Venice, Louisiana is a well-known yellowfin tuna fishing hotspot. A group of anglers set out of Venice Marina on Mar. 7 for a day of offshore action chasing tuna with a seasoned charter captain. Capt. Matt Moranda , of Metairie, La., runs the 42-foot Freeman boat Wild Bill for The Mexican Gulf Fishing Company , and he has a knack for finding big tuna — including the Gulf record yellowfin tunaa.
Find the Bait, Find the Fish
“We headed out that morning and ran about 18 miles offshore where pods of menhaden were being hammered by tuna,” Moranda, age 34, tells Wired2Fish . The anglers ran from bait pod to bait pod, casting plugs to schools of menhaden using heavy spinning tackle, 100-pound test braided line and large surface plugs to tempt tuna to strike.
“There are oil rigs around, but the bait and tuna were off the rigs in about 200-feet of water,” recounts Moranda, a full-time tuna captain of 9 years.
Yellowfin tuna are fast, huge and are renowned as one of the strongest fish on the planet. Their ferocious strike at a cast plug is legendary in the marine angling world…