Scuba trio highlights rodeo’s second day (7/5)

Posted July 4, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Filed Under Sports | Leave a Comment

By CLAUDETTE OLIVIER
AMERICAN PRESS

Poles were not required to catch the biggest haul to come in on Saturday, the second day of the Southwest Louisiana Fishing Club’s Fourth of July Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo.

“Take our picture with our spear gun or people will think we caught them on a hook,” said spear fisher Jeff Aguillard, laughing as he posed with his diving buddies Jeff Kite and Chris Chesson.

The crew, the first to weigh-in in the scuba category, brought in a load that included several amberjack, red and mangrove snapper and one cobia. Their red snapper ranged from 13-15.9 pounds, and their amberjack ranged from 31.2-35.1 pounds. Aguillard took tops in amberjack, and Chesson took first in red and mangrove snapper and cobia.

“We went about 90 miles out of Cameron and spent two nights,” Aguillard said. “We’ve all been fishing the rodeo a long time.”

Another big haul, this one caught by rod and reel, came from the boat of Erik Rue, who fished with his nephew Rue Stevens and friend Matt Red.

“Haul them in to the weigh station smallest to biggest every time,” Rue said as Stevens unloaded Jack Crevelle snapper, cobia and mahi-mahi from the boat. “We caught a few black-tip sharks too.”

Stevens, who weighed-in several red snapper, took over first in the junior division with an 11.85-pounder.

“We left out of Grand Chenier, headed out about 62 miles and fished the California rigs,” said Rue, who has not missed fishing the rodeo in the last 30 years. “We used live butterfish and fished in about 90 feet of water.”

The crew of Trevor and Brody Laughlin, their dad Travis and grandfather Ned Dautrieu and their captain, Stephen Brown, president of the rodeo club, also hit the weighstation after spending two nights out on the water.

“We fished the southern end of the West Cameron Block in the Gulf,” the elder Laughlin said. “The boys fished and hauled in snapper, jackfish and a lot of king mackerel.”

The crew used mullet to bottom fish and also trawled with artificial lures. Laughlin also reported that the water quality in the area was good.

“This was our first year to fish the rodeo, and we plan to join the club. It’s a good organization with great members, and the rodeo is a great chance to spend quality time with your children outdoors,” he said. “The weather was nice Thursday evening, but the wind picked up last night and the seas built to 4-6 feet, so we won’t be headed back out tomorrow.”

Also feeling the weather woes were Gil Romero and his nephew Timmy Dyer, who also weighed in on Friday.

“After fishing about 20 miles out in the Gulf, we had to drive back in slowly because of rough seas, and then we fished the Jetties,” Romero said. “We trawled for king mackerel at the oil rigs and brought in a few, but they didn’t make the leaderboard.”

The Romero-Dyer group wasn’t the only crew coming up short with mackerel weights.

“Everyone coming in with king mackerel is saying they are catching lots of 17-20 pound ones, but the minimum weight is 25 pounds,” said weighmaster Mike Harbison.

Dyer and Romero did get to weigh-in with redfish, both at 21.50 pounds and caught on live poagies. Dyer’s even took the top spot, pun intended, in the red with the most spots category with 34 spots.

Doug Frey and his dad Paul also pulled an offshore-inshore combo trip.

“We left out of Hackberry and went offshore,” the son said. “Dad caught a cobia on a jig, and I landed a bluefish on a small rattle trap.”

After fishing in about 40 feet of water offshore, the duo caught about 20-30 specks in Big Lake using live shrimp and DOA Artificial Shrimp.

“The water quality is good in the lake,” the younger Frey. “The water looks good and it’s a good salinity.”

Danny Lanza and Mark Schram, both of lake Charles, hit the ship channel and brought in a load of specks and reds.

“We fished Friday and Saturday, and we plan to fish the lake again (Sunday) because it’s too windy offshore,” Schram said.

The pair didn’t weigh-in with their reds, but Lanza made the board with a speck at 5.35 pounds.

Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Comments

What's on your mind?

Use this form to comment on the article above. This box is not intended to be a forum for readers to ask questions of the newspaper staff, but to express their thoughts about the article. To contact the News department, e-mail news@americanpress.com.