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Around 10% of the world's total fish species can be found just within the Great Barrier Reef.
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Starfish do not have blood. Their blood is actually filtered sea water.
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Not all animals with the word fish in their names count as fish.
Though their names may suggest otherwise, cuttlefish, starfish, and jellyfish aren’t actually fish. Generally-speaking, fishes must have skulls, gills, and fins. Surprisingly, though, not all fishes have proper spines.
In three decades, the world's oceans will contain more discarded plastic than fish when measured by weight, researchers say.
As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined.
Just how man species of fish are there?
As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined.
Even Catfish are finicky
Taste Buds ? Catfish have a more refined sense of flavor than humans. Our 10,000 taste buds may seem like a lot, but catfish can have as many as 175,000. This helps them find the exact location of their next meal.
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My brother has 2 German Shepherds named Rolex and Timex. You guessed it they are Watch Dogs.

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From Jan 01, 1999 To Mar 28, 2024
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 Dec 9, 2004; 01:50PM - Wide open yellowfin tuna bite in Venice, Louisiana
 Category:  Louisiana
 Author Name:  Capt. Scott Avanzino
Wide open yellowfin tuna bite in Venice, Louisiana

Man was I ever wrong..found the fish right where we left them Saturday and this time we were prepared..I had a score to settle for having to look so hard for them in previous trips..Looking back and talking with Darryl, it was probably for our best day catch ever..sure we have caught alot of yellowfin in the same day but not eight 100-130 pounders and quiting at 1:30 pm!!

Had the Superior Trolling Motor gang from Lafayette of Rory Marse, Steve and Ted Lyons and Randall Brown, my old Oilfield pal back in my days at Schlumberger - who has also traded a career in the patch for a fishing related venture...They arrived last night following my oil change locked and loaded..these guys brought three 148 coolers all loaded with ice..after making bait relatively easy we decided to move up our departure time to allow for an early arrival..heck we were expecting fog anyway..so who needs daylight..caught 14 mullet, fueled up at the commercial dock and made our way down Tiger Pass without a hitch; Upon hitting the open water I regreted not running the river, and for sure those trying to nap below; Still some pretty steep rollers left over from the days squalls making for an ineteresting ride..arrived at the scene at 6:45 and immediately turned a double on live mullets..then another one..all 100 pound class fish..it was starting to look like a slaughter but after 3 pulled hooks the bite tapered to slack..tried pulling baits to no avail..piddled around for 2 hours eating Rory sandwiches and downing some red bulls..about noon the flying fish went crazy and so did the tuna..about a mile off the rig..set up in the middle and picked up 4 more yellowfin on 4 consecutive bites..headed in early loaded down..in fact we had trouble holding speed in the troughs with all the extra weight..weather has cancelled us the next few days and we'll be heading out with the same anticipation next break..Paradise Outfitters..985-845-8006



 Dec 6, 2004; 04:31PM - More yellowfin tuna action in Venice Louisiana
 Category:  Louisiana
 Author Name:  Capt. Scott Avanzino
More yellowfin tuna action in Venice Louisiana

