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Guitar in Hand, Nugent Makes His Mark
http://www.highrollincharters.com/fffmagcoverstoryoctober02.html
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By Ray Huntzicker
I met up with Chris Tiblier and his friend, Kelly, at Puglia’s in Metairie. We were headed South to do a Mangrove Snapper piece with the legendary New Orleans rockers, Dash Rip Rock. I didn’t know what to expect. But I jumped at the chance. The trip was with Captain Chris Moran’s Cajun Made Charters (www.cajunmadecharters.com) out of Fourchon. Captain Chris is a good friend and an exceptional captain. He knows how to find fish. I was raring to go. We had had to scratch fishing earlier in the week because of weather, but it appeared that Mother Nature was looking to be better to us on this go around.
Mangrove Snapper have been the saving grace, since the federal government has put a squeeze on Red Snapper limits and seasons, for many charter captains. A lot of captains made their livings off of Red Snapper trips, but no more. That is why they have turned to the Mangrove. There is no season on Mangroves and the limit is five times the Red Snapper limit. Many would argue that they are also a better eating fish than their red cousins.
We headed South for Fourchon, and Captain Chris’ lodge, right on the water. When we got there, we found a five star lodge set at the end of the marsh, almost on the Gulf. Captain Chris’ set up is first class. Ton of room in his lodge, and it is built for comfort. The front side of the lodge has a nice pier, complete with lights over the water to lure Speckled Trout in at night.
The inside of the lodge is incredible as well, with three rooms that sleep 4--6 people in each; and all have very comfortable beds. The den is huge, with cable TV and the kitchen is ready to cook, as is the grill downstairs. The lodge also has a dishwasher and a washer and dryer for your clothes. Captain Chris has it all covered.
After getting settled in, we awaited the arrival of Bill Davis and Eric Padua, two thirds of Dash Rip Rock. Bill plays guitar and sings and is the only founding member left, “the sole surviving heir to the Rip Rock fortune.” Eric plays drums and has been in the band for about three years. They are both avid fishermen.
Dash Rip Rock (www.dashriprock.net) have been touring warriors since the 1980’s and bill themselves as “the wildest band to ever crawl out of the Louisiana mud; our trio is still kickin after 24 years of legendary rock-n-roll mayhem!” Their new album, with a country/rock tone, will be out October first and they will be playing shows here in Louisiana from October first to the eleventh; check their website for venue and further information. Turns out they are also very good fishermen and super nice guys, as well.
Once Bill and Eric arrived, it was time for steaks, and watching the weather channel. The wind was still blowing…we were waiting (Hoping) for it to lay down. As it got later, it did seem to be blowing itself out and that the fishing gods were going to be kind. As everyone headed off to bed, it looked good for the morning.
We got to Capt. Chris’ Belle Pass Marina about 6:30am, ready to go. It looked stormy out on the Gulf as we headed out. There was also a pesky West wind trying to blow. But we were here to fish and so that we did.
The day started off with two to three foot waves; manageable. Capt. Chris didn’t like how the water looked; it was his thought that we would have to head further out into the Gulf than planned just to find some decent water. At times, the clear water is very, very close to shore. This, unfortunately, was not one of those times.
The first two rigs we pulled up to had fish on them, but the water was dirty and the only fish that wanted to hit were Jacks and Bluefish, so we headed for another rig. There were still swells from the previous day’s storms and it looked rough on the horizon. But we knew if anyone could find fish on a day like this, it was Capt. Chris, whose main worry was that the “Mangrove had lockjaw”. Mangrove Snapper are known to be a much more finicky fish than their more well known cousin, the Red Snapper (We were not targeting Red Snapper because of the new federal regulations that had the season already closed; we caught a few nice one‘s during the course of the day, but had to let them all go immediately…from what I‘ve seen, and what captains have told me, the new season and regulations are ridiculous…there are still a lot of Red Snapper). You HAVE to use light line and a very natural presentation to catch Mangroves.
