We dropped into Venice to hit a quick day trip and Capt Jay got us onto some big Reds and kept us on fish all day. The conditions were not ideal but that didn’t stop Capt Jay from finding our limit of Redfish and we landed 8 species of fish.
We take 3-4 guided trips a year and this one was our best day in at least 5 years.

Thanks, Capt Jay. We’ll be back.

First thing is Jay Winters is one hell of a great person to be with. It was like fishing with my brother, lots of back & forth, good natured kidding, really enjoyed being with him & hope I didn’t talk his ears off. He worked very hard to get my limit of speckled trout. Would have been easier but we had to go thru a TON of too small throw backs & gafftopsail catfish (dangerous toxic slime on their fins). I finally gave up & let him take us in out of the ridiculous heat. We did luck out & catch this 22 lb. redfish. We doubled up but mine finally cut thru the line with his tiny sharp bottom teeth but Jay immediately handed me his rod to bring that one in for quick pics then revival in the water & away it went. Again there are no guarantees in fishing but he will ALWAYS work his butt off for you! If I get back down there I guarantee I will book with him again.

I booked this trip with Captain Jay because my ten year old daughter wanted to go fishing for her birthday.  She had never been fishing in the Gulf before. I also took my dad who is 85 and he had always wanted to go to but had never been. Captain Jay was awesome! He knows the fish, the waters, his equipment and how to handle his boat. Best of all he is an amazing guy. He helped all of us catch fish. He was very patient with us. The very first time I casted I caught a big red fish! My daughter caught a red fish that was 31inches long! Seeing the smiles on my daughter’s and dad’s faces made fishing with Captain Jay the best fishing trip in my life.

