I was able to fish the last 3 days and it may take another 3 to recover. Thursday was a tough one, Friday a little better then Saturday, back in the waves!

Thursday and Friday Gray and I had Gary Stegalls crew in Venice to go chase a few fish. Thursday didnt produce like we had hoped. We fished hard for tuna, wahoo and amberjack and at the end of the day I found myself one short of an amberjack limit and that was it. Tough day on the water right there.

Friday, the plan was to "change zip codes"! We started the day off pulling for hooters. I think we did get a hit but no hook ups. We made a run to go get amberjack and what do you know, today they are hungry!! We put a 6 man limit in the boat in no time and we were off to find the tuna! Or so we thought anyway. On the way out to the blue water we made a stop at a rig that was right in our path. Gray told me to stop, I wasn’t going to listen but saw a few small fish bust so figured I had better check it out. We didn’t find any tuna but did manage 2 nice wahoo! You know, the rest of the day, I had to listen to how gray was right about the stop! May never hear the end of that!! Haha!! After a little ice was on the fish, we continued out to the floaters and I was happy to be fishing blue water again. The first stop had nothing. 2nd and 3rd stop both had a few blackfin and only found one small yellowfin. Not what the crew wanted to see but it happens. I would like to think we could have caught more wahoo but the guys wanted a shot at tuna so that is what we went after. Can’t catch them if you don’t go right? It was still a nice day fishing blue water and we did end the day with a good pile of meat in the box. A super nice crew to fish with, the guys were a real blast.

Saturday, we had a bachelor party here from Texas! It was 15 guys fishing 3 boats. They rolled up to the marina in a tour bus, now these guys know how to party. After all of the beer was iced, we pushed off at about 6:30 from Venice Marina. A bit cool today but no fog and the sun was out, made for a fast trip down the river to be greeted by rough seas and dirty water. With the North wind, the plan was to try to fish in protected waters. This plan started out good but by the end of the day, we were rocking and rolling.

First thing, we drop wahoo baits back and I think it was the first pass, we had line screaming from a reel. After finding the gaff, I was able to stick this pig of a hooter! Man, what a way to start a trip. Baits back in the water, bam, hooked up again! Put that one on ice. I look at Gray and we both think that we are about to just nail these wahoo. You would know, we can’t get another bite. Pull the bean bags to the back, rain gear on, we run to find some amberjack. Now, I told you the day before was easy but we go back to the same place and now the current is kicking and 2- 24 ounce weights can’t even keep the baits out of the rig. Took a little work but we were able to find the fish and get them hooked up! We had to pull most fish out of the rig, some of them had marks on them from the rig, the line was that close to being cut off.
After we put 6 nice jacks on ice, we wanted to look for more wahoo. Despite the rough conditions and one sick crew member, these guys were pumped and having a good time. We were in competition with the other boats and they would stop at nothing to win!!

New spot, put baits in the water, good marks on the screen but no luck. Another rig, Gray could see birds feeding, he pointed the boat in that direction, marks on the screen, what do you know, we triple up! Lose one, one is a big blackfin and the other is…..that’s right, big hooter. Oh yeah, now we are really having fun. Make another pass, hooked up, and another and another. At 5 nice wahoo in the box, the crew agrees to one more pull then we are taking it to the barn. In a perfect world, we would have hooked up on that last pass but we didn’t. I told gray, gotta make one more, he did and now we have our fish on line. One guy taps out, put a fresh one on the reel and in no time the fish is boat side!!! Wahooooo baby! Now we have a pair, 6 jacks and 6 wahoo! Let’s go home….

We have Feb 26th and March 2nd open to fish! This is our only weekend dates open til April. We still have week days open and I can always line you up on one of our other boats if I am booked! We also have inshore guides and lodging if you need it!

The wahoo bite should continue through March and the Tuna are starting to show now! Dolphin will start to show up in April and May and the Marlin will be right behind them. Should be an awesome year, we are already starting to see bait.

Give us a call or email anytime, we will be happy to set you up or answer any questions!

Visit our blog at http://deepsouthcharters.blogspot.com/ for all of our fishing reports and pictures. Also our website at www.deepsouthcharters.com for anything Deep South!!

Capt. Josh Howard
225-572-7408
deepsouthcharters@cox.net
www.deepsouthcharters.com
http://deepsouthcharters.blogspot.com/

Weekend Report

You have to wonder, where are the reports of the bad trips? Well, here it is! haha!

I guess not too bad but not super good either.

