Sadly, I only fished 3 days in 2014 on our boat, the Hoosier Daddy. I planned a trip and got my 80 year old dad as well as my niece and her husband down to go out with the rest of the family already here in search of the elusive and going extinct red snapper and maybe some grouper. We had no idea that we were about to have our best day fishing ever.

We left Fourchon at 5am heading out for red snapper first. Our first stop was in pretty dirty water but we landed 3 nice cobia as well as several mangrove and a few red snapper. Fishing was a bit slow so we headed further south which was a great call. I had become interested in deep dropping so I picked up some 5 hook rigs and some 3 lb weights. The platform we went to was full of boats so we stayed away on the outside. We baited up each hook with squid and pogie and dropped down in 390 ft of water. Our deep drop pole quickly bent over and we pulled up 3 very nice 12-15 lb red snapper. We kept dropping down and picking up several doubles and triples of red snapper, yellow edge grouper, and yellow mouth grouper. With one side of my fish box completely filled with 14 huge red snapper, 3 big cobia, 3 grouper, and 10 mangrove snapper, we decided to go to deeper water in search of a Warsaw grouper. We had never caught this many fish and have never brought home a grouper so chances were slim but we gave it a shot.

After arriving to water that I thought might have a Warsaw grouper or tilefish, we baited up the 5 hook rig again and dropped down in 800 ft of water. We were in the middle of nowhere but several hundred yards away there were ledges than went from 800 up to 250 ft. I had slim hopes but told my 15 year old niece, Abbie, to drop down the bait. She guaranteed that she would catch something. After drifting for 30 min and still in 800 ft of water, I was not far from giving up when all of a sudden we got a hit. Not a huge bite but definitely a bite. Abbie started reeling in and soon the bite got bigger and pole was really bending and pulling a lot of line. We started to chase the fish even though we had 1600 ft of 130 lb braid that we just picked up from Superior Bait and Tackle in Baton Rouge. After watching this fish strip line from the pole, we figured we had a big shark. After 1 hour of fight, and an exhausted niece, she got help from her sister Ashlyn and finally her dad stepped in to help out a bit. Shortly after he yelled he could see the shark, followed by, HOLY S***, ITS A SWORDFISH!!! Everyone was immediately on the side of the boat and we were all screaming and giving high fives. We pulled the fish into the boat, still in shock. We snapped a lot of pictures and crammed as much of the fish into the left fish box, piled the remaining ice on top, semi closed the lid, with the entire head and sword hanging out, added a few bean bags on top as well as a Garrett to hold it all down and headed back to the public ramp in Fourchon. We cleaned fish until 1:30am and then headed out for day two.

We caught our largest mangrove and red snapper ever on the Hoosier daddy as well as more grouper and fat red snapper.

What an amazing two days of fishing with our family. My dad, John, brother Andy, three nieces, Alyssa, Ashlyn, and Abbie, as well as nephew Garrett and myself, Greg had the best time ever. So blessed to spend time together, catch more fish than we ever have and end the day with an amazing swordfish will forever be an epic memory for us all. Can't wait for our next trip.

We currently have the sword sitting on an ant pile so we can send it off to be etched and mounted. We will post a picture of it when it's done.

Ever hear of a spot called the propane bowl or propane tank about 70 miles due south of Belle Pass and a few deg to the west? Was talking with a gentleman about a nice grouper hole. If you happen to have info on it, please message me. Would like to find it and give it a shot. Anybody care to share any info on other grouper spots?

Anybody ever hear of a spot called the propane bowl or propane tank about 70 miles due south of Belle Pass and a few deg to the west? Was talking with a gentleman about a nice grouper hole. If you happen to have info on it, please message me. Would like to find it and give it a shot. Anybody care to share any info on other grouper spots?