Spent all last week in Venice doing year end boat and equipment maintenance..waited until Friday for the weather to break and after re-launching the boat Thursday afternoon I was ready to trade a greasy wrench for a baited pole.. It's always tough to come off a 7 day weather layover, but we started in areas we had caught fish the week before..Had Jeff Milton and the Sylvania crew looking for tuna..spent the majority of the day looking for bait netting 2 mullet and 4 hardtails..didn't matter..for the 5 hours we spent waiting for the bite all we had was one small yellowfin and one blackfin to show..missed one big strike around 3pm and reluctantly headed north in search of jacks..and fortunately they were hungry..we found them at the 7 mile rigs about 150 yards off the platform on the NE corner of 49..they hit everything we threw at them and in 45 minutes we had caught 7 fish without losing one..diamond jigs, dead mullet and tuna bellies..didnt matter..I got back to the cleaning table and talked to a captain friend of mine who was down on himself for only producing one nice yellowfin, 2 stout grouper and a couple jacks..though he gave it his best effort I think he allowed the unrealistic expectations of his customers to get him down..some times the fish bite like mad and some days there is nothing you can do to find a single strike and some days, despite all preparation things still go wrong..given the weather and the fact that it was a long time since anyone had fished I think both of us had a sucessful day..Saturday the bite was wide open for us and just about everything went wrong..I headed out with good friend Rick Blount his daughter Casey and Ryan and Bill Flanagan on Bill's 37 Bertram for our annual year end fishing trip..we couldn't make up our minds what we wanted to fish for so we packed a little of everything..someone had stolen the large fish box so all we had was a deck box with 120 pounds of ice..could only find 7 mullet but since we only needed 4 fish to make the day we ventured off to new territory with medium confidence..first stop yeilded a big zero..a single barracuda bite left us 5 good baits and one near dead one..upon stop 2 we had a double on deployment..the first fish broke off on the run and the second at the leader after a 40 minute fight..upon tying up a new leader I found that the gap between the shank of the hooks and loop of the eye was sufficient enough to allow for a plier like effect if more than 20 pounds was applied to the 90 pound leader..even with a power snell the line would break against the sharp edge of the hook..a closer inspection of the pack revealed a bad batch..switched over to J-hooks while Doc searched his supply for better hooks and had 2 more misses..and when last bait flew off the hook upon deployment, things started to look pretty grim..put out a spread of 2 Braid baits short on 50 pound chair tackle and two skirted ballyhoo with birds long on each of the riggers on 30 pound tackle..at this point one fish would have made the trip but instead we were blessed with old time tuna action..hadn't seen a bite like this on trolling biats for many years..we made 6 passes in the next 4 hours hooking a fish on every pass..ended up with 3 very nice yellowfin from 90-150 pounds..the first fish in the box was a nice 110 pounder on a braid plug, fish number 2 was the samllest fish of the day, again on a plug..pulled a hook on 30 pound tackle on pass number 3 and broke off the next 2 fish on the 30's on the long baits..not sure if Bill will bring them on the next tuna outing but I think the fish did us a favor..the final fish hit at 3:00pm on the short plug and ripped half the spool on the first run..14 year old Casey settled into the chair while dad helped her crank - neither of them knew what they were getting into and from my view from the helm, it looked like alot of forced family fun..2 hours later we sunk the gaff into a 150# class fish that would test our collective engineering abilities in order to cool him and his two friends in an undersized cooler with 2 1/2 bags of ice..bottom line is we got the job done and everyone who got to fight a fish is sore today..I got to drive so next time I may get a turn on the rod..so long as the wrench's collect rust for the next few months I wont care..hope to get back out this week if weather allows..the way the bite has been, I doubt very seriously if we'll find them in the same place..hadn't worked for us this fall..last stretch of trips we ran in late November we found our fish at Moxie and in open water 2 miles south of Moxie, but not this week..not sure where we'll start looking next trip.... Paradise Outfitters - 985-845-8006

 Nov 24, 2004; 02:06PM - Prew inter yellowfin tuna bite
 Category:  Louisiana
 Author Name:  Capt. Scott Avanzino
Prew inter yellowfin tuna bite

