Fishing The Islands In Style
By Mike Lane
RodnReel.com
Captain Robbie Thornton II of Southern
Sports Fishing called me a month ago and invited myself and a guest to join
him onboard one of his big boats. Hey, what can you do, I didn’t want to
disappoint him so I said yes!
Of course, I invited my business partner Helmut.
Unfortunately, Helmut had already made plans. My girlfriend, Dina, loves
to fish so it was Dina and myself.
We arrived at the Biloxi's Point Cadet Marina which is
behind the Isle of Capri Casino around 10pm; checked in with the boat, verified
sailing time as 12:00 midnight and went to eat at the Isle of Capri Casino
restaurant, Farradday’s. The atmosphere was great and the menu superb.
We chatted with our waitress Lucy Ruland about the specialties of the house and
took her recommendation of the Shrimp en Brouchette appetizer. A shrimp
wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cheese and a sliver of jalapeno served with a
wonderful garlic butter sauce. We chose the large cut Prime Rib Cast Iron Pan
Blackened for me and the Blackened Red Snapper with Sautéed Lump Crabmeat for
Dina were our choices. Dina requested hers with mild seasoning. The
fish and crabmeat was almost without seasoning, just the way she asked for it
which showed the freshness of the fish and crabmeat. They were perfectly
fresh.
If you get the Large Cut Prime Rib, you may want to share
it. It was huge. After eating as much as I could, we took it aboard
and there was plenty left for lunch for both Dina and me. The food was
fabulous and the service was great. Many thanks to the manager Tony Meek
and the lovely Lucy.
We are fishing the infamous Chandelier
Island Chain. The chain is located 40 miles offshore in the
waters of Louisiana, the Chandeleur Islands offer the finest Trout and Red
Fishing in the world.
These islands provide 45 miles of surf and over 30,000 acres of wadeable grass
flats, coves and inlets. Every year there are many new underwater bars and deep
passes due to the active tropical seasons.
It is not uncommon to encounter huge schools of surface feeding Red Fish, Trout,
or Bluefish. Tarpon and sharks are an added Mid-Summer bonus.
The best months for wade fishing are April, May, and
October. The best months are June, July, August and September.
We eat, drink, sleep and socialize on the “mother ship”
and then fish on smaller boats. Southern Sport Fishing offers two mother
ships. "The V", (length 110') and "The VI", (length 127').
Each vessel has luxurious (semi-private) overnight accommodations for twelve
persons and each is outfitted with six 15' Sea-N-Sport fiberglass skiffs with
Yamaha outboard motors. "The V" and "The VI" are fully
air-conditioned and equipped with DirectTV satellite and tracking systems.
Five fishing trips will be packed into the next 3 days.
Great fishing, great food and the opportunity for good rest between trips are
there for the taking.
We opted not to fish Friday morning. Dina and I had
partied a little too much and a little to late to fully enjoy the morning trip.
We fished offshore with Captain Robbie Thornton II and his friend/deckhand Cleat
in the afternoon. Robbie has a 35’ converted Cigarette Boat with twin
Yamaha 250hp outboards. The weather was tough but his boat handled it
without a problem. Our destination was a wreck about an hour southeast of
the Islands. We had to alter our course repeatedly to avoid the serious
thunderstorms that were building in the Gulf in front of us.
We made it to the wreck and on our first drop… bam, two
nice sized Amberjacks. Four more drifts across the wreck and we had our
4man/4 amberjack limit. We were fishing with dead small white trout at
about 35 feet down. I was surprised to find the Amberjack so close to the
surface. Robbie told me it is not uncommon to hook these freight trains
very near to the surface on this wreck. It was fun to fight these fish
with no rig nearby for them to swim to and break us off. Dina was excited
and did a great job fighting and landing her first amberjack. 
.
The weather began to close in and it was back to the
“mother ship” to seek shelter. Fortunately, the ride back was with the
seas and we were able to get after it.
Back at the “lodge”, dinner was being prepared by Jadda.
He makes everything from scratch. The appetizer tonight was egg rolls.
I’m not sure of the ingredients other that lightly sautéed fish and other
interesting looking ingredients rolled by hand into a fabulous fresh egg roll
then deep fried.
Here are a few pictures that show the work in progress. 
.
The entrée was fresh fried trout with sliced onions.
All the meals were first class, including this one. We even had red velvet
cake and ice cream for desert, yeah, we were suffering.
Captain Gene Campbell, owner of Chandeleur
Island Charter, provided boats and captains for the Island fishing.
Gene, his captains and Southern Sports Fishing work hand-in-hand to offer every
aspect of the complete Island experience.
Dina and I fished with Captain Jimmy Trahan in a “Texas
‘skinny water” boat. We headed out to a nearby Island, but when we got
there, the weather was boiling up and Jimmy said he thought we should go back
and fish a grass bed that was closer to the mother ship.
The grass bed was in about 9 feet of water and produced
some nice trout and one big red before the rain caused us to seek shelter.
The rain literally came down in buckets and reduced visibility to 15 feet.
We headed to a nearby shore and anchored near the bank. The rain was
beating down and the cold wind blowing, the only refuse was in the water until
the rain slowed down and then it was back to the “mother ship”.
Sometimes people talk about the easy life of a charter
captain, well here we were balancing our desire to catch fish, remain safe and
endure the weather with some degree of comfortability. Our guides made the
right decision in each case, and we did indeed have a great time, catch fish and
“weather” the storm.
The next 1½ days were repeats of the above. Little
did we know that Tropical Storm Bill was in the early stages of development and
causing problems all over the Gulf Coast area.
We met some wonderful people, shared some great times and
even with the weather caught some nice fish.
Weather permitting, I can’t wait to go again and catch
more of the plentiful big yellow mouths and redfish that created the reputation
and mystic of this Chandelier Island Chain.
To arrange your Chandelier Island experience:
Southern Sports Fishing
Captain Robbie Thornton II
1-866-763-7335
http://www.southernsportsfishing.com/
Chandeleur Island Charter
Captain Gene Campbell
(281) 428- 2549
http://www.rodnreel.com/chandeleurislandcharter/
