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I have wanted to trailer my boat to Louisiana to fish offshore and wonder if you local guys or someone thats fished there could share some information with me. In terms of accomodations, marinas, boat ramps , supplies, length of run, and fishing quality which would be a better base of operations- Venice or Grand Isle? I am interested in trolling for most of the pelagic species and sampling the oil rig fishing. Thanks in advance for any replies. John
I found more amenities in Grand Isle. Stores, restaraunts, hotels. I've fished several SKA tournaments out of GI. We usually ended up running back down to the south. I enjoy fishing out of Venice more than GI. Venice "rolls up the sidewalk" pretty early. One of my favorite destinations in Venice is Fish Incorporated. It's run by the late Capt. Jim Herrington's widow. A two story house boat with bunking rooms right at Venice Marina. Mrs. Sandy fixes ya two meals a day. $5 for breakfast and $10 or $15 for dinner. Lodging is $40 per person per night. The number there is (985) 534-9183.
both cypress cove marina and venice marina have overnight accomodations. cypress cove is newer, and has a bar/restaurant open till about 10pm each night. there are a few motels, but most are pretty rough. forever neither had live bait, but venice marina added bait tanks this year.
for an extended stay (several days to a week), might be cheaper to go to grand isle- there's certainly more nightlife. sand dollar and cigars marina on grand isle are full service.
from both areas, you can fish inshore, offshore at the rigs, and can troll the riplines.
We fish every year in LA, Spring and fall. Have been to both Venice and GI - Venice fishing is excellent if the River is down, but the runs are really long. Cypress Cove is a good marina, but when we stayed at their lodge the manager was unbearable, so we left for a motel. Pretty rough! Bridgeside Marina on GI has been good to us the last couple of years. Decent marina, the places to stay are far from luxurious but are liveable. Neither place has great places to eat, but GI has more options! Fishing at either location can be beyond belief, even for a novice. We fish either a 22' bay boat or a 25' walkaround with twins. You will love it, but leave your family behind unless they are HARDCORE fishers. Try rodnreel.com for good posts.
We fish every year in LA, Spring and fall. Have been to both Venice and GI - Venice fishing is excellent if the River is down, but the runs are really long. Cypress Cove is a good marina, but when we stayed at their lodge the manager was unbearable, so we left for a motel. Pretty rough! Bridgeside Marina on GI has been good to us the last couple of years. Decent marina, the places to stay are far from luxurious but are liveable. Neither place has great places to eat, but GI has more options! Fishing at either location can be beyond belief, even for a novice. We fish either a 22' bay boat or a 25' walkaround with twins. You will love it, but leave your family behind unless they are HARDCORE fishers. Try rodnreel.com for good posts.
You can ususally rent a very nice camp at Grand Isle (indoor plumbing and everything) if you give yourself a few weeks advance notice and plan your trip accordingly. Family's will be quite happy at GI. Venice is another matter - no matter which way the wind is blowing there's always a good place to fish, but the accomadtions there have just recently been upgraded to rustic.
Never been to GI, but been to Venice. The whole place smells like Pogies and diesel fuel, but the fishing is pretty good. I kept the boat on the trailer and stayed at the Vencie Inn. The place wasn't too shabby and the I thought the eatery next to the hotel was pretty good.