Headed out last Friday expecting calm seas and great fishing..first day back in a while (12 weather days in a row)..headed south to the Cognac Platform and found fast moving green water..plenty of porpouses too..the ride out was not nice and I had one angler looking green before we arrived on the scene..tried everything..live bait on the surface, on the downrigger and even trolling a spread of wahoo and tuna baits..fish just weren't out there..I made it about a mile south of the platform pounding through a rather steep headsea looking for better conditions before the ringleader asked if we could turn north for shallow water and the prospect of catching a limit of grouper...Since we had spent 40 minutes making bait we had to at least try for amberjacks at the 7 mile rigs..could not beg, buy or steal a bite..headed in a little closer to try and catch a few grouper on strip bait..man can I tell you about a wide open red snapper bite! I knew they would bite best after Nov. 1..it honestlly hurt to release some of the fish which bettered 10 pounds but rules are rules..caught one undersized grouper before calling the trip at 1:30..nice to get home early but it hurt to come in with a skunk!! Saturday looked to be much more promising..headed off to the deepwater platforms with nothing but chum..could not catch any live bait to save our lives..It really killed me to know we let 12 mullets go on the way in the previous afternoon..but thanks to a high seas horse trade with another captain we at least had something to try..traded a wahoo plug for 10 pinfish and we were off to Medusa..gradual change from green to blue water about 4 miles inside the platform but no life on the rig..spent 4 hours chumming up sharks and seeing no fish before we made the run north to try and salvage the day with jacks or beter....about 2pm we spotted a school of big yellowfin working some unfrotunate mullet in nasty green water..put out a half live pinfish and immediately hooked up a school sized fish of 50 pounds..caught back up with the school and tossed a popper into the mix..and as luck would have it we scored on a much larger fish..fought the fish from 2:30pm to 5pm going through all three anglers, breaking a reel seat and nearly the line during the battle..ah the 1,000,001 uses for electrical tape..sunk the gaff in the beast just before sunset and headed for the house..if we had hooked the small fish on the popper and the big fish on the standup tackle we might have had less cooler space but under the circumstances no one was complaining..just shows you the power of prayer as I had literally just finished a good one about 30 seconds before hooking the first fish..I heard the rest of the fleet struggled for a bite too except for Darryl who released 2 blue marlin in the same day!Sunday I took off and had a pretty interesting trip on Monday..I had 3 human cranes and it made the diffrence when the bite was on..Left early morning with Gary Betsill and his two boys, Matt and Mike..I got one look at them at the dock and wondered if we would get up on plane..Gary is the shortest of the family at 6'4' and both of his boys could play center for the Hornets..and these guys can fish..Gary runs charters over in the panhandle and his boys share the deck duties when not in school...none of them had ever caught a tuna, any tuna, but these guys would prove to be excellent tuna fisherman by days end..the day started off foggy and calm and picked up to a 15 knot chop with overcast skies by days end.. we struggled to make bait down river netting 8 mullet in 2 hours..(didnt want to go offshore empty handed since it has been impossible to catch hardtails lately)..anyway..got off to a slow start..the fish have been feeding late in the afternoon, at least I assume that since both our last trips we didn't put a fish in the boat until the later part of the day..we hit just about every rig in the Gulf..bluewater was 40 miles out of the pass with no defined color change or grass..we passed up Cognac and Lena without wetting a line- both showd clean green water but no signs of life..went one for 3 at Mars picking up our smallest fish of the day a 100 pounder for Matt which he beat in 15 minutes - which incidentally would prove to be the longest fight of the day (more due to the fact that I had the gaff yanked from my hands..no matter, we could have done that all day long and still would have come out ahead..these guys know exactly how much pressure to put on a fish and they never let the rod unload..caught 5 skipjacks on poppers to pass the time while we were waiting for the bite that never happened well offshore..anyway we were headed in late with the hope of making one last stop and at 4 pm we found ourselves on a bite..went 3 for 3 on a 100 pound fish, 120 pound fish and a 130 pound fish, boating all three of them in less than 30 minutes..the average fight time was about 7 minutes..the average wait time between bites was about 1 minute..all in all a great day and if I had my choice I would rather all the action come right in the 4th quarter..hoping to continue the streak of come from behind wins all season..Paradise Outfitters - 985-845-8006


 Nov 11, 2004; 03:41PM - Tuna, mako sharks and grouper in Venice
 Category:  Louisiana
 Author Name:  Capt. Scott Avanzino
Tuna, mako sharks and grouper in Venice

