Diving For A Cause: Louisiana Gulf Trip 2023

Paid for this trip in 2019 with plans to go in summer of 2020…then covid happened and it got cancelled.

In 2021 there was an issue with the captain/boat and it got cancelled.

In 2022 I got covid right before the trip and was too sick to dive.

Finally this year I was able to make it happen.

Three days of diving off a siiiick 37 foot VH Freeman with quad 350s, staying at a sweet houseboat down at Venice Marina, home cooked meals each night from the houseboat owners.

Captain Brandon Hendrickson (amazing diver and all around great guy) and his crew went above and beyond to get us on fish and make sure we filled the coolers.

At least 70% of fish donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank in New Orleans. My family has benefited from their charity in the past after hurricanes so I know they do really good work.

Conditions were excellent, we had great viz and found fish super close to shore.

Highlights for me were my PB Cobia, Amberjack, Mangrove Snapper, Red Snapper, Dog Snapper and Tripletail.

At the end of the trip we drove up to the foodbank and donated almost 300 pounds of fillets.

Very happy to have finally been able to make this trip happen, and stoked that I got some good pics and video to help me remember all the good times.

If you are looking to shoot some fish for a good cause you should check out DFAC, if you want to go offshore in Venice I highly recommend Brandon, and for inshore and lodging right there I can’t say enough good things about Donny Duke and Tigers Den.

https://www.divingforacause.org/home.html

https://instagram.com/spearobrando?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.tigersdenvenice.com/

Here are pics and a little vid.



 

Sincerely,

Jim

Few more pics. I just took home collars and ribs and bellies and one Tripletail filet for mom and dad and donated all the rest.

Pics are of AJ ribs, collars, sashimi and baked Tripletail.

 

Congrats on your PB Cobia  Thanks for the great report & fish porns Jim.

So great to see you thriving in the water where you belong, bro.  Great report!   

great pictorial account Jim, the plates look really delicious!