I asked Captain Chris what he looks for when after Mangroves, “Not this dirty water”, and laughed. “I was planning on going out about 12 miles and fish some rigs that are in about eighty to one hundred feet of water, but it looks like the recent weather still has the water dirty…so we’re gonna have to go further out. The Mangroves relate to the structure of the rigs; the rigs attract little fish, that attracts baitfish and the baitfish attract the larger fish…the rigs offer protection to the fish…they like a little cleaner water than we’re seeing so far. Mangroves hang a little higher in the water column than Red Snapper, so we need water that hasn’t been stirred up so much. But we‘ll find them”
At the next rig, as the Gulf got rougher, our luck on the fish turned for the better. Everyone hooked up on Mangrove’s. We still had some of the pesky trash fish that are around every rig, but Capt. Chris had put us on the target fish. We started pulling in Mangroves up to around ten pounds. Fish like this were around all of the next stops.
First mate Mike was suddenly busy with taking fish off, re-tying lines that had been broken off in the rig and trying to keep up with the chum of cut Sardines. He did an incredible job of keeping up with it all and trying to coach us all along.
Mike had prepped us before dropping the baits down; “you want the croaker to drift with the chum and look as natural as possible…you want to get the bait down to where the fish are at, and we hope to bring them up even closer with the chum. But you also want to keep your bait from drifting into the rig. The barnacles will break you right off.”
We were using small live Croakers, free lining, with no weight; the rods were medium to heavy action with bait casting reels. You let the croaker drift down, then, when the fish hits, you set the bail, set the hook and start reeling. It can be a tricky process keeping the fish out of the rigs; the twenty pound test we were using will break off in an instant if it hit’s the rig and barnacles. But catching these fish on light tackle is the way to do it. It’s all about having fun…and that light tackle provides loads of it!
Now, as the morning wore on, we got some current and had to start using weights, rigged Carolina style, with a fifty pound leader, to get the bait down to the fish. Free lining and trying to keep the presentation natural were still the way to fish. Not long after tying on the Carolina rigs, Eric got a big strike. It turned out to be a great fighting and great tasting Lane Snapper; also a very pretty fish.
It was easy to tell that Bill and Eric knew their way around the boat; they were the two catching the most fish! And it was getting harder as the day wore on. The waves were edging closer to four or five feet. We were getting soaked, but having a blast. On a day that could have been a bust for most, we were on fish…and some pretty nice ones at that.
Capt. Chris decided to move to a wreck to try and finish up on the Snapper before the waves and weather got too bad to fish We added more weight to our rigs, still Carolina style, to get the bait down to the wreck, and the fish. With the current and the wind, it was incredible that Capt. Chris held us over the wreck so well.
As soon as we dropped baits down, we all were getting hits. Some of the fish were so big, we could do nothing with the light tackle as they went down into holes and broke us off. Just because it was rough on the surface didn‘t mean the fishing was bad, for the fish it was business as usual…eating and trying not to get eaten by a larger fish.
Tiblier dropped a dead Croaker down and immediately was into a Strawberry Grouper, one of the prettiest, and tastiest, fish of the day. So I tried a dead Croaker and wham! I had on a nice Cubera Snapper. Not only were we catching fish, we had a nice little mixed bag of species.
“These rigs and wrecks we’ve hit have all kinds of fish on them; Red Snapper, Mangroves, Cubera Snapper, Lane Snapper and Grouper…they are all here”, Captain Chris told me.
Bill even hauled in a shark that was a little too greedy; the hook had caught in the Croaker’s gill plate and not even penetrated the shark. It was just greedy and refused to let go of it’s dinner. So that shark became dinner.
If the bait got all the way down to the wreck without being eaten by a Mangrove, Red Snapper and Grouper were there to take the bait. And if the Grouper is close to a hole, forget it on that light tackle. Grouper will go in a hole, tale out, and flare their gills, making their head an anchor of sorts, in the hole. When that happens, you would have as good a luck pulling up a VW.