We were able to fish Saturday and Sunday. The forecast was looking a bit rough but not rough enough to cancel. Saturdays seas ended up being ok i guess, Sunday was bumpy.

Out of the two days, Saturday was the best. We set out to find wahoo and you know how that can go. We were fishing 3 days before a full moon and I just knew that we would crush them. A little trolling in the morning and nothing to show for it, we made a stop to get our amberjack. Now the jacks were hungry and didnt take long before we had a 6 man limit in the boat. It was a good way to start off a day. After a little ice on the fish, we head to find the wahoo and maybe a few tuna.

We made a stop and pulled the cutting board out. Matt began to cut bait, I lined out 3 guys to start chunking. Took a while but did get a couple nice blackfin and 2 small yellowfin to eat. This wasnt really doing it for us so switched gears and went to pull baits.

After many, many wraps around a few rigs we hear the reel scream. The customer made quick work of the fish and we had our first and only wahoo of the day in the boat. The guys put in a good effort but just couldnt find anymore hooters.

We ended the day chunking for tuna, only to fight shark after shark. Like I said, not too bad but could have been better!

Now for Sunday.

Start off in blue water at a floater, fish it hard, one small yellowfin. Seas are starting to build now so we head in a little closer to have a shot at some wahoo. After pulling baits for a while, the rough seas are taking a toll on my crew. One is sick and one is not looking good! I hear talk of them calling the trip so I quickly put amberjack baits in the water so I can get the guys some meat before it is all over. After the 6 man limit of amberjack is in the box, at 12:30, the guys say take it to the barn, we have had enough!

I hate to see a sick crew but as you all know, it does happen! I would like to think we would have caught a few more fish but who knows. I know of 2 wahoo caught that day. Glad that weekend is over.

I did not fish Monday and Tuesday, Friends of mine did catch a few nice fish on these two days so I am pumped to get back at it Thursday!

We have this Sunday open to fish as well as the 16th, 17th and 26th! March is getting pretty full but we still have a few open dates!

If you would like to fish, please contact us by phone or email. Please visit our blog for all Deep South Charters fishing reports! Be safe on the water. Hope to see you out there.

Capt Josh Howard
225-572-7408
deepsouthcharters@cox.net
www.deepsouthcharters.com
deepsouthcharters.blogspot.com

Wahoo Fishing

I received this email from a fellow fisherman and wanted to post the answer here for all to see.


THE QUESTION


I have my own boat (25 open) and just like doing things myself,
even though I know it would be cheaper and more productive to go with a guide like you.

I appreciate the info you put out there on the web and helps a lot. But I have a few questions if you don't mind answering.

In general what are you looking for when you target wahoo?

I have already re rigged all my baits, so I think I am good there.

Thinking of making a run out of Grand isle towards Deep WD Sunday. I live in Laffite so this is an easy run.

Anything special on catching AJ's this time of year?



THE ANSWER

This time of year is a great time to target wahoo. We catch our big fish this time of year and the number of wahoo in the area seem to greatly increas around december and hold thru March.

I like to fish around the new moon and full moon but this is not the only time you will catch wahoo. It is a lot like deer hunting, you just have to put in the time to get the trophy.

I focus on water depths of 200-400 ft but I have caught these fish in as little as 100 ft and as much as 5000 ft. Wahoo are ofter found around the oil platforms but they love anything floating. Something as small as a 5 gallon bucket has been known to hold a 80 pound wahoo. Buoys are good as well. These floating things are home to bait fish and the wahoo are always looking for a meal.

In the Venice are we use a lot of diving baits but if you are fishing in clean or blue water, you can use surface baits as well. Braid Marauders are an all time favorite bait in clean water. These baits can be trolled as fast as 15 knots and still run true. The plus side to these baits is the 2 large "J" hooks, when you get these into a fish, most of the time you land it! We also use Mann stretch 30's and Bomber cd 30's, Even a Illander with a ballyhoo can be the ticket, you will just have to see what works well in your area.

Most of the time I troll at 8 mph but this can change depending on each situation.

I like to troll all sides of a rig both close and far from the rig, you never know where these fish will be stacked. It is nothing to hook 2-3 fish at atime so on the first strike, keep the boat moving to see if you get a double, or tripple!!


RIGGING BAITS


I rig all of my wahoo baits on 2-3 ft of single strand (131 pound) wire using a hayware twist for connections. The wire is very important, these fish are full of very sharp teath.

When fishing this time of year, I change most of the treble hooks out to Owner 4/0 or 5/0 treble hooks! Factory hooks will not hold up to a 100 pound wahoo!

