On September 5th, 2006 I left Venice, Louisiana and not knowing if I would ever return. I made the choice to move home after getting engaged to my now wife Stephanie. Four and a half years of fishing the fertile waters south of the Mississippi made me appreciate many things on and off the water. Fishing and living with Captain Scott Avanzino for the past few years has been nothing short of amazing. I am very grateful for being a part of the Paradise Outfitters fishing team along with the friendship of the countless people I have met in Venice. I have returned to Venice three times in the past year: the funeral for Mack the knife, the Fishing to Hear Rodeo for Kyle Couvillon, and this past July 23th and 24th just to fish.
Fishing the Mississippi Gulf Coast for Shore Thing Charters is everything I have ever wanted. I get to fish my home water, I work with my best friend Captain Mike Thompson, and I get to see my wife every night. Although it is hard to beat the beauty of my home town, Venice will always have a place in my heart. Captain Avanzino called in early July with a scheduling conflict and asked if I could help. The answer was a quick yes!
I had a million things to plan to ensure the clients had a memorable time, and to make sure I had not lost “my touch.” I would be running the 36 twin vee named Hell Of A Deal, the boat I played captain on my last two years down there. Captain Scott Leget was working a trip on the long range boat the Finatic and was letting me use all his tackle (life saver). I was able to get in touch with my old deck hand, who is now a captain, Brittan Eustess. The morning before the trip Avanzino called to inform me he would be taking Captain Brittan on an overnight trip (two captains are required on a trip lasting over twelve hours). I could not argue but I really wanted some help. My first dozen calls were to younger/single fellows that could leave in a moments notice and stay gone for 2 or three days. Granted these guys were only getting about twelve hours of notice, every single one declined the offer. My last attempt was to Trey Cheramie one of the most animated and talented deck hands you will ever meet. Trey just had his second child a few months prior and is in the middle of rebuilding his home. Add to the fact that he works 7 days a week with his very successful business, I pegged him as definite no.
Trey answered the phone with his patented “what’s happening white chocolate,” a nickname that he helped give to me years ago. Trey informed me that his wife wanted him to take a break for a couple of days, and that she would take care of the kids. Four hours later Trey and I were sitting in Venice Marina watching all of our old buddies unload their catches.
We spent the rest of the evening getting every bit of info we could from Captain Avanzino and Captain Leget as to where to go and what to do. Medusa and Midland were the two floaters that we all agreed would be the safest bet. Both Captains had been putting good numbers of tuna and dolphin in the boat there for the past week. Trey and I ended the evening checking our rented gear and making sure the boat was running good.
Monday morning we left out of Red Pass to look for thread fin hearing. I got to hear the voices over the VHF of all of my old fishing companions. Captain Bill Delabar called me in on a small school of bait and we managed to put a hand full of thread fin in the live well. After a quick stop at a buoy in west delta we had 10 small live baits in the well and decided to head to Medusa. As I pulled back on the twin 250 four strokes I saw the white explosions 100 yards off the rig. As Trey instinctively got the live bait rigged and ready, I jumped on the bow with a Frenzy popper and made a cast. The popper twitched twice before the bait erupted in a ball of white foam. The dragged screamed and a year of inshore fishing was erased from memory. I was home, baby! The celebration was short lived as we soon found out we were in a school of bonito. We had also sacrificed two of our precious live baits before we realized we were too close to the rig.
Five hundred yards from the rig we saw the huge figures coming completely out of the water and we reset our baits. The first yellow hit quick and hard taking a hundred yards of drag before the angler could even put on a fighting belt. After a 20 minute fight I saw the first yellow fin I had seen in over a year. Trey planted the gaff perfectly and with one pull the big yellow hit the deck. The clients were a little confused with all of the cheering I was doing, but what I can I tell you it was a big deal for me. Not long after the first yellow hit, a nice dolphin crashed one of the live baits. The neon green and yellow fish launched it self clear out of the water as I watched with sheer delight. We did hit a rut when a school of undersized yellows ate the last of our live baits but deck hand Trey is a master when it comes to the art of chumming. We managed 1 more nice yellow along with countless undersized ones to keep the anglers attention. The real show came when Capt Thomas Peters hooked an enormous sail fish 100 yards in front of us. Our boat was able to see the big sail crashing all around his boat. Even though it was a spectacular show the awesome fish spit the hook before they could get a tag in it.
Leaving Medusa around noon we headed back into west delta for some bottom fishing. A few minutes into our first stop we heard Captain Avanzino on the radio looking for our boat. After a few minutes of radio banter he gave us a rig he had just left saying, “It took us 30 minutes to get a snapper limit.” Well, he was right and after 45 minutes we had 11 snapper and 1 nice gag grouper, thank you Captain Scott. The snapper were not huge but they bit every drop. Had a smooth ride in, a good crowd at the cleaning table, and a nice mess of fresh tuna for dinner. Good to be back!
Day two was pretty much the same, with bait being our first mission of the day. Captain Leget had given me coordinates to the buoy not too far from Medusa. We did manage about a dozen live baits before heading south. Medusa looked exactly the same as we set up the live baits. I made three casts with the popper and hooked two fish. The first fish was a small black fin that went into the box. The second fish was a bonito that went into the chum/snapper bait pile. We learned our lesson from the day before and set up way off the rig. The baits were out for no more than two minutes when the first fish hit. Trey put the screaming reel in gear and the rod bowed indicating something with size. The customers followed our lead, taking turns on the hard fighting fish. For the rest of the day, fifteen minutes was the longest we went without a bite. Most of our time was spent fighting fish, but that is always a welcome a problem.
Ran out of bait around 11 am when I called in a favor to mine and Trey’s good friend Captain Kevin Beach. Captain Kevin runs the Pale Hoarse and he had a well full of perfect sized hard tails. While we were idling over to his boat to get bait, something crushed a live bait he had out behind his boat. After a few jumps and some tail walking, what we thought to be another sailfish, turned out to be a short billed spearfish. Just seeing one of these creatures in the Northern Gulf is enough to make ones day, but getting watch a good friend leader it made my year.
After getting a fresh stock of live bait from the Pale Hoarse we deployed the baits. Stayed in the fish the rest of the day with one brute going well over a hundred pounds. Ended a full day at Medusa with 6 yellow fin, 2 big dolphin, 1 black fin, and 1 skip jack, not bad for an inshore guide. The ride in was flat calm which made all the high fives and back slapping very easy to do. The 2 hour ride went by way too fast and I was even a little sad when all of the fish cleaning was done. Trey and I cleaned the boat ,stowed all gear and said our goodbyes. He went back to his family and I went back to my home. I have been catching good numbers of trout and red fish since then. I do not regret for a second moving home to fish out of Mississippi, but I am already planning my next trip to Venice.
Captain Sonny Schindler
Shore Thing Fishing Charters
Bay St Louis, MS
228-342-2295
www.shorethingcharters.com