Lots of surprises this week or short week as it turned out..really had hoped to run the entire week with our scheduled trips before the next front but it came early...after hearing stories of acres and acres of huge yellowfin from Sonny and Darryl on Sunday (They had 2 fish on 6 bites - 140# and 120# yelowfins), I had Kevin Ford of Geaux Fish TV accompany me with Mike and William Miller, and David Montz on the Cabo. After reaching the grounds we didn't see any sign of life..decided to put out a four line trolling spread to cover some water ..it never happened for us (or anyone else that day).., but while we making bait, we saw a big mako at the transom of the Balancing Act - we sped over to capture the memory on film..the fight lasted 45 minutes after which Jeremiah Sablatura's 250 pound mako was secured to the transom..we stuck around for another hour with no bites before we left to go pursue some grouper..David really wanted grouper before we left the dock and I was looking at another shot at beating the world record for yellowedge grouper since the big fish I caugh on Oct 30th did not count for either state or world record consideration as I handed the rod off to gaff my own fish while it was floating on the surface..rules are rules..anyway..the grouper bite was wide open for the 90 minutes we tried..we had 12 good bites and landed 7 groupers and one red snapper..we were using 16/0 circle hooks to cut down on red snapper bycatch and it worked..the final tally was 6 yellowedges 10-15 pounds and one 60 pound warsaw..I went 2 for 4, David went 4-4 and Mike Miller went 1 for 4..William went 0-0 - and I let him hear about it too! We figured out that David has the proper build for a successful grouper fisheman..tremendous upper body strength with a low center of gravity from all the junk in his trunk..anyway he caught the big warsaw Monday..it had 3 sets of hooks in it's mouth...Tuesday I had Judge and Chad Edwards, Bart Belaire and Mark Piazza of Abbeville..I tried to cancel on Chad but he informed me that the wind would be light enough to make the trip and he came anyway..he was right and I was wrong..don't think it blew over 12 knots until the afternoon..we stayed close just to play it safe..never more than 10 miles out..slow roll out of the east..conditions looked great..tons of mullet, bluegreen water within 5 miles of the pass..worked one school of blackfin picking up one on a jumbo mullet..not sure how he swallowed it..tons of sharks too..not the good kind..never saw any yellowfin and by 2pm we decided we would go look for jacks or better..the amberjack were thick and hungry for mullet..picked up the limit rather quickly, playing with the rest of them until we ran out of live bait..fished bonita slabs on bottom and picked up a 65 pound warsaw and 3 nice gags..Mark's grouper put the trip over the top for me, although a 150 pound class yellow is something I haven't seen since the summer and really had my heart set on..according to reports from Darryl and Sonny who found the schools Sunday; the big fish have been balling up mullet in open water..find the bait balls and you find the fish..of course it helps when it's flat calm..not sure when we'll see that again..Plenty of great pictures to share from the last 3 days, should have them posted on my website tonight.. Paradise OUtfitters - 985-845-8006

 Nov 1, 2004; 12:09AM - Indian summer is over
 Category:  Louisiana
 Author Name:  Capt. Scott Avanzino
Indian summer is over

