Where to catch a Big Blue off of the Louisiana gulf coast?

[bettinacindy]

:dunno: Hey guys!! I am really new at this forum stuff and Im trying to get a little information! Hopefully one of you nice people will be willing to help a girl out! I am trying to find out the spots so I can hook up to a big blue marlin! I have been told that the Green Caynons are the place to be but I havent had any luck out there! I will be in the Womens Billfish tournament in Venice coming up in July and I really want to reel one of those babies in! So any advice will be great! Where do I go to catch one?

[allen]

Just get out there and camp out (so-to-speak maybe, but would be the best m.o if the boat's right...fuel etc). Get to know other fellow fisherman in the area and their target species etc.and their info will help shape your decisions.

Location, location...etc...the Gulf can be be fickle like so many areas, Green canyon generally tends to start turning on more usually during that time of year, so u may be dialed in ahead of time. Watch the bait and the tunas and then, in-turn the blue marlin tend to follow them although smaller generally as the season progresses (aug-sept in particular) there...but hey u never know.

No subtitute for a fly over (plane) and look for the blue water in the area and the go to it. Roffs reports are worth their weight or costs, and can be and cusomized to your area(s). Do a google (etc.) search.
Catch 'em.

[floridadeckie]

drag a small live yellowfin with a big circle hook on his face around some of the deep water oil platforms. there are always big yellowfin around, and where the tuna are, so are the big marlin

[Warren_Brantley]

Regards,
I monitor the bite in the area out of Venice and they posted their first blue and first sail just two days ago. Pictures are not posted yet. The Reel Peace Charter's outfit catches a few each year although they primarliy target YFT. The above recommendations could not be better.

I have monitored the boats fishing the Orange Beach Tourmanents in Alabama at Memorial Day and Labor Day and normally take in the weigh-ins for one or the other. This is the prime area they go to. Looking at number of billfish of all species caught for this past Memorial Day there were a total of 9 (with 5 being blues). Their tournament Catch Per Unit of Effort (CPUE) came to one billfish for every 19 days of trolling (and that is with a minimum of 4 fisherman on the boat). The did have some sorry seas though and only 86 boats participated this year. The normal tournament CPUE is 1 billfish for every 16 to 18 days of fishing although there will be some captains who will certainly far exceed those odds. So they are out there, and there are some nice ones, but you will spend some money billfi$$hing offshore of Venice.

Perhaps you will consider some other venues where blues abound. From the top Pacific Blue CPUE (1 per 4 days off of Kona) (my group did it May 24th with a 500 with Billy Dorr on 'Why Knot"); to Madiera (some very big blues); to the Dominican Republic or St. Thomas where some of the guys and gals are now (one returned yesterday; I need to call him); to my personal stomping grounds at La Guaira (will be there June 28th).

Where ever you go may you have A BLUE DAY and may it be a BEAST!!

Regards, Warren Brantley

[Seth]

The Green Canyon is probably one of the best places in the Gulf to target marlin. The thing you have to consider is that marlin fishing is time intensize. You have to put in more time to hook up with a marlin than probably any other fish. Right place, right time so to speak. You can hit the 300 fathom mark pretty quickly out of Venice and from there you are in prime marlin waters. There are several sea mounts and humps that come up from several hundred feet that make excellent marlin grounds. Pull a submarine map of the Gulf and you will be able to pin point some great places to start.

Here is a geo location map of marlin tagged in the Gulf.
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n142/afronugs/Marlin.gif

[Trey]

If you want to catch a 700# blue. You need to head out to the Garden Bank area at the Gunnison Spar platform there is a very large blue that lives under it.I used to work in it and there was a fellow that came out of Kema Tx. in a Cabo 38ft. express he would raise & catch it 2-3 times every time he came out. Also watched him catch a 180# yellow fin one morning just after catching the blue. If the blue wont bite the guys on the spar listen to the marine radio and can tell you what their catching and at what time of day.There is a sister spar 50 miles away that at 5 o'clock the yellows used to come aroung like clock work and they all ran 100# + its the Nansen Spar. So good luck and pay attention that blue at the Gunnison is not shy I watched him once come up next to a big sport fisher within 3ft of the side and the mate wasn't paying attention other wise he could of reached out and literally touched him. Also watch that same blue jump across the bow of a 70FT boat while they were trolling.