Any doubts about the health of Louisiana’s coastal fisheries have been put to rest over weeks since the flow of oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon were staunched. And the scene at the Venice Marina cleaning today (Oct. 10) simply added a punctuation mark to reports of fantastic fall fishing.
“We caught our tuna behind the shrimp boats 30 miles out of Tiger Pass,” New Orleans’ Zach Butterworth said while cutting slabs of meat from his catch.
Butterworth said the tuna fell for shrimp bycatch drifted behind the shrimp boats.
On the catch board for the weekend was also a true behemoth yellowfin that tipped the scales at 221 pounds, caught by Jimmy Fisackerly (aka “Boat Stuf” on the LouisianaSportsman.com reports forum).
Butterworth, brother Taylor Butterworth and buddies Dr. Stephen Delahoussaye, Tim Kingsten and Kevin Schaumburg added 10 red snapper and several ling (including a 60-pounder) to their catch in the West Delta 143 area.
“We only caught one of the lemonfish on a jig,” Zach Butterworth said. “We couldn’t get any catch any more, so we shot the rest free diving.
The fishing was just as hectic for those staying inshore. The author, Sportsman Publisher Tony Taylor and Wiley X’s Mark Fisher launched mid morning, and the cleaning station already was filled with anglers cleaning limits of redfish and bass.
Later that morning, cruising reds were picked off in Sawdust Bend by several boats involved in the annual “Marsh Madness” media gathering.
“They were just scattered on the edge of the grass beds,” Starkville’s Steve Madar said. “I threw one bait (a spinner bait) all day.”
ChatterBaits and inline spinners also produced fish.
And Taylor and Fisher caught bass mixed in with the reds, proving that Venice fishery is readily available.
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