Fishing Trips

1) Deep Drop Fishing 70-100 miles offshore

This type of fishing is our specialty. The Fighting Chicken is equipped with 4 Kristal 651 reels, 1 Kristal 621 reel,1 myia command 6 reel and a pacific trawler commercial reel. Deep drop fishing is good all year long and doesn't have a "season". These fish bite day or night depending on their mood. Sea conditions and current dictate where and how we fish and each trip is different. We split our time fishing deep ledges, coral bottom and wrecks in depths of 300 to 1200 feet and occasionally to 2000 feet straight down. We target 6 species of grouper, deepwater snapper and jacks, tilefish, barrelfish, bartula, amberjacks and longfin seabass. Most everything we catch is great eating and the action can be fast. Come fish the deep with us and you'll be surprised (and maybe scared) of what comes off the bottom.

2) Full Day Trip (8-9hrs.) 35-45 miles offshore

This trip targets Red Snapper, Mangrove Snapper, King Mackerel, Cobia, Jack Crevelle, Spanish Mackerel and Sharks

This is a great day trip. We are blessed with a lot of quality, productive snapper grounds within about one hour travel time from our marina. We mainly fish wrecks, reefs and hard bottom on these trips. The water depth is generally 65-95 ft. Red Snapper are always a favorite. Captain Steve loves his snapper. He generally chums them up to the top and drifts live bait and cut bait back to them. May brings in the Cobia and later on big Kings make a strong showing. We always fish fresh or live bait on these trips.

3) Extended Day Trip (12hr.) 50-60 miles offshore

This trip targets Red and Black Snapper, King Mackerel, Cobia, Jack Crevelle, Mahi-Mahi, Triggerfish, Amberjacks and Sharks.

More time means more opportunity to find quality fish. Now we can wander further offshore to less fished areas. You will be fishing in deeper water from 100-200ft. We fish mainly wrecks and rigs on this trip. Fresh bait, live bait and jigging is the way to go on this trip.

4) Shelf Trip 70-85 miles offshore

This is where things get interesting. This trip takes you to the deep rigs and live coral bottom ( Yes ,I said live coral) .

We target Gag, Scamp, Yellowedge, Snowy and Warsaw Grouper along with Big Amberjack, Snappers and Wahoo

I prefer to fish live bottom and ledges in the 220-400ft of water. This is reef fishing at it’s finest. In the past year we have had grouper up to 140lbs. and lost some even bigger ! Our best amberjack stands at 92lbs. This is a tough neighborhood. On some trips we end up in 700ft+ of water and break out the electric reels to fish for deepwater grouper. I usually troll for wahoo on these trips to mix things up. Live bait, cut bait and heavy jigs all work out here. In this area anything can happen. We've run into big Makos, mahi-mahi, cobia and a few tuna and billfish. This is a great long day trip with lots of action.

5) Overnight Tuna & Swordfish Trips 24 hrs.+ 90-100 miles offshore

This is a blue water run. We leave around 9:00am, stop for bait on our way out and spend the day fishing the floaters ( Ramm-Powell, Horn Mountain etc.) Chunking, kite fishing live bait or trolling is the norm. Around dark we move to the swordfish grounds and set up for the night bite. In the morning we work our way back to the dock and start cleaning fish. This trip produces yellowfins, blackfins, wahoo, mahi-mahi, an occasional marlin and our favorite swordfish.

6) Safari Trip “not for the faint of heart” 30hrs. 100+ miles offshore

This is my favorite trip! We fish for everything that swims in the Gulf.

We leave the dock at 9:00am and head offshore. After loading up with live bait, we fish our way out to the tuna grounds. Out there we kite fish, run live bait and chunk tuna. After dark we get in some deep dropping then chase swordfish all night. In the morning we fish Grouper, Snapper, Amberjacks and troll wahoo. We start heading in around lunch and hopefully grab a cobia or two on the way in. This is a tough trip but the fishing can be great! Besides, sleep is over-rated.

7) Fly Fishing / Ultra light fishing 8-9hrs. 25-40miles offshore

This is a great trip. Chasing shrimp boats can yield cobia, jacks, bonita, king and Spanish mackerel and sharks. Most of the time you will see your quarry hit the fly. Weed mats can have all that along with triple tails and mahi. The rigs always host big barracuda with lots of other tackle busters. You can do all this within an hour of our marina. We can also anchor on a wreck and start chumming. By tossing flies in a chumslick, red snapper, king mackerel, cobia and sharks are great sight fishing targets. Big streamers, poppers and baitfish patterns all work well. Most customers fish 7/8 wt. rods or heavier. I like to have at least 12lb. leader and lots of backing (lots). The Gulf Coast is a great fly fishing destination. Most of our trips produce non-stop action. Try it one time and you'll be a regular.

8) Big Game Flyfishing Tuna, Amberjack, Bull Dolphin, Wahoo

I like to mix in fly fishing with other tactics on this trip. Heavy tackle is a must ,12/14 wt. and better with high quality reels. This is blue water fishing. I like to fish floating debris and weedlines with big, fast moving flies. We also cast into chumslicks for tuna and sometimes a fly caster had to be ready to cast to a fish following another fish that is hooked by someone else in the party. This is typical when catching mahi-mahi. May and June is the time to target big amberjacks on a fly near the surface of the deep rigs. This gets a little crazy sometimes but beating a big amberjack on a fly is a major accomplishment in anyone's book. There are dozens of species that will take a fly in the northern Gulf. The Mississippi Gulf Coast can offer some unique fly fishing opportunities you can't get anywhere else. One trip is all it takes and you'll see good we have it in the Southland.

Boats

The Fighting Chicken is a 2004, 32’ Twin Vee Catamaran. She is a pilothouse design with a custom made shade canopy. There is ample seating with backrests for comfort and safety. On long trips we bring plenty of large beanbags. This is the perfect Gulf of Mexico charter boat. She is powered by twin 225hp Honda outboards. She is equipped with Furuno and Garmin electronics and has 4 electric reel stations. From snapper to swordfish this boat can handle it. We carry up to 6 passengers aboard the Fighting Chicken. Recently we upgraded our navigation system to Windplot with an onboard computer. This allows us instant access to 240 nautical charts, including bathymetric information of the seafloor. This information along with our commercial grade sounder (fish finder) lets us "see" exactly what the boat is over and where the fish are. Every effort has been made to insure your trip is exciting and enjoyable. Remember it's not about the fishing, it's about the catching!

The Cat Eyes, our smaller boat is a 2006, 26’ Twin Vee Express. She is equipped similar to the 32 and accommodates up to 4 passengers. She is powered by twin140hp Suzuki outboards. This is a great day trip boat that’s quick and economical. This boat can carry up to 4 anglers and offers plenty of shade as well as a queen size berth if you need to snooze on the way home. This little boat has brought in plenty of big fish and offers plenty of comfort for the smaller group.