After banging out a few more Snapper and Grouper, Capt. Chris decided we should hit the platforms for Cobia. Especially since the seas were now at five to six feet. Cobia are a fish that like to hang out near buoys, small platforms and near anchored shrimp boats. Many times there will be a group, and, like Chicken Dolphin, all of the fish will stick around as long as one is hooked and fighting in the water. The fish think the hooked fish is onto some food and stick around to see what they can get.
We tried platform after platform. Bill and Eric were jigging, and Kelly was throwing live bait, while Mike threw out Sardines as chum. The waves were banging us and the wind was turning us all around, but Capt. Chris managed to keep the boat on the platforms while we tried to scare up a Cobia.
Turned out it was not our day for Cobia. The rough seas and dirty water just made it near impossible to find one of these big, hard fighting fish that can get over one hundred pounds. As we went from platform to platform, the waves just absolutely banged us all over the place.
After one more platform, Capt. Chris called it a day; it was getting too rough to have fun or catch fish. The fact that the Captain put us onto the fish we did catch was incredible; what with the weather and seas that we faced; most boats out that day ended up wet, beat up and skunked. We ended up with three different species of Snapper, two Strawberry Grouper and a shark. We had plenty of fish to take home and eat.
Once back at Belle Pass Marina, the sun came out but the wind continued to howl. We got pictures and Mike went to the task of cleaning our catch, separating them by species, and bagging them up.
I headed back to New Orleans with Bill and Eric. They were getting ready to head to Memphis for a few shows and I was headed home to edit photos and get ready to take photos at a concert the next night.
Captain Chris Moran runs a first class act on everything, from his charter service to his marina to his store to his cabins and lodge. He makes sure every client has a good time on the water and when they are in his available lodging. Creating memories of a lifetime is his job. He certainly did that for out little motley crew. Licenses, bait, gear; its all available at his store. From start to finish on a trip with Cajun Made, Capt. Chris has everything you might need. He fishes inshore for species such as Speckled Trout, Redfish and Flounder, the close rigs for Snapper, Grouper and Cobia and Blue Water trips for Tuna and Mahi. Tell him what you want and he will tailor make a trip of a lifetime just for you.
To get in touch with Captain Chris Moran to schedule a trip go to www.cajunmadecharters.com or call 985-396-2442 or 225-931-7306. He can accommodate one or two people up to large corporate groups.
Strawberry Grouper and Mangrove Snapper Recipe
Start with:
Two pounds of Snapper and Grouper, sliced into five to six inch long by one inch wide strips
One cup of milk
Two eggs
DuckButter Hot Sauce
Garlic powder
Black pepper
Tony C's Cajun Seasoning
Half a pound of bacon
Peanut or Cottonseed oil
Louisiana Fish Fry, New Orleans Style
Two or three small to medium paper grocery sacks
Heat the oil to medium hot and drop the bacon in; the bacon adds a great little extra to the flavor of the fish as it cooks in the oil. Pour the fish fry into a paper bag; add a spoonful of garlic, a spoonful of Tony C's and a spoonful of black pepper. Shake the bag well until the spices and mix are blended well. Put the milk, the eggs and the DuckButter, to taste, in a seperate container. Soak the fish in the batter and then put the fish in the bag and shake until all of the pieces are covered and mix. Its best to go with five or so pieces at a time; that way you wont have too many in the bag or in the oil. After getting the fish ready, take the done bacon out of the oil and put in the fish. Fry until the fish are golden brown and floating in the oil. Add fries, coleslaw, hushpuppies or whatever you like, and you have a fantastic meal!
Mangrove Snapper Tackle/Bait
Medium to medium heavy baitcasting rods
Medium saltwater baitcasting reels
Twenty pound test
3/0 hook
As the day went on we added:
Half ounce sinker, rigged Texas style; then as the day wore on more and the current started playing a bigger factor, a half ounce sinker rigged up Carolina style, above a swivel tying on a fifty pound leader. At the end of the day we had on a whole ounce of weight.
The bait were small Croakers, two to four inches in length. The Croakers were hooked either from the bottom lip up and out one of the nostrils, to the side, or, hooked right behind the dorsal fin.
We free-lined the bait down the water column, with the current and chum, and down to the fish.