Pretty increadible finish for us this week..Indian summer appears to be over and honstly it is fine with me..need a few days off to reconnect with the family and tie up all the loose ends left undone..seems like everytime we recover from a equipment breakdown we get rewarded by the Almighty with smooth transitions and bountiful catches for passing the trial..First trip out was with a group of docs one of which was my brother in law..think it set the tone for the week..great weather and easy fishing..limits of snapper everyday, at least 10 grouper, wide open tuna bite and a first for us..back to the dock before 4pm everyday..Did get one day off in between work making an Island recon mission with good friends Pete Cooper and David Bell..Tusday we had 8 blackfin, one 120 pound yellowfin, 3 grouperand 24 red snapper..Wednesday I had Ed Hodgens and his family for a snapper and grouper trip..after 3 years we were finally able to coordinate our schedules..of note were quality grouper (20-30 pounds) and the largest snapper we caught during the season a 34 pounder..we needed to get Beth's dad Jim on a snapper for his 80th birthday present and we did just that over and over..Beth even caught a 20.5 pound scamp..final tally was 10 grouper, 24 snapper, 6 blackfin tuna and one aj..Thursday I had planned to fish with the Butlers on a busman's holiday but missed the boat in a communication mix-up..smoke signals just don't work like they used to..I was able to save the morning by geting permission from Mrs. David Bell to go out and see what Ivan did to our beloved hotspots..glass calm day..sad to report that Gosier Island is nothing more than a sandbar about the size of the fuel dock..we made it there about high tide to see enough landing strip for a dozen pelicans..Breton looked relatively unchanged with a few deeper holes than we ever expected (some 8 ft)..we spent about 4 hours fishing or relaxing in the shade..got on 2 seperate hour long bites that resulted in 25 trout, 4 redfish and 3 flounder for me..David and Pete also caught some quality fish on his fly tackle (and went back for more the next day)..Also you may have heard David shouting loudly all the way in New Orleans as he got in the rhythm late in the day and couldn't contain his excitement..think I saw him catch 7 two pound trout in 7 consecutive casts at one point, my ears are still ringing..think the total was about 60 trout, 4 flounder at the dock..highlight of the day was a 20 minute fight on a bull red I fought on a stolen rod..went to bed early but vividly recall a dream I had of breaking the Gulf record for yellowfin tuna that night..a 265 I think it was..anyway Friday morning I awoke refreshed looking forward to fishing with my old pal Tom Harmon and family..Tom knows his stuff so I didn't bring a deckhand, nor was one available as both Sonny and Darryl were out on other trips..we only had to hit one spot to make the trip for me..fished out west at places I hadn't hit in some time..it was the first time this season that we fished bottom structure and it paid off tremendously..the first few fish to hit the deck were groupers..nice ones..we were fishing in 310 ft of water in an area known as the rockpiles..they were also holding a few snappers..Tommy and his dad took turns hooking fish for the guys while I watched the boat..the drift was very light and the wind and sea nil..I came down off the bridge to make a drop..I got into something that nearly bust my guts..there wasn't time to hand the rod off or even put on a fighting gimbal..as it was all or nothing to get this fish out of its hole..when it broke the surface I nearly freaked..wasn't sure if it was a snowy or a yellowfin or yellowedge grouper but I new it was a state record or even a world record..turns out it was a yellowedge grouper and at 57 pounds beats the all tackle world record by 16 pounds!!so my dream was partially true..right idea, wrong species..as of today it is pending..picked up a few more smaller yellowedges and made a run to a nearby rig to finish off the snapper and jack limit..only found 2 jacks all day and went in early with an impressive load..final tally 8 yellowedges, 1 medium warsaw, 24 snapper, 2 scamps and 2 aj's..Saturday I had the Bracken family and we went straight back to the old honey hole..still plenty of yellowedges but very few snapper and several monsters we never stopped..I have to admit, I got on the rod 4 times and lost 4 fish..30-40 pounds of drag too..one broken leader, one straightened 13/0 circle hook and two breakoffs on the ledges..I resigned the fact that it wasn't my day and gave up, though I let it bother me most of the day..we actually had to work for the fish Saturday, ran south and trolled a little while with no luck..the blue water had moved in from the previous days and I even saw a few nice yellowfin in open water..tried chumming as well but couldn't get any attention..spent the remainder of the day shy 15 snapper..drifted the Lump and didn't even get a nibble..ran back into the delta and fished bottom structure I hadnt tried in 2 years..last stop proved why we are sometimes a 4th quarter team..in 45 minutes and 5 drifts we had our limit along with a few scamps..two of the fish were over 20 pounds and about a half dozen fish proved to be too much for my tackle and anglers..at least we'll know where they are for next season..Sonny and Willy took out the Cabo and chased tuna..don't know what the total was but they were in early with plenty of red meat..like in previous days they lost all the monsters..0-3 in all with 3 mediums as a consolation prize..they fished tuna again today with my old neighbors from Slidell, the Peytons, and were back at 2pm..more due to sea conditions than anything else but plenty of tuna fish were caught to make the trip..will post all the pictures of this weeks adventures in the photo section..hoping I can talk a few out of the stands and blinds to come fill some weekday trips this month..we are nearly 90% wide open in terms of availability for fall tuna and grouper/aj fishing.. Paradise Outfitters - 985-845-8006

 Oct 25, 2004; 01:31AM - Venice Louisiana snapper and tuna bite
 Category:  Louisiana
 Author Name:  Capt. Scott Avanzino
Venice Louisiana snapper and tuna bite