My brother Andy and I headed out of Fourchon on 20-Mar and headed out towards Medusa. We fished a ship just next to Medusa with no hits. it appeared the guide boats were not doing well either. Everyone left and headed towards Mars/Bully 1 and pretty much the same story. We caught two small blackfin at the bully 1. Water was beautiful, slick calm and crystal clear blue, just no yellowfin. We decided to head towards the midnight lump and anchored down. We had fun catching lots of different fish but then the Sharks showed up in full force. The current was really moving and the water was really dirty. You could not see your weight 1ft down in the water. We did bring home a few vermilion and mangrove snapper and lots of sore backs/arms from the Sharks. Very large fish were all over the fish Finder at ~150 ft. First time we had gone to the midnight lumps and will go back again with the family's. Was nice to catch a lot of different species, not have to listen to a horn from a platform, and not get hung up on the platform.

Not a lot of reports from other people on this site anymore. Share your stories folks, we all enjoy to hear how you did, not just the guides.

Does anyone have a recommendation for fiberglass repair around the Lafayette area?

Thanks,
Greg

What's your favorite bait to use for hard tail? Had trouble the other day using 1/4 oz white and yellow trout jigs, had trouble getting bites with a sabiki jig, just could not get anything consistent. We spent hours casting into hugs schools of bait and getting zero bites. Usually I don't have any trouble but really struggled this time. Anyone have another bait they like to use?

Finally was able to get a trip together with my buddies Alex, Eric, Jeff, and my wife, Laura, which doesn't happen enough. We headed out of Fourchon with hopes of quickly limiting out on Amberjack followed by trying for some tuna. Well, we had a lot of trouble catching bait for some reason. Tried sabiki jigs and white/yellow trout jigs with slow success. We would cast into huge schooks of hardtail and come back with nothing, time after time. Loaded up the sabiki one time only to have them snap off each hook. Anyway, after we caught a few, we headed to my favorite spot. First drop down with a hard tail resulted in a big shark followed by a few big red snapper. We pulled the anchor and went to catch a few more hard tail then headed back to try again. We hooked up right away with a nice big amberjack. We made slight moves here and there and hooked up several more, landing a total of 3 big amberjack. My wife Laura reeled in what we thought was Amberjack #4 but it turned out to be a shark that she managed to wrap the tail with the hook. The hook was not in the fish but simply hooked around the line. That was a fun fight and I managed to get my hook back. It was late afternoon so we called it a day and headed in. It was a great trip with great friends and can't wait to go again. Really need to catch some tuna!
Lost a lot of jigs from what must have been king mackerel. We landed some and other times while dropping the lure down, it would just stop and clean cut on the line. That gets expensive really quick!!!

Finally got to go fishing with my two brothers from Indiana and my dad from Massachusetts on my boat. We fished last Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. We headed out and caught snapper, grouper, king mackeral, sharks, caught and released some Amberjack, fished a nice rip on Ewing Bank and caught some dolphin, then struck out on tuna around the dolphin rig just south of Ewing bank. I was able to show them all kinds of different fish and how we try to catch them. Great time with everyone and Mother Nature gave us some beautiful weather with slick calm seas on Thursday and Friday.
We fished around a few shrimp boats and only saw the biggest sharks I've ever seen. One had to of been 15 ft at least.

Really need to find some tuna though, struck out last three times we tried. If anyone wishes to share some tuna tips, I'd love to learn from you.

I am taking my trailer in to have a lot of work done on it. I am in need of storing my boat somewhere for 3 days. Does anyone know of a place to store the boat only, like a dry boat storage? I live in Lafayette but may need to trailer it somewhere to store it. Would like to have the boat somewhere safe rather than leave it sitting at a dock somewhere.

Anyone have any recommendations? The boat is a 28 ft hydra sports with twin 300 yamahas on the back.

Anybody else see the announcement that federal red snapper season will be 9 days long for Louisiana?

http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishery_bulletins/documents/pdfs/2013/fb13-027_gulf_rec_red_snapper_season_changes.pdf

This has gotten out of hand. I just do not understand why they even bother? I feel as if they are trying to get people to stop fishing. There seem to be very few opportunities to catch red snapper within the 10 mile state line.

Very frustrating!

I'm very sorry for the guides as well.

This is really bad.

A video I put together of the past 9 years I have spent living in Louisiana. Love it here! Can't wait to get out fishing this year. Video is a little long but so many good memories to share.

