Louisiana Fishing Adventure!

Our trip began around 5 am at LAX when Cathy and I met for our 7 am flight to New Orleans February 3, 2023.  Upon landing, James met us outside bag claim with our rental car and loaded our bags for us.  Some quick rental car business and we were on our way to the Monteleone Hotel in the French Quarter. 

Once checked in, we spent the afternoon walking the streets.  To our surprise, Mardi Gras festivities had already begun.  Buildings and fences were decorated with Mardi Gras beads, masks and caricature’s in traditional colors of New Orleans – purple, green and gold.  (Purple symbolizing justice, green for faith and gold for power).  Jazz bands entertained us as we passed Jackson Square and shop keepers placed Mardi Gras hats on our heads telling us we needed them for the parade coming this evening hoping for a sale.

We arrived on time for our dinner reservation at GW Fins a restaurant specializing in seafood.  We were seated in a booth and fortunate to have Marlon as our waiter.  He was charming but professional and knew the details about every menu item which we needed to make a  selection.  We started with Pork Belly then I chose Scalibut, the house special of sea scallops seared on top of a halibut filet, royal red shrimp risotto and snow peas. Cathy chose the Parmesan Crusted Sheepshead with crabmeat, asparagus, capers and lemon beurre blanc.  Both dishes were beyond perfection. 

 

The weather was quite cold so we went back to the hotel for our coats and hats before venturing out to watch the parade.  “Go out the hotel, turn right onto Royal Street and walk 5 or 6 blocks until you reach the crowd.  That’s where the parade will pass,” the concierge informed us.  As we waited for the parade to start, various brightly costumed people would walk the route entertaining us while selling drinks and jello shots.  The crowd was fired up and very festive.  Once the parade started, it was not like any parade I’ve seen before.  There were costumes, bands and floats with lights, bright colors, singing, dancing, etc.  Basically, any costume you wanted to wear, or wear nearly nothing at all, was acceptable.  It was all represented in this parade.

The parade winds around many streets in the city.  Who knows how long it takes to complete the parade route, however, it took two hours for the entire parade to pass by our location.  We headed to bed after.

Saturday, February 4^th, we headed out for breakfast at Café Beignet and a walk around town and along the river before continuing on our journey to SWC Sportsmans Lodge in Venice, Louisiana, located on the Mississippi River Delta, where our fishing adventure begins.

The drive to Venice takes about 2 hours depending on traffic.  We stopped at Thompson’s Café along the way for lunch.  Thompsons is similar to a truck stop and serves the areas residents and workers.  We had fried frogs’ legs, shrimp and French fries.  The frogs’ legs were especially good.

We arrived at the lodge an hour before scheduled but Anthony, the lodge chef/manager, was gracious and checked us in early.  After carrying our bags to our rooms, he gave us a tour of the lodge and asked us what time we would like dinner.

We walked along the water and had a beer at the only bar/restaurant along the walkway.  Although sunny, it was quite cold especially sitting in the shade.  We were excited about getting to fish the next day.

 

We headed back to the lodge and had a glass of wine while Anthony made Gumbo for our dinner.  Cathy had invited our Captain, Martha Spencer, to join us for dinner. She arrived shortly after we did.  Anthony served us salad, a bowl of homemade sausage and chicken gumbo, a southern specialty, which was delicious.  For dessert we had chocolate cream pie.  While we ate Martha brought us up to date on changes in her operation since Cathy’s last trip with her.

Martha said she was working for a new boss, running a new boat and has a new deck hand.  We would be fishing on a 37-foot Freeman Catamaran with four 300 hp Mercury outboard engines.  Her previous boat was a Freeman so she was familiar with these boats although each one is configured a little differently.  It’s a fast boat (over 30 mph depending on weather) and has no cabin or seats (we would ride on bean bags on the back deck).  This would be a new experience for me as I’ve never fished on a Freeman before. 

 

Martha has a very good reputation especially for catching swordfish. She said we would be the first trip of the season and her first running her new boat.  It was a pleasure to meet her.  I found her full of life, confident and knowledgeable.  Martha said we would be departing at 6 am the next morning and heading to the swordfish grounds which would be about a two-hour ride.  We called it a night after dinner.

