Fishing the Midnight Lump, Venice, LA.

[peter mac]

Hey Guys,
A few buddies and I are heading to Venice Louisiana to fish the midnight lump in a few weeks. We are targeting Blackfin and yellowfin tuna, wahoo and whatever else swims down there and eats flies. We need help from anyone who has fished the lump with fly selection, what patterns should we be tying. Pink, pink/black and purple/black for wahoo is about the only info we have on them, Tuna patterns that we have heard work are the same that we throw in the northeast, include Genos baby angels, chum flies, mushies and tuna bunnies.........any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Peter Mac

[Jeaux]

Peter Mac,

I've fly fished the Lump several times. A few friends were supposed to be out there today, but the weather didn't cooperate.

I've had luck with the blackfin tuna. A few hook-ups with yellowfin tuna, but none have made it to the boat yet!

Fishing the Lump is an anchor up and chum deal. So, consider matching the hatch. Most of my hookups have come on mostly white deceivers (on 3/0 hooks) with just a touch of flash. I've also had luck with a style of fly (blue over white with some flash) that is sold at Urban Anger (NYC), but I can't remember the name. If I remeber what they are called, I'll update this post. Also, the less visible the hook is; all the better. The tuna on the Lump can get picky, so think about using a fluorocarbon bite tippet. Some of the captains down there will go down to 40lb fluoro leaders when the bite slows up.

If the action is hot, it really doesn't matter what fly you use. I hope the weather cooperates for you.

The wahoo bite has been pretty good the last couple of weeks and there are usually kings found on the Lump, so bring some wire. Prior to the last cold front, they were catching dolphin up to 45 lbs at the floaters (different from the East River-type).

What charter service are you using?

Jeaux

[peter mac]

Hey Jeaux,
Thanks for the insight, I really appreciate it!......we are fishing with Reel-Peace charters, fishing with Capt. Peace Marvel. We are bringing several variations of chunk flies, lots of pink, black/purple for the wahoos. I have heard the same thing that the YFT can get very picky, but when the bite is hot throw anything at them. We would love a shot at some bull dorado, or AJs, anything that eats flies and fights!.........will let you know how it goes, thanks again for the insights.
Peter Mac

[Jeaux]

Peter Mac,

Capt. Peace is a good guy - a bit of a local legend down there. The other guys who run boats for him - Bret, Kevin and Devlin - are also very good at finding fish.

Two last thoughts on flies. Bring flies in a variety of sizes. Many people think they need really large flies, but smaller flies are some times more productive than larger ones. And, don't forget to bring a squid pattern.

Good luck!

Jeaux

[peter mac]

Jeaux,

We are fishing with Capt. Brett the first day and then 2 days with Capt. Peace.........going to bring flies from 2" peanut bunker and tuna bunny patterns to 12" herring/bunker patterns and everything in the middle. Thanks for the heads up on the squid patterns, I would have forgot them. Thanks agian for the help!!

Too bad your buddies got weathered out, that is always a concern, we have a back up plan to go marsh redfishing if mother nature acts up.

Peter Mac

[Jeaux]

Peter Mac,

How was your trip? Did the weather cooperate for you?

Jeaux

[peter mac]

Peter Mac,

How was your trip? Did the weather cooperate for you?

Jeaux

Jeaux,

We are heading down to Venice on Saturday 2/21 to fish Sun., Mon., & Tues. they have had bad weather down there since January 31. We have a back up plan to go redfishing inshore if we are unable to fish the lump. I will let you know how it goes unpon returning.

Thanks again for your help,
Peter Mac

[peter mac]

Hey Jeaux,
Well we got weathered for this trip to Venice and the midnight lump, at least we didn't make the trip all the way to Louisiana and find out that we couldn't fish. We are rescheduling for 3 weeks from now, will let you know how it goes.
Peter Mac

[Jeaux]

Peter Mac,

Sorry to hear it. Although had you made the trip you would have been down there for Mardi Gras weekend. There are worse places to have a trip cancelled.

Turns out that I may be down there in the next few weeks on business, so I'll be looking to get out if I can schedule something on short notice. If that doesn't work out, I'm invited on a trip out of Venice in early April. Between the two of us, we might be able to post a successful report here!

Jeaux

[peter mac]

Peter Mac,

Sorry to hear it. Although had you made the trip you would have been down there for Mardi Gras weekend. There are worse places to have a trip cancelled.

Turns out that I may be down there in the next few weeks on business, so I'll be looking to get out if I can schedule something on short notice. If that doesn't work out, I'm invited on a trip out of Venice in early April. Between the two of us, we might be able to post a successful report here!

