Hindsight might be 20/20, but our best memories come from questionable judgement. Good or bad, I have had some great times! Thus begins the tale of an ill-advised trip to fish the gulf coast of Louisiana.
Case in point: March 16 I found myself wandering through the exhibits at the Annapolis Saltwater Fishing Expo. My first stop was the FishTalk Magazine exhibit where the Angler in Chief, Lenny Rudow, was holding court. I started whining to Lenny about the North Carolina inlets being poorly maintained and too dangerous to run through, leaving me home bound with no fishing opportunities until the Ocean City tuna run in June. Lenny stopped me and stated there was no need to trailer hundreds of miles when great fishing was available all year round right here in Maryland.
Now a little background. Lenny Rudow edits and writes FishTalk Magazine as well as numerous other fishing publications and hosts a monthly Facebook live show about fishing. When he is not writing about fishing, he fishes. Hundreds of days a year. I, on the other hand, fish about six to eight times a year and normally only offshore for tuna.
Lenny gave me some great advice about different fish to pursue every month of the year and all local. This information was pushed to the back of my brain when I ran into an old buddy, John Whitman, who also had a display at this same expo. John has run a charter boat, Patent Pending, out of Herring Bay for many years and is one of the best fishermen I have ever met. John was busy selling striper lures to a long line of waiting customers but took time to share with me the top item on his bucket list: a trip to Louisiana to fish the offshore oil rigs. Sounded great to me as I had a brand-new boat that was easily trailered and, being retired, had plenty of time.
The Prepwork Begins
That evening, I reviewed dozens of articles on fishing the Gulf coast oil rigs and found Venice, LA, to be ground zero for those venturing out into the Gulf. I plugged Venice into Bing Maps and was thrilled to see it was only 1245 miles from my house. My discussion with Lenny about fishing close to home went right out the window as I dreamed of historic catches in unknown waters.
John and I settled on the first week of June for our trip, as his charter business was too busy to take time off later in the season. Some phone calls found our third member, Gary, an old school chum who lived in Oregon but was more than willing to take on a new adventure. I would trailer the boat to Venice while the other two would fly in and rent a car in New Orleans. We were set!
There was much to do during the next few months in preparation for our trip. I had recently retired from boating, for a few weeks, and had sold everything. I still had four Penn 30 Internationals but needed five more 30s. And I needed some large spinning rods in case we battled some 200-pound yellowfin tuna known to haunt the distant fishing grounds along with some middle weight spinning rods to round out our arsenal. I still owned many smaller lever drag rigs for bottom fishing, but everything needed to be respooled as we wanted to be ready for battle. Some upgrades to the chartplotter along with a new EPIRB and strobes for our lifejackets and we were ready! I am not providing the total dollar amount as my wife reads these articles.
I was not quite done as my new boat is great, a Grady-White Gulfstream with twin 200 Yamahas, but it has a nine-foot, three-inch beach which requires oversize load permits for each state. While many who trailer forgo these permits, I have found insurance may not be in place if towing illegally, so I spend the time and money to insure I am covered. Two weeks before leaving Maryland I called Mercury Permits, which I thought solved this issue.
You would think all states would have the same regulations. Well, you would be wrong. Five days before leaving Maryland, Mercury contacted me stating two states had specific regulations requiring me to show two million dollars in liability. Some urgent phone calls to my insurance company resulted in changes to my boat policy, truck policy, and personal liability umbrella policy. A nagging voice in my head about listening to Lenny surfaced again when two days prior to leaving, Mercury once again called saying I needed a $10,000 surety bond for Texas (I was stopping by Houston on my way home to see family). A few more urgent phone calls took care of this, and we were ready for the road.
A Bumpy Journey...
I left in the early morning on June 2 for Venice with a full tank of gas, 28 fishing rods, enough tackle to open a fishing store, along with a thermos of black coffee. I almost made the West Virginia border before the engine light came on. Panic quickly set in as I had reservations in Venice, two guys flying in to meet me, and months spent planning, so canceling was not an option. Placing a sticker over the light did not help. By Knoxville there was a significant miss in the engine, but I reduced my speed, and I made it! I pulled into Venice Tuesday afternoon and immediately noticed a flat shredded tire on the trailer. No big deal, but this was just the beginning as I was to find out.
Wednesday, we launched the boat and took off down the Mississippi River in search of the Gulf’s oil rigs. Rough seas awaited us, and we did more searching and bouncing than fishing. Thursday found much calmer seas, and off we went with a few dozen live shrimp in the livewell and high hopes. These hopes quickly vanished when the port engine died. We ended up spending the next six hours slogging back on one engine after finding out it takes two engines to get this boat up on plane.
All was not lost. I had befriended a charter boat captain my first day in Venice and had his phone number. A quick call found he did not have a charter for Friday. He even gave us a reduced rate as we were happy with fishing the close rigs for anything edible. We caught huge red snapper, cobia, mangrove snapper, and shark. The trip was saved with everyone happy!
...and a New Truck
It was a great trip, but my truck still had a blinking engine light along with a persistent miss. (Blinking engine lights are worse than just being lit.) I called my sister in Houston who arranged an appointment at the local Dodge dealer Monday morning. My buddies all flew home Saturday while I gingerly drove to Texas. I made it to Houston Saturday night, which is when I remembered three dozen unused shrimp in the livewell. Have I mentioned it is warm in Louisiana and Texas in June?
Now for my truck… By Monday morning the engine miss had turned into a loud knock and by Monday afternoon I was informed I needed a new engine. I was 1300 miles from home with five tons of boat and trailer and a broken truck. I did have a lifetime engine warranty from where I purchased the truck but was informed I had to get the truck back to the dealer in Timonium, MD, and they would only cover up to $4500. I should have read the fine print. Lenny’s voice in my head was getting louder and louder each passing hour. Not to let anything ruin my trip I bought a new truck with a big diesel engine and a great stereo. Being in Texas there were hundreds to choose from. Problem solved!
This might have been the most expensive fishing trip I have ever been on but not by much. Read "Paradise Lost... Or At Least Our Fishing Rods.". That trip cost us 11 rods and a boat! I might add that while I was preparing for this trip, I would read Rudow’s FishTalk Magazine Fishing Reports of what was biting around Maryland. It was a very active spring if the reports were to be believed. Damn.
The boat is fixed, I have a new truck, I just need a new destination. I heard Alaska has some great Halibut fishing…
Tight lines!
By Joe Borrison