As previously mentioned, Venice provides the ability to fish in somewhat protected water no matter which direction the wind is out of and this is a plus especially if it is a planned vacation that can not be adjusted for bad weather. On the other hand, Grand Isle is a much better place in my opinion to get the whole South Louisiana experience. There are 10X the number of restaurants and hotels as Venice and the atmosphere is, in my opinion, much better. I really prefer the Sand Dollar Motel/Marina on the extreme east end of GI. In Venice, Cypress Cove is the nicest but the service SUCKS and the staff acts like they are doing YOU a favor by accomidating you!! Screw that! It is not cheap and in my opinion in any business situation the customer is doing the establishment a service by patronizing their business. I think Cypress Cove looks at the situation like if you don't stay here then someone else will and that is not anyway to build a reputation or customer base. In the end they are the ones loosing out though. On average a business spends in excess of 5x as much to acquire a new customer as it does to retain a customer who was pleased by their initial experience and CC has missed this! I have spent over 50 nights there out of necessity and become boderline angry upon arrival every time now. They host king tournys and obviously get the entry fees but on top of this the fishermen are basically a captive audiance for Sonny and his crew to nickle and dime for the whole weekend and still have the worst payout in division 7. They book the entire hotel, sell much, much more fuel and shipstore items than usual, and serve 75% of the fishermen an overpriced meal each night and still this is not enough. They have some jackass with a clipboard and a radio stationed by the launching ramp to charge you $7 to use the boatramp even if you are in THEIR tournament and staying 5 nights in THEIR hotel. Even worse they charge like $0.75 ever time you call a 1-800 # from your room. That is rape in my opinion!! Point being don't stay there unless absoultly necessary. Yes, I do have reservations there this year for 16 nights but still will be treated as if my presence is intereupting their lives!!
Go to Grand Isle or Fourchon (not Kajun Sportsman because the issues concerning CC are just as bad if not worse there) or look into Venice Marina in Venice. It is not 1/3 as nice as CC but the owners and staff are tremendously welcoming and your experience could be much more valuable than at CC.
Venice ..hands down. Gives you the ability depending on the weather to fish everything from the breton sound trout rigs and breton Island as far east as the Ram Powell floater... south pass.. southwest pass.. west delta.... awesome.
The lighthouse lodge in Venice is good clean hotel. The lodge at Cypress Cove is also good.. but make your reservations early especially for a weekend. The marina restaurant is pretty good.. as are several of the places in town.. not cheap ... but good. Lots of action on the docks at Cypress Cove in the mornings and evenings. Once of the posters above is right though.. dont bring the family to venice unless they love to fish... there is NOTHING else to do there. If its a Family thing... go to Grand Isle.
FWIW,.... I have stayed at Cypress Cove 10 times in the past 4 years and NEVER had any experience like rag-tags.... They can be a bit short at times but overall OUR experiences at Cypress Cove have been above average.
have you brought your issues to Rene or Sonny to let them know how you feel? have you given them an opportunity to respond? taking cheap shots at a business on the internet is bush league, IMO.
personally, i do all my business at venice marina, as i've been going there since i was ten. however, many, many of my friends and clients use cypress cove regularly, with no complaints.
finally- about the $0.75 per phone call; have you EVER stayed in a hotel before???? use your cell phone!
Are you serious? Yes I have discussed these issues with both Sonny and Rene numerous times both in person and over the phone when I have returned home. As for venting about Cypress Cove on the internet that is not true. These comments and more are made everytime I am asked about Cypress Cove and there are far more people in the Mobile, Pensacola, and Destin area who share a negative opinion of CC's business practices than support them. I don't think there would even be a question of that if you did further research.
Every time I approach Sonny about these issues I basically get the "if you don't like it too bad" attitude. Believe me if so many people did not have to go there to fish the tournament they wouldn't. Also, yes I spend 75-80 nights a year in a hotel and have NEVER paid 0.75 per call to call an 800 #. It is not even that only, if you dial 9 and make a call and the number is busy you still get charged. Why do you assume that I have a cell phone? My Petrocom phone cost way more than .75 per call and to use it would require walking to the boat and I have no other cell phone.
Not trying to argue or slam Cypress Cove but you were kindof quick to assume many things about my post and my lack of concern for ethical business practices. As I said I have spoken directly to the owners/management/employees at CC about these issues at least half a dozen times since August of 1998.
i cordially invite you to bring your business to the venice marina! bill, jeff, etc will take good care of you.
sorry i made incorrect assumptions- it just bugs me sometimes to see a negative experience with a business presented as though all experiences have/will be the same. obviously they have many, many satisfied customers, or they wouldn't be in business (and expanding!).
in any event, hope your next trip to the sportsman's paradise is more accomodating. as i am in the hospitality business myself, it makes us all look bad when customers leave unhappy!