What a week of great weather and fishing and mechanical and scheduling challenges...tuna and snapper still the big story although I even spent a few hours trout fishing Friday while waiting on engine parts that never arrived..The week started out great with business as usual on big tuna, snappers and groupers..big bait equals big fish for all three species..had the best catch of the career for the Monday overnighter and the momentum carried through the week..Pretty increadible overnight trip with the Tidwell/Clements group despite pretty miserable weather conditions..stuck it out anyway since we had past the point of no return by mid day..the fishing was great in 2 hour spurts..managed the limit of snapper in 2 hours with 5 fish over 25 pounds the rest decent pan sized to baby sows..then we ran south for an evening of tuna fishing..man did we struggle and man did it get rough in the blue water..nothing but blackfins for hours and total whitewater..tried just about everything too..finally at 3am it broke open and we went 5 for 8, the largest fish a solid 120 the rest 80-100 pounds.one even got mangled by the prop and kept on fighting another 10 minutes..morning came and everyone got a turn on a big fish so wee decided to head in with 20 live baits to spare..made a stop to try an pick up some AJ's and settled for 2 along with 5 grouper the largest a 60 pound warsaw..probably the best catch we have ever recorded for a combo trip..even thought the fishing only lasted 7 hours we needed all Tuesday afternoon to recover..Wednesday morning broke with even better weather setting the stage for the snapper slapper challenge between my good friend Andy Wilson and Lake Texoma striper guide Joe Brown..Andy bet me he could catch a mangrove on a slapper and he proved it to be correct..I enjoyed my crow and oyster gumbo that night..the bite was steady with Darryl, Joe and I catching our share of trophy fish while Andy played around with the panfish..he had a little more trouble with the brutes..he only fishes light tackle..nothing more than 20 and 30 pound test on his bass rods..he was the first person on any of my boats to land a large yellowfin on bass gear..Thursday was a carbon copy of Wednesday in terms of weather and the Reach Technolgy group was treated to some fine snapper fishing..we had 15 fish over 20 pounds in one hour..the largest fish cracked the 30 pound mark..the remainder of the limit was filled with chateaubriand for two and single serving sized fish and a few barely legal gags..made for an early day..Friday morning we awoke to find failed fuel pump on the Cabo and cracked transmission slave on the Albemarle..managed to get both groups off in time on loaner boats while I arranged for the delivery of parts..went and killed 20 trout with Jimmy Gringo while I awaited the various deliveries from South Florida's finest suppliers of parts in a pinch..guess they didn't call Brown since I am still waiting..Both Darryl and Sonny had good catches with the Mark Uberecken and Daniel Carter groups respectively..D made a drive by at the snapper grounds picking up a limit of every size ruby red before heading long for tuna..the first fish was a big boy..went through all 4 anglers before pulling the hook 1:15 into the fight..they ended up with a 90 pounder but got back just after dark..Sonny's group had no luck with tuna early on Friday but saved the day with a limit of snapper and a few grouper on the way home..couldn't tell you where the rip is but bluewater was 40 miles to the east and the snapper and grouper are on the bottom of every rig in the Gulf..we have a cancellation for an overnight trip so we now have Thursday and Friday available..Sonny fished today on a loaner boat and clobbered the fish..not sure which color and size but I suspect more big red ones..he and Kevin Aderhold are taking our Mon/tuesday group out on an overnighter tomorrow..will post the results later.. Will be posting the pictures from this weeks trips in the photo page next few days.. Paradise Outfitters - 985-845-8006


 Oct 17, 2004; 11:41PM - More snapper and grouper
 Category:  Louisiana
 Author Name:  Capt. Scott Avanzino
More snapper and grouper

Went down to Venice Thursday night with every intention of going redfishing at the rocks. Both groups scheduled for Friday came in from out of town and cancelling altogether looked to be the call mid week but not in the internary due to extensive and expensive non refundable travel arrangements..very surprised to wake to 5 kts of wind or not so surprised in the wake of the weatherman's recent hotstreak of precise predctions...made the decision to run poast the rocks and out a little further offshore to fish for snapper instead of redfish..we made it offshore to find 1-2 ft seas, but stayed close to home so as to avoid a prolonged beating if the 30 knot forecast reared it's ugly head..never happened or at least not until we were done for the day. Both capt Sonny and I were able to get on an easy limit of school snapper and a few grouper..in fact 12 grouper for Sonny and his group of the Ellis family, Mom and Dad and the two kids; Thomas and Alexa age 6 and 8 respectively had a ball with the whole experience caWching thier limit of training fish..next year we are already talking tuna and marlin for them....I had 3 big kids with me all with an average age of 55, but for all our effort and edge in experience we were outfished in terms of quality..look as though the atmoshpre has finally stabilized..bring on the high pressure and keep it over us!..For Saturday, it only got better..Had both boats out with a group of great guys and gals from Shreveport..this is the 4th time they have fished with us and they always have a great trip..we got to the spot and had our limit in 90 minutes..the smallest fish was 8 or 10 pounds with an average of 18 pounds for all 24..it took me 1 hour to clean them..picked a bad day to fish without a deckhand, but all the preparation the night before paid off..we spent the rest of the morning tied alongside watching Capt. Sonny's crew finish thier limit..we assumed the the role of heckling them from anything from technique to well..I am not sure it is fit for print..with thier limit in hand we took off for home and found 10 acres of pogies with kings, jacks, sharks and everyother trash preditor in full attack formation..it was a sight for video..think we got 5 minutes of it..tried to find some grouper in shallow water and came up empty..great weather, company and fishing..all prayers answered! Sonny and Casey are out today and hopefully will have a decent report for tomorrow..pretty sure they went bottom fishing too..I have a 24 hr combo trip leaving tomorrow..plan to fish a little of both and come back the next day..Paradise Outfitters - 985-845-8006 CHECK US OUT ONLINE!


