This past Friday the docks at Venice marina were filled with everyone preparing for the next morning. Check this, check that floro, change that one, you get the point. 4:30 AM came a little too early for me and I was still in a oyster induced coma and the cocktails didn't help either. And who was that blonde girl I was dreaming about? Up and at em! A strong cup of coffee and two Marlboro's and I was ready to roll. We hit the jump at 5:45 and headed south in the pre-dawn darkness. The gulf was a mirror image of the morning skies and we pulled up to our first stop at 7:00 am. No current and little signs of life so we were able to make a dozen baits and pressed on to our next stop. A friend was already there and had been soaking mullets for thirty minutes but no love. I rolled up like I owned the joint and put two small "cracks" out. 30 seconds later the port rod goes zzzzzz! Dam barracuda! On que the starboard rod screams and mr. yellowfin found his mark. Twenty minutes later a nice 60lb fish hits the deck. I thought silently to myself "that was cool." We stayed there for the better part of two hours donating hooks to the barracuda foundation. I had finally had enough of that shit and we headed east in hopes of greener pastures. The next stop was as dead as a Hummer dealership so we continued on. Stop number four seemed promising as two fish busted as I pulled the throttles back. We picked up a few skippies on the Frenzy popper but the few yellows that were around didn't want to play. I stuck it out there for a little longer and headed back to stop number two to make more livies. We picked up about 75 nice little cracks and I laid out the plan of going back to our first stop and waiting them out, hoping for an afternoon bite. I hadn't gone a mile when my starboard Yammie made a horrible fucking noise! That's nice. I just blew a lower unit! With a lot of pinned up anger and determination to kill something, I kept the course and made way with my center and port motor. At this time it was nearing 3 o'clock and it was now or never. Karma was on our side as our first bait was engulfed 10 seconds after it hit the water. 80lb fish hits the deck. This would go on for the next two hours and we picked up four fish up to 100lbs and pulling the hooks on four more. We headed north bruised but not beaten and were treated to the prettiest sunset I have seen in awhile. Gods way of saying, "it's all good." We pulled into Venice marina at 6:15. Not bad. The fishing continues to be solid and with January approaching, it will only get better. The lower unit is fixed and the safety is off! Give me a call to book your next trip in Venice.
P.S. I made a short video of the last fish. The filming isn't the best but you get the point.
Captain William Wall
Pelagic Charters
www.pelagicchartersllc.com
1.225.454.5365
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plUdBslHM7o 
Venice Offshore- Bug Or The Windshield? 