Woke up this morning and decided to run the boat for a little while. Loaded up the wife and dogs and launched at Port of Iberia and ran across the bay outside Southwest Pass. Wasn't expecting to catch anything but caught a nice red and had a nice day. Good chance to run the boat which I haven't had a chance for awhile. Finish released to be caught another day.

I have a Lowrance LVR-850 radio on my boat. Last year I accidentally broke the antenna while trying to get a rod out of the t-top. I could not tell what type of antenna was on there before but I replaced it with a 8 ft Shakespeare Mariner 8500 VHF antenna. The old antenna did have a Shakespeare on it before but the model was worn off. I did the solder method to attach the connector to the bottom and checked continuity to ensure everything was connected correctly and not shorted at any place.
With the old antenna, I used to hear all kinds of traffic on channel 16 but now I hear almost nothing. In fear that I had a bad new antenna, I purchased a second antenna (same model) and got the same thing. When heading out to fish in Cocodrie the other day, I did hear the coast guard come on briefly right in front of Boudreaux's Marina. I also got a message from a rig while approaching it and responded. At my house, I can clearly listen to the weather, even with the antenna down, however, when fishing around Last Island in Cocodrie the other day, I got nothing on the weather channel. I carry a small handheld radio with me as well and to test it while fishing around Last Island in Cocodrie, I was able to listen to the weather on the handheld but not with the Lowrance. I can talk clearly from the small handheld radio to the Lowrance radio and back.
I fear that something is wrong because I should hear the coast guard come over channel 16 a lot like I used to but not sure what to do. Anyone have any ideas? I read thru the instruction manual and don't see anywhere to enter a specific antenna on the radio. Again, it worked great before I replaced the antenna, now, I hardly hear anything.

Any help would be great.

Thanks,
Greg

I am looking to go fish at the midnight lump this weekend and have not been there before. Would anyone mind recommending a length of anchor line to use? Anyone been having much luck out there lately? I will report how we do.

My brother Andy was finally able to head down from Indiana to fish with me on my new used boat, 2005 28 ft Hydra Sports with twin 300 HPDI Yamaha's. The weatherman predicted 1 ft seas or less so we loaded up from Lafayette, LA and drove down to Cocodrie, LA to stay at Boudreaux's Marina. We headed out Thursday morning in search of each of our first Yellowfin Tuna. We had never fished for them but had high hopes, even though deep down, I felt like a couple of rednecks from Indiana that had never tuna fished would strike out.

Well, the 1 ft seas were more like 3 ft seas, which made for a rough ride but we continued on. As I had never been Tuna fishing, I was not exactly sure of the best way to fish for them although I have read about everything I can. I did not see any fish jumping at surface like I had hoped. We trolled around a deep diving bait and 2 surface plastics. We caught 6 Barracuda before moving to another spot. Our second stop we tried the same and picked up more Barracuda. There were no fish jumping around at our second spot either. So, I decided we would start chumming. I put chunks of Pogie about the size of a chicken nugget on 7/0 circle hooks and free lined them while throwing more chunks of Pogie and Squid into the water. After about 20 min, the Penn 50 bent over and started screaming line off. My brother Andy grabbed it and to our surprise, boated our first Yellowfin Tuna in about 25 min. The tuna weighed in at 44 lbs. After taking many photos and cleaning up the blood bath, we motored back up current of the rig to setup again. After another 20 min or so, the same rod bent again and it was on. I took over this one and after about 35 min, we landed a 57 lb Yellowfin. More pictures, cleaning, and huge smiles, we setup for another drift. I had planned to start to head back in around 3pm so we would be back as the sun was setting but the final Tuna changed our plans. Once again, the same rod got hit again after another 1/2 hr of chumming and this one pulled off the most line. My brother Andy fought this one for 45 min and we landed a beautiful 73 lb Yellowfin Tuna. We took a bunch of photos and cleaned up the boat from all the blood and called it a day. I will now invest in a bat for the boat as these tuna went absolutely crazy when in the boat. We had blood absolutely everywhere and looked like we had been in one hell of a fight.

We ended the day with 3 Yellowfin Tuna and 6 Barracuda.