Once hooked up, it is very important to keep the slack out of the line, keep the boat moving forward if you are having trouble with the slack. When using Treble hooks, the lack of slack is in the line is most important, you will never know how these fish are hooked.

As for amberjack, No secrets, just target them in 300-600 ft of water, Live bait is best but they love butterfly jigs. Most fish will hold on the up current side but that is not always the case.

Capt Josh Howard
225-572-7408
deepsouthcharters@cox.net
www.deepsouthcharters.com

Here is some new lodging that we are now booking with:

9 Yellowfin Tuna

This past week, we had a couple of our good customers coming down to hunt and fish. We tried to pick the best day to fish and then hunt two other days. The weather man tried to trick us but I think we managed to fish the good day in the end!

We made a hunt Wednesday morning, Wind was blowing good but the ducks really didnt want to work. It took a while but we did get to shoot our ducks! Thursday we had planned on hunting because Friday looked to be the best for seas. After making it to the marina Thursday morning, I checked the seas to see that infact, thursday will be best, called the guys, change in plans, now we are getting the boat ready and even after the mix up, we were only a little late leaving the dock.

We decided that we would go tuna fishing so I headed to a spot where I had caught them a couple of weeks ago but they were gone! Fished a few more spots with nothing to show, decided to hit one more spot and after making a wrap around the rig we marked a couple of fish! We put two live baits back and one goes off!! Start to fight this fish and the other reel starts screaming!!! Awesome, now we are doubled up! We land both fish and put baits back out, now nothing!

Took a little while but we finally got back in them. We ended up going 9 for 10 on yellowfin tuna and one small blackfin! Just goes to show, you never know what the next spot may have!

Next morning, we are back in the duck boat! We shot 15 birds by 8:30, good enough, we take it in early, it was a good way to end the season! Thanks guys for an awesome week!

If you want to fish, we have plenty of open dates! Capt Gray and I cant wait to hear from you!

We also have lodging, inshore fishing and bowfishing available!

Hope to see you on the water soon!

Capt Josh Howard
225-572-7408
deepsouthcharters@cox.net
www.deepsouthcharters.com
deepsouthcharters.blogspot.com

New Video

9 Wahoo

We were scheduled to fish Sunday with 4 people, they did not even know one another, the trip was set up at the request of one person, ironically, this person sent a text to me while I was in the duck blind on Saturday that said, I wont be able to make it!! Bad news is most of the others are in Venice by now or on the way! What to do?? Do I cancel? Its not the other guys fault? Do I take a 500 dollar cut in Pay? huh, think about it a while and decide, hell with it, seas look good, we are going!

Sunday morning we load the 3 guys on the boat and leave Venice Marina about 5:30 AM. Cool ride down the river, hit the gulf to find warm air and nice calm seas! My brother Brad was down hunting with me and decided to make the trip as a free deckhand because now I dont have the money in the trip to pay a hand, in the end the crew hooked him up. It was nice to have hime on the water because as it turned out I would need the help!

We made a long run to start the day, first bait in the water would be smashed by a wahoo only to pull hooks! Made a few more wraps, nothing! Run a little farther, put baits out, troll for 30 mins, not one knock down! Told the crew we would change it up a little and send down a live one for amberjack, didnt take long and we were doubled over. Got out limit of jacks pretty easy and decided to make another run.

New spot, water looks nasty, about 60 degrees. We pull baits for about an hour, now I am getting a little up tight. We are about to pick up the baits when a hammer hits the long line. Good fish, people are running around, move the bean bag, dont let any slack get in the line, reel reel reel!! We lost the fish, pulled hooks! Baits back in the water for 2 mins, reel screaming again, we got it this time!! Wahoo Baby. Baits out again, BOOM another one, then onother one, this went on til we had 7 in the box then it happened! We hooked two and finally, we landed two! The crew called the trip at 2:30 with 9 wahoo in the box, ended the day by landing double hooters!!!

Oh man, what a great day on the water! Felt like summer, 73 degrees, calm seas, box FULL of wahoo and in the end I made out ok on money because we didnt have to burn a ton of fuel so I am super happy that we made the decision to run! Lets just say that the other guy was the loser on this day!

We have plenty of days open to fish, We have this weekend open to fish wahoo and tuna as well as the weekend of the 21st! If you would like to fish, please give us a call or email!

See you on the water!

Capt Josh Howard
225-572-7408
deepsouthcharters@cox.net
www.deepsouthcharters.com