 Oct 10, 2004; 10:59PM - More snapper and tuna in Venice Louisiana
 Category:  Louisiana
 Author Name:  Capt. Scot Avanzino - Paradise Outfitters
More snapper and tuna in Venice Louisiana

10-4 to 10-5 report..the bite before the latest tropical strom..now that Matthew has moved on through we await the days when the wind dies down so we can get back on that awesome snapper and tuna bite we experienced the days before the blow..got out 3 times last week..both snapper trips yielded amazing catches of huge red snapper..both days we had another 10 fish over 20 pounds with the remainder of the limit coming quick and healthy as well..the tuna have also been constant with school sized fsh 20 pounds and the occoassional 60-80 pounder rounding out he exccitement..made one tuna trip last week, picking up one large fish for each person on the boat and all the schoolies we were willing to trade our live bait to..shoud be able to get out before the end of the week..I suspect the bluewater loop will be within 10 miles of the pass..who knows what Matthew brought in from the humble beginings of the stream..it's not too late for billfish or dolphin.. Paradise Outfitters - 985-845-8006

 Oct 4, 2004; 12:32AM - More great fishing following the hurricaine
 Category:  Louisiana
 Author Name:  Capt. Scott Avanzino
More great fishing following the hurricaine

Went out Thursday with a half crew..unfortunately we lost two guys the night before so Dave and Jason and I hired Capt. Darryl on his brother Tim’s cat..Looking forward to a relaxing day with the intention of catching a dolphin or tuna on the fly or even tussling with a warsaw grouper..It was nice to play customer for a change and took special pleasure in harassing Darryl by playing evil customer...found a nice remnant of a line about 40 miles out with every intention of running out to catch some tuna and returning later for fly rod fodder...we never did make it but I later talked to a guiy who caught some dolphin on it and hooked a blue marlin..we went tuna fishing at the neareast rig and had plenty of action in 2 hours on tuna going 6 for 10 on yellowfin..at one point there was a school chasing my popper..by the time I had the fly rod ready they were gone..made 3 drifts with chum, never got a strike..made the decision to run north to try for big grouper but got eaten alive by amberjacks..couldn’t get anything past them.so we called it early..Friday was a wide open bite on the bottom fish..never seen such a bite and never seen such quality with red snapper..we had 250 pounds on 10 fish with out largest missing 30 pounds by 6/10ths and numer two went 28 pounds..needless to say it made for an awesome catch as they were the first two in the boat..the remainder of the limit wasn’t to shabby nor were the grouper, the largest a 35 pound warsaw..the other half of our crew decided to out after the tuna with Capt. Sonny and came home with two decent yellows; a 120 and a 90 pounder along with 5 smaller school tuna and a 6 man limit of AJ’s..Darryl took another group out on his brother’s boat and had only one 60 pound yellow and 4 schoolies before the bite shut off in traffic, they headed for shallow water a little earlier than usual picking up a yellowfin grouper and a mix of jacks and red snapper..not sure what is causing the wide open bottom fish bite but I like it! Talked with Roland Martin about our catch who said he needed some big snapper for a show he was shooting..I gladly agrred to oblige him by taking him back to the area we fished..but since he had the faster boat I made him follow us out..and it was yet another increadible snapper haul for both of us along with some surprise cobia.. The bite was wide open from the start..when the dust settled a mere 90 minutes later we had 2 cobia, 1 aj, 1 gag grouper and 20 red snapper up to 28 pounds..we only had 5 well over 20 pounds today but no one seemed to mind..it was now 10am and the idea of heading in early to watch the Tigers was doused with hopes of chasing tuna..attempts to make live bait were futile with the exception of 6 hardtails..not enough to merit a 90 minute boat ride south, so we ended up bouncing from rig to rig looking for brown fish..managed 2 more nice cobia and one small scamp in the remaining 5 hours..couldn't seem to locate any jacks..funny how it turns on you just as quick..Roland had the same action with his crew making a great show with 6 snapper over 20 pounds, the largest 28 pounds..Sonny's group did catch two school tuna and a few AJ's...Took today off to give our thanks to the Almighty and do maintenance..Sonny will be heading out in the morning to see what is left of the snapper population with a group we have for the next few days....Paradise Outfitters - 985-845-8006