I'm hooked for life, this trip will never be forgotten. Being able to go out on our own boat and hook our first Tuna on our own was priceless. This will now be the first of many trips for Tuna. It was a long run and a long day, but was one of the highlights of my life that I will never forget.

Happy New Year everyone,
Greg
'Hoosier Daddy'

I went out fishing the other day and had a few problems on that boat. I have a 2800 Hydrasport with twin 300 Yamaha HPDI TXRC engines.

#1) When I went to take off, one of my engines would not shift into high gear. The throttle was stuck. We were able to free it up enough to continue our trip. I figure I will just replace the throttle cable, but just curious, do any of you lubricate your throttle cables or run into this problem very often? What lubricant do you use and any special trick to lubricating it? This is on my port Yamaha 2004 HPDI 300 HP TXRC.

#2) After getting the throttle cable unstuck, we motored off. After about 15 miles, the low oil warning came on for the port engine. Odd, because I had filled the main tank with 2.5 gallons just before we left the house. There are 2 tanks on the boat, one is the main tank that holds ~2.5 gallons and then that tank is fed to the small reservoir on the side of the engine. I removed the cover and saw that the reservoir on the engine was on the low line. I flipped the manual switch to fill the engine reservoir but it didn't fill. I manually filled it up and away we went. 15 miles later, the alarm went off again. I again filled it, checked connectors, etc and didn't have the problem again all day. I asked at my boat shop today and was suggested to change out the oil injection pump. My question is, is it the oil injection pump that would fill the small reservoir tank on the engine from the main tank down in the boat?

#3) I have a Garmin 4210 display. After returning to the house, I noticed that display was on. I tried to turn it off but the frigging buttons don't work now. I unplugged it, let it sit for a 1/2 hr, came back, turned it on (power button worked to turn it on) and then again, no buttons work. Can’t wait to dig into this one, any thoughts?

Root cause for all of this is that I work too much and don't take the boat out fishing enough. We still had a great day of catching Amberjack, Lemonfish, and random assortment of others.

Let me know your thoughts and suggestions.

Thanks,
Greg

Not really fishing, but had to kill this snake in my yard tonight in Lafayette. I heard the wife shreak when she went outside. Could not find a positive ID on it. What do you think it is? Either way, a dead snake is a good snake. I frigging hate these things.

I am purchasing a used boat from Texas and will register it in Louisiana. After searching on the Internet, it looks like you used to not have to pay sales tax on the boat/motor and would only have to pay the sales tax on the value of the trailer. However, it appears that this has changed and now I must pay 4% on boat/motor/trailer. Can anyone confirm this? Is there anyway to avoid paying tax? This was one reason I was buying a used boat. Let me know your thoughts.

Boat is a 2005 Hydra-Sports 2800 Vector CC. Pretty excited.

I went offshore with my wife, Laura and 2 friends, Kyle and Walid, from work today. Water was beautiful and slick calm for ride out and ride back in. We caught a limit of 8 Red Snapper and also 10 Mangrove Snapper. Definitely hooked on fishing offshore, just need a bigger boat. Someday perhaps. Days as nice as Sunday seem to be rare but make you appreciate them so much. Had 1 fish break my fishing rod and broke off several others. One platform had some nice 4-5 inch hardtail that we used to catch most of our big snapper with. Largest Mangrove went 9.5 lbs according to my bathroom scale just before cleaning. Everything else caught on cut pogey.

Planned a trip to Vermilion bay on Saturday. Weather man called for wind but no rain till the afternoon. 3 miles from the ramp I shredded 1 of my rear tires, limped to the ramp. Water was very high with the water flooding into the parking lot at the ramp. I should learn my lesson when they call for 13-15 mph winds. I decided to fish Marsh Island and had a very wet trip across the bay with winds out of the east. Fished the North entrance to Bayou Blanc in hopes for some reds. Water was very dirty. As usual, the weather man was wrong about the rain. Strong storms started heading from the South east about 8am. After sitting through 2 storms and no fish decided to get beat up crossing the bay again and give up. When returning to the ramp, the water was even higher. I think next time I'll just head further south, bout to give up on Vermilion Bay. I definetely won't go back if it's windy.