Jeaux

Hey Jeaux,
Well we are headed down to Venice tomorrow, to fish the lump Sunday Mon.& Tues., keep your fingers crossed , but the weather looks good. I will let you know how it goes.
Peter Mac

[Mark Cahill]

Looking forward to hearing how it went and seeing a few pics...

Enjoy!

[Jeaux]

Peter Mac,

I hope to hear that you got some fishing in. The weather reports look like it is going from good to bad with 6'-9' seas being forecasted.

Looking forward to a report.

Jeaux

[peter mac]

Hey Jeaux,
Well, we managed to get one day of fishing in the gulf, Sunday was beautiful, calm seas with light winds. Monday and Tuesday turned ugly winds 25-30 with 6-9 seas, so we split Venice Monday afternoon..........

Sunday was great, we headed out approx 18 miles into the gulf and found Yellow and Black Fin Tuna busting ballyhoos on the surface, an awesome site to see 150#Yellow fin coming 8' out of the water, and Blackfin chasing the ballyhoos across the top of the water. These were free swimmimg fish chasing/busting bait, not chummed. The fish were not schooled up mainly seeing singles and doubles, which made it a bit frustrating, as the yellow fin were busting out of range, from 50-400 yards away from the boat most of the day.

MY buddy Matt and I did manage a couple of 25# blackfin that hit 6" chart/white polar bear deceivers. The name of the game was to wait for a surface streaking ballyhoo to come within casting range, throw at it, and start stripping. These fish were amazingly strong, pound for pound they were every bit as tough as the BFTs in CC Bay. The big difference was that the water in this area of the gulf is 500' deep, so after a blazing first run, and return run the fish sounded, straight down. Lots of lifting.........

We also had a 500-600# (Capt. estimate) mako circling the boat for 1/2 hr. about 80yards out, the fin was 4' out of the water, just rolling and sunning himself. He came within 70' of the boat once, and one of my buddies threw a big fly within 5 feet of his nose, spooked him, he turned tail and was gone!

It was a great day with some awesome sites, and we even laned some Black fin which was a first, and even better on flies I tied, good feeling. I will post pics when I get them back.

Good luck down there in April!.....Take 14 wts. in addition to your 12wts. these fish have lots of room to sound, so you will be doing alot of lifting.

Captain Brett from Reel Peace Charters was great, and everybody in Venice was very friendly. Have a great time!

Peter Mac

[Slamdance]

Sounds like a neat trip Peter. Did anyone in Venice recognize you from your full-page spread in this month's Salt Water Sportsman? :)

[peter mac]

Black Fin from Venice..........

[Jeaux]

Dear Peter Mac,

Sounds and looks like you had good trip! Congratulations on the blackfin - they are a great flyrod fish. Too bad about the weather on the Monday and Tuesday, but that's the way its been down there all winter. It seems that they have only gotten a few days of good weather between fronts.

I traded e-mails with a friend who is a captain down there to look out for you guys, but he took that Sunday off and was blown out on Monday and Tuesday same as you.

Jeaux

[peter mac]

Hey Jeaux,

Thanks!, we had as good a time/fishing as you could have on a trip when you only get to fish one out of three days. The blackfin were great and I agree they are the perfect flyrod Tuna. The yellow fin were awesome to see,.....hopefully next trip we can get some of them to come play with us.

Are you still heading down in early April?......If so, good luck, tight lines and be sure to let me know how you do.

Thanks again,
Peter Mac

[Jeaux]

Peter Mac,

There's nothing like seeing a free jumping tuna to get your heart going. I've hooked up with a few - none landed to date :mad: - with two or three hookups right at the boat. And I've watched more yellowfin cruise through a chum slick heading right for my fly only to watch them turn off at the last second. Hence my earlier recommendation for fluoro leaders.

I'm not going to make the April trip that I was invited on. See my e-mail to you.

Hope to be able to share a report soon!

Jeaux

[Jeaux]

Peter Mac,

Boy, did I pick the wrong trip to miss. My friends went out yesterday and from the reports I've received, they were into fish all day (yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna, amberjack, jack crevalle and bull reds). Here's a link to a pic of Roger with his first yellowfin on the fly:

http://www.rodnreel.com/potb/PicView.asp

Good luck!

Jeaux

[peter mac]

Hey Jeaux,

That trip sounds OUTSTANDING!! YFT, BFT, Amber Jacks and Bull Reds......Great picture, perfect size Tuna for the fly rod, Congrats to your buddy Roger, on his first YFT on the fly, well done......Sorry you missed the trip.

Peter Mac