I woke up at 4:30 am Sunday, February 5^th.  It was quite cold outside, somewhere in the 40’s.  I started layering my clothes – leggings, lined Fishworks Pants, t-shirt, long-sleeve flannel shirt, fleece pullover, down jacket, wool socks and Xtra-Tuf boots.  I decided to go downstairs for breakfast before finishing.

Cathy and I were the only guests at the lodge so Anthony made us eggs to order and bacon.  We helped ourselves to coffee.  Anthony fry’s eggs in olive oil whereas I fry them in butter.  Different but good.  I went back upstairs to put a Thermacare patch on my lower back and another on the back of my neck. The final layer was my wool hat, Grundens overalls and heavy rain jacket.  I hoped I was ready.

Martha and her deck hand, Devin, were out back tied up to the dock which is part of the lodge.  There were three bean bags on the back deck – one for each of us to sit/lie down on and one for our feet.  Devin would ride under the canopy with Martha.  We settled into our bean bags and were off.  The first hour or so we traveled along the river winding in and out.  The moon was on the left and the sun coming up on the right then they changed positions over and over again as the river wound its way to the ocean.  When we reached the ocean there was a noticeable temperature change.  It warmed up.  I was surprised to learn that the river water is cold and the ocean water was in the 70’s.  Perhaps I wouldn’t be miserably cold while fishing.

Around 8:30 am we reached the swordfish grounds.  Martha had tied the squid on the hook so the swordfish couldn't knock it off.  There were also a couple mini lights on the line above the hook.  

The leader was 200 pound test and the dacron main line was 80 pound test.  She had Devin drop the squid back first then gradually the rest of the line while Martha kept the boat in gear traveling forward so the line stretched out straight.  When she felt she had enough line out, she let it drift to the bottom then would put it in gear and crank it up 30 cranks from the bottom.   The bottom was at 1400 feet down.  Martha kept her eye on the rod tip and when it barely moved, she started to crank it and told me to grab the handle and wind.  Unfortunately, the fish didn’t stick. 

The movement of the rod tip was barely visible.  Certainly takes a lot of experience to hook these fish let alone land one.  One of the other boats in the area had hooked a fish and after an hour and a half brought it to the surface only to realize it was a thresher shark.  How disappointing.

Martha rigged another squid and said we should kiss it for luck which we did.  

Around 10:30 am we hooked another fish and this one stuck.  Of course, we didn’t know if it was a thresher shark or a swordfish.  Whatever it was, it was mean and tuff.  Martha told me to only watch the rod tip – never the reel.  She said all the information is in the rod tip.  Reel when the tip comes up.  Unfortunately, Martha said I couldn’t use low gear because if it’s a swordfish, they have soft mouths and its easy to lose them if using low gear.  The only way I could wind on the fish when the rod was loaded up was using both hands on the handle. 

 

This fish kept moving under the boat as if trying to keep in the boats shadow.  Martha would spin the boat to get the fish away from the boat and the fish would move back under it.  This went on the entire fight.  It took over an hour of give and take before moving the fish above the 600 foot thermocline and another hour to get it to the 200 foot thermocline.  The next 40 to 60 minutes was an inch by inch finesse winding hoping the fish couldn’t feel it was being lifted up.  At this point, it was necessary to pull on the line while winding and hold the reel so the fish couldn’t take the line back.  When the fish finally surfaced we were ecstatic to see that it was truly a swordfish and a nice one at that.

 

 

Devin stuck a gaff in the fish and Martha spiked it.  A rope was wrapped around the tail and tied to the boat.  Martha and Devin pulled the fish over the rail, head first.  What a beautiful fish.  Martha reached down and the hook fell right out. 

The next few minutes were filled with high-fives and picture taking.  There were smiles all around.  Martha was happy to score a swordfish her first trip of the season and to impress her new boss.  Devin was happy to be part of a new operation and Cathy was pleased because she planned the trip hoping to get me my first swordfish.  Thanks Cathy for taking care of me so well.

 

Once the fish was properly iced down, we settled into our bean bags for the trip back.  It was sunny and warmer than our trip out in the morning.  The water was calmer too so it was a faster trip.  Our first stop was the fuel dock which is where the scales and fish filet tables are as well.   When the fish hit the scale, it weighed 247 pounds. Wow!  More photos then the fish was lifted onto the filet table.

