Fishing in Venice

You can tell by the sudden, unusually violent squeal of the line spinning out that this time we’ve hooked a big one.

That, of course, is the goal of fishing offshore from Venice, Louisiana: to hook big ones, particularly big tuna. But it’s not until you have one on the line that you discover the overwhelming burden of reeling it in.

The man assigned the challenge and thrill of this particular fish is Morgan Hays, a fisherman from Florida, who traveled eight hours to Venice just to catch fish like this. It is not, however, an animated sparring match between man and fish; it is more like trying to pull up a sentient shipwreck with a string. A half-hour into the struggle, with little progress made, Captain Eddie Burger of Fish Venice Charters — the man responsible for hunting these fish down in the vast waters off Louisiana’s Gulf coast and ensuring clients like Hays return home with ice chests full of fresh meat — teases Hays:

“This is why we call tuna fishing a game of inches…”

Hays and his cohort hired Captain Eddie because he’s one of the best in Venice, with 23 years of experience fishing these waters. At any time of the year, Captain Eddie knows where to find the fish. Today that happens to be tuna, fifty miles offshore in the shadow of a massive floating oil rig.

The rig gives off a constant, low-pitched rumble that permeates the surrounding area — the hum of generators, the whirring of motors, the rhythmic chugging of pumps and compressors punctuated by the occasional hiss. And behind it, the silence and solitude of the deep blue water as Hays struggles on with his unseen adversary. An hour later, drenched in sweat and absolutely exhausted, the enormous fish is no closer to the boat than when Hays first started. For every painstaking yard of line he reels in, the tuna takes back three.

“There’s no shame in letting someone else take over for a while,” Captain Eddie advises him. “These fish have killed men before.”

Nonetheless, Hays chooses to persist, reeling alone, inch by painful inch. After more than two hours of this slow-motion struggle, the shiny flanks of the tuna finally appear in the water below, an enormous shimmer of silver. It takes three men to harpoon, gaff and haul the behemoth up over the gunwales, where the powerful tail slaps the deck like a club until the deckhand brains it with a pair of pliers. Hays collapses in exhaustion.

Hours later, back at Venice marina, a crowd of fishermen and tourists gather, sunburned, beers in hand, to witness the big tuna hauled off the boat and over to the scales, where it weighs in at a whopping 198 lbs. It is the biggest fish hauled into Venice Marina today, but it’s not the only big fish. Hays and his group were only one of many successful fishermen. All day, one after another, groups of fishermen, anglers from Louisiana, out of state and around the world, motor up to the dock with bountiful loads of tuna, red snapper, swordfish and mahi —  the typical catch of the early summer season. In Venice, which styles itself as “the fishing capital of the world,” it is like this nearly every day of the year. So what exactly makes it such a great place to fish?

Venice, Louisiana, the last community accessible by road along the southern Mississippi River, got its start as a small fishing and hunting community in the 19th century. It grew into a significant commercial fishing hub due to its proximity to the productive waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The development of offshore oil and natural gas drilling in the mid-20th century later transformed Venice into a key player in the energy industry. Then, unexpectedly, the offshore oil rigs revealed their ability to transform in rich ecological oases, attracting an abundance of sea life, an unforeseen consequence that has since established Venice as a prime destination for sport fishing.

You read that right: Oil rigs — towering symbols of industrialization and environmental disruption ­— have paradoxically transformed into thriving marine ecosystems, teeming with life. The rigs provide a vertical structure in the water column extending through a range of depths, creating an artificial reef environment that attracts a wide variety of marine life to an environment that, otherwise, might be barren. Schools of baitfish swarm the structure, drawing in hungry predators from miles around. Yellowfin tuna, red snapper, amberjack — a cornucopia of popular sporting species congregate here, growing fat and bold in this unlikely oasis. The presence of these rigs in the deep waters of the Gulf is what makes Venice a world-class sportfishing destination.

The most sought-after species here are yellowfin tuna (which can be caught year-round) and red snapper, whose season falls in the summer months, though there are many other kinds of fish to be caught in these waters, including wahoo, swordfish, blue marlin, grouper and amberjack. Inshore fishing out of Venice in the labyrinthine waters of the Mississippi Delta is also possible, though this option is less popular than the offshore adventures that whisk you out to the rigs to catch 150+ pound tuna.

The peculiar attraction of fish to oil rigs, and the sheer abundance of fish around Venice, used to be a well-guarded secret, but the word has been out for many years now. The exceptional fishing is unlikely to abate anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t changing. According to many of the captains I spoke with, over the past 20 years, Venice has undergone yet another reinvention.

“Things have changed like you would not believe” says Captain Troy Wetzel of Louisiana Offshore Fishing Charters. “When I started 30 years ago, there were nine charter boat captains out of Venice — now there’s probably 90. The fish population has shrunk a whole bunch too. Mankind is really putting a hurting on them, taking them with gill nets, trawl nets. When I first started, you didn’t have to go out as far and you didn’t have to fish as long — you could catch your fish 15 miles offshore and be done at noon because you caught so many you’d have no place to put them. Now you got to go further out, and the schools of fish aren’t schools of a thousand anymore — they’re schools of hundreds or schools of 50. Used to be schools of 3000 or more.”

Other captains believe the dearth or abundance of fish is seasonal, following cyclical patterns, but it is hard to deny that overfishing, habitat loss, pollution, climate change, hydrological changes and regulations (or lack thereof) are affecting Louisiana’s rich fisheries in ways that are difficult to measure or predict. Efforts to conserve these fish populations involve a range of strategies aimed at addressing the known threats to this rich ecosystem, but whether humans are doing enough (or too much with regard to our destructive behaviors) remains to be seen.

One thing is for certain: Every time I’ve gone to Venice, the marina is always packed with fishermen unloading abundant catches, and there is no shortage of charter outfits in Venice to make sure visiting anglers return to the marina with the fish they desire. A typical charter begins around 6 a.m., takes clients out the mouth of the Mississippi to fish for live bait, motors them out to the rigs or wherever the captains believe the desired predator fish are on that day, and usually comes back when clients catch their limit, with the last boats pulling in no later than 6 p.m.

Venice itself is a magical place to spend an evening or two, especially if you’re renting a houseboat right on the water. But outside of fishing, talking about fishing or eating seafood and drinking beer while watching the day’s catch come into the marina, there isn’t an abundance of things to do — Venice is simply a gateway to the diverse habitats around the Gulf and the Mississippi River Delta. The latter, however, is an exceptionally beautiful area that attracts a wide variety of bird species, ideal for birders and great to explore by small boat or kayak, and a great place for duck hunting in the winter. But for all these activities, you need a boat and must get out on the water.

From the thrill of landing a massive tuna to the camaraderie of swapping stories at the marina, Venice offers an unparalleled fishing experience. But it is the sum of its parts — the productive waters, the oil rigs, the natural beauty and the community’s peculiar traditions — that truly sets Venice apart. Whether you’re a seasoned angler or simply someone who appreciates the beauty and bounty of the natural world, Venice is calling down at the end of Louisiana Highway 23.