 Sep 28, 2004; 10:21AM - Post hurricaine fishing in Venice, Louisiana
 Category:  Louisiana
 Author Name:  Capt. Scott Avanzino
Post hurricaine fishing in Venice, Louisiana

Good to be back in business although we had hoped for better weather and fishing conditions following the hurricaine but at least we have a place to come back to..feel for those that dont...in Venice, some things expected, others not..plenty of debris in the passes and offshore and a few rigs missing or damaged , a lot of floating debris, mostly timber offshore but none holding preditors as of yet..Had the JGID/Woodall group from Atlanta for the first part of the week..Monday we made a few passes alongside trees in blue water with no results..managed 2 wahoo (25 and 60 pounds) and a dolphin in the junk although we didn’t get out in bluewater until 2pm, spent the early part of the day looking for bait which was tough everywhere and tuna which were NO where close in..and since we could not locate any tuna in the places of last week we went south looking for life..blue water was 40 miles out of South Pass Monday with just a gradual color change and no rip..had 4 strikes catching the 3 aforementioned fish missing another wahoo..and a good one from what I could see..it was not calm, but we went as far as Medusa making one lap and beaming the sea home to Tiger Pass..probably 4-6 in the green with an 8 thrown in out in the blue water..too rough to do anything but troll downsea..Sonny and Bill had the other half of our group and they too struggled with tuna finally going the distance and catching 2 yellowfin20 and 60 pounds..they could only find one jack on the return trip...spent the next 3 days fishing for bull reds at the rocks downriver..despite 20-40 knot winds we managaed to release 60 reds per boat per day..most of the fish were 20-30 pounds taking a few minutes to land on light tackle..we even fished the return of Ivan on Thursday and somehow managed to make an offshore trip Friday with the Jim Williams group..thought I might have overestimated my fuel (400 gals) and ice (350#) and underestimated the winds and seas for the outing - wrong on both accounts..got out 2 miles past South Pass and the seas were running 2-3 ft..got as far as Cognac and was surprised to find cobalt blue water and 4 ft seas..out went the spread..nothing..not much grass or debris either..water was pushing hard to the north about 2 knots but no decent line of grass or trash at the color change..trolled every rig between Cognac and 93..All in blue water with all but one wahoo to show for 6 hours of labor..the wahoo came off a diving bait at Lena had the intention of staying the night and glad we did..not much life in the blue water except for tons of flying fish at least not until the sun set....probably saw a thousand flying fish for the whole trip..many landing on the deck and some htting bodies before the tuna showed up to devour them..just before dark the bite busted wide open with larger tuna being located and successfully baited with live flying fish and hadtails..caught a total of 12 yellowfin in 4 hours keeping 9 fish in the 80-90 pound class..made the decision to head and gut most of the fish so that we would have enough ice to cool them properly..since we really had no more space but a drink box and plenty of time we decided to try and pick up one or two snapper s and a smaller yellowfin that hit a live hardtail on the bottom..thought it was a grouper by the way it was fighting but everyone was surprised to see the tuna splashing at the end of a bottom rod..fished an hour with no sucess before we made the decision around midnight to idle in toward Tiger Pass arriving at sun-up.from what I could tell the bluewater moved in 30 miles from 5 days before..it was well inside Cognac and 93..happy hunting...Paradise Outfitters - 985-845-8006 Check us out online

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