You cant please all the people all the time. NOT defending Sonny at all... but we have made 10 trips as I prev said to CC since 1999 and have never had a BAD experience. I fished two ska events there as was charged ONE 7 dollar fee for the event to launch and recover. hell most the time they didnt even charge me for dock fees. I am well aware of Sonny's "if you dont like it attitude" just havent seen it.
I guess the real question is... if you have been treated so bad... why go back... when Venice Marina is a mile away?
Most of the above comments are correct concerning the accomidations at Venice vs. G.I. however what size boat are you bringing? G.I. can be a long run, however, it is becoming so that Venice is as well if you want to get away from the crowds. If you truly want to rig fish then go to Cocodrie and fish the ship shoal area, and the Restrurants are better. But, Coco is like G.I. as far as hard core fishing vs. family, although they can run up the road back towards Houma and go on swamp tours or see Plantation Homes.
I wanted to thank everyone for the invaluable information, just the sort of thing I was looking for. I'm sorry I didn't respond as soon but I was out of town (fishing) and I should of stayed here. You all have given me plenty to think about. Doghouse2 I would be bringing a Sea Vee 26 with twin 200 HPDI's and 200 gal. of fuel. One of my best freinds captained a boat out of that area back in the 70's and raves about the blue water fishing. My father also fished there a long time ago and they had a great trip. Thanks again for the information. John
All of these hospitality issues remind me of the time I watched someone buy gas in Port Eads a few years ago. We laugh about it now but it was frightening. You think cc marina is bad? I must say to this day I'm kinda scared to duck in there.
I'm going to have to second Rag Tag's opinion of Cypress Cove. I won't mention the persons name that I had problems with but it sounds alot like KAREN. Her real name should be Asshole, but that would be a compliment. Did I mention there's another marina in Venice, I don't think they're as rude either.
I to will back Rag-Tag and Dragoon on the CC issue.After 2 yrs of horrible service and rude people we will not stay at CC.The folks at the "other marina" seem to be alot nicer and not as rude.
Capt. John, Regardless of where you go, I hope that you do come to our wonderful state and are met here with the hospitality that we are known for.
I run out of Grand Isle and would like to put my 2 cents in to your question.
Venice is strictly for 2 things, fishing and the oil business. It offers access to inland areas that are great for Specks and Reds and you can of course run to the Gulf. However, and it is just my 2 cents. The passes on the mississippi river are very tricky and unforgiving with the sunken rocks that you have. The only other thing that you will have to do at Venice is you will have to make a 20 mile or so run down the river to EYE the gulf.
Grand Isle- This is the only inhabited barrier island in Louisiana. The island has plenty of restaurants and hotel / motel set ups as well as camper spots. You are on the Gulf so to EYE the conditions all you have to do is look out over the beech. Do not expect white sand but there are beeches for the kids to play on and you even have a small gooney golf place. The restaurants have gotten a lot better over the last couple of years. If you plan on running inside there is plenty of marsh behind the island.
As far as the marina issue, as a regular I have seen this both at Grand Isle and at Venice, at various marinas but not the ones mentioned. There is no more land and no more room for competition. With the crowds that have developed over the years some of the business owners have developed an attitude that you will spend your money there and if not there is someone standing behind you, waiting for you to move out of the way. This is unfortunate and sooner or later it will come full circle. Remember that these situations are usually few and far between.
It does not just happen here either.... a quick story.... I trailered my small boat to Florida a couple of years ago. Visited a certain marina, bait shop daily. On the 3rd day he figured that I was from LA. and asked about the Deadly Dudley baits. I gave him several to try and provided the contact info for the manufacturer. He had the gall to tell me that for the rest of my stay he was going to start charging me the "LOCAL PRICE" on my purchases instead of the "TOURIST PRICE" he had been raping me with for the last 3 days.
Offshore fishing in Louisiana 
