In mid-march, I drove to Venice to take a job as a first mate with a Captain I had never met, in a place I had never been, to jump into a world that I had never experienced. I tend to do well in situations that consume me with the anxiety of the unknown. I continuously throw myself into poorly planned adventures, skimming the line of stupidity and propelling myself into success. Although this formula has been sound so far, I can never rely on it fully and am usually jumping into it full of fear.
My experience in Venice has proven to be one of the best decisions of my life, despite all the signs that it was an iffy situation that most people would have shied away from. I came to stay with Captain Brett Ryan for one week, based on his invitation, and I have stayed here ever since. When he left town for a few weeks, he allowed me to stay at his houseboat provided that I was working on my fishing career. I worked with a few amazing captains in his absence, including Captain Travis Mayeux.
Captain Travis is a wonderfully charismatic fellow who never ceases to make those around him laugh. He is one of Captain Brett’s closest friends and when I got to know him, it was instantly clear that he was the type of person that I wanted to fish with. When Captain Brett left town and I started looking for work, Captain Travis offered me a job. I was more than happy to work with the most bubbly and energetic fisherman I knew. I mean, this guy has a way of making people laugh that I could never pull off. He can say the most offensive words to people, but he does it in such a digestible way that everyone adores him.
I was so excited to work for my friend who made me laugh everyday, but as I soon realized, Travis, aka trav-a-ho, is not the same person as Captain Travis. On our first day fishing together, the weather was awful, the clients were sick and the fish were not cooperating. This Captain, who usually works without a mate, was beyond stressed about not catching fish. The jokes had stopped along with all conversation and communication and this boy was focused. We tried everything to catch fish until the vomiting clients finally called it a day and made us retreat to the dock empty handed. I had never seen this carefree fisherman so upset and I was nervous about fishing with him again.
Reluctantly, I gave another shot to fishing with the Captain who fishes without a mate. I accepted feeling totally useless yet again. I did not know enough to run the back deck without asking specific permission for everything I wanted to do and when we were not catching fish, he did not have the patience to explain what he wanted. Fortunately, our rhythm got better and on a at calm day when we were murdering fish, the happy-go-lucky Trav-a-ho began to show his pretty face.
The Captain, who couldn’t smile without a box full of fish, took advantage of the perfect offshore day and collected us a variety pack to be envied. We spiced up techniques and switched locations and in one day we caught a myriad of sharks, yellow fin tuna, black-n tuna, mahi mahi, scamp, amber-jack, almacojack, red snapper and we even lost two blue marlin. It was an incredible day. The energy, the fishing, the weather, the people and even the tips were all the best I’ve ever had, all rolled into one 12 hour shift.
There was a period of time where Captain Travis and I had no work for a week, so he drove back with me to my homeland of Florida. Since he was kind enough to hire me as a mate, on the charters he usually runs alone, it was wonderful to be able to give him a new fishing experience, as well.
I took him to Lake Ida to fish with my buddy, Patrick Gonzalez, for Peacock Bass. It was a 16-hour drive in each direction, but it turned out to be beyond worthwhile. Captain Tra- vis, who was a bass fisherman long before he was an offshore captain, finally got to catch his freshwater dream fish; the Peacock Bass. It is a rare privilege to put your Captain on fish he wants to catch, but nothing beats putting him on a potential state record.
He caught two new species that day, Peacock Bass, and the rare, invasive Clown Knife fish. We did not have anything to weigh the fish and everyone on the boat wanted to revive it and set it free quickly. We all regretted this decision when we realized that it might have been the state record by a few head lengths. This baby was easily over 10 pounds!
The Clown Knife fish was released in this area and has been thriving ever since. Its original origin is south Asia and Thailand. The Peacock Bass, which was also released in this area, originates from South America. Both of these species were caught on live shiners, with a 1/0, 2/0 circle hook on light tackle. The Clown Knife fish were found in open channels and docks whereas the Peacock Bass were caught along seawalls, docks and other cover.
Quinlyn Haddon
Freelance Firstmate
Captain Travis Mayeux
Travismayeux@ymail.com RiversEndOutfitters.com