 

Martha jumped up on the table with the fish as she’s too short to filet it standing on the ground.  Several men were at the filet tables watching, one of which was a sushi chef. He offered to filet the second half of the fish for Martha.  Martha insisted he take a bag of filets for his work.  The other guys just wanted the head for soup.  Martha kept the sword so I could have it processed and mounted.  We took some filets to the lodge for Anthony to prepare for a dinner.  The rest would be shared with Martha’s boss and other folks that assist her from time to time.

 

Martha joined us for dinner again.  Needless to say, we were all in a celebratory mood.  Cathy and I poured ourselves a glass of wine and Martha got herself a cocktail.  Anthony had prepared chicken and sausage jambalaya with salad for our dinner.  It had been a perfect day.  It was hard to end the day but we needed to get some rest so we could get back out at 6 am the next morning.  Martha said we were going to  try for wahoo instead of swordfish the next day.

The next morning, Monday the 6^th of February, was a repeat of the previous morning as far as dressing and breakfast were concerned.  We boarded at 6 am again and settled into our bean bags for the ride to the fishing grounds.  Martha said this would be our best weather day.  The trip out was a repeat of the previous day except not as far out.  We fished the oil rigs stopping first at what was referred to as “The City” a large cluster of rigs.  I learned some rigs are manned and have helicopter pads on top and some are unmanned which have alarms going off periodically.  We found it strange that guys on the rigs would take photos of us as we fished around them.

 

Martha had Devin put out 3 trolling jigs, Nomads.  We trolled by rig after rig all day long. It was a beautiful day on the water but a disappointing day for catching fish.  We got skunked.

 

When we got back to the lodge, we saw the Instagram Post that Martha had put up about our swordfish catch.  She posts as freckledfishbum and said “66 and 76 in age..But the fish scaled 247#..Tied for my 3^rd biggest fish…but by far the most aggressive after close to 3 hours.

 

Anthony prepared our swordfish steaks for dinner with a side of whole kernel corn with tomatoes.  He said he seasoned the swordfish with salt, pepper and lemon pepper and flipped it frequently while searing it in a pan on medium heat.  It was delicious.  Swordfish meat doesn’t spoil like tuna when it takes more than an hour to fight the fish. 

 

Our last day of fishing started the same as the previous days, however, Martha said the weather had come up.  When we hit the ocean, it was definitely rougher than the previous days.  After two hours, we had only made it out to the rigs.  The swordfish grounds would take another 45 minutes to reach.  Martha thought we should see if we would have any better luck with the wahoo this day.  The trolling lures were put out and we trolled around.  Finally, we found a rig that had spinner sharks putting on a show close to the rig.  As we trolled around the rig, two of the jigs got bit.  Cathy and I each grabbed one.  Cathy’s popped off first then I handed her mine and when she got the wahoo close to the boat, a shark ate it, jig and all.  The third jig was eaten by a shark too and we lost that jig as well. 

The trolling rods were re-rigged and the jigs were put back out.  We started trolling around again.  This time all three trolling lures got bit off by sharks. In less than 20 minutes we lost 5 trolling lures costing over $30 each.  It had gotten very rough and difficult to fish.  We were now in small craft advisory weather and it was difficult to stand and wind the jigs in.  Martha considered going for swordfish but out of an abundance of caution, decided it would be better to return to the lodge. I think she made the right decision as sad as it was to call it quits.  The trip back was much easier than the trip out because we were going with following seas instead of into the weather. 

When we got back, we cleaned up and packed our bags for the next day’s departure.  We took a long walk around the area covering a couple miles.  We saw some interesting birds in the area and signs that let us know we were in the conservative deep south. 

Anthony had left the lodge and was replaced by Blake and Bart.  Dinner was sausage with King Cake for dessert.  We were no longer alone.  Nine fly fishermen had arrived, and we shared the lodge with them now. 

Breakfast our last morning was a buffet of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and grits.  I just had bacon and eggs. We packed up early and headed back to New Orleans.  The weather had changed drastically.  It was 80 degrees and quite humid.  What a change.

Before flying home, we toured the National WWII Museum and had lunch at Pascals, a 109 year old restaurant.  We enjoyed Louisiana Gulf Oysters and fried catfish.  Best oysters I’ve eaten.  What a great way to finish our trip.

If you want a fantastic adventure, and the catch of a lifetime, I highly recommend fishing with Martha Spencer out of Venice, LA.  You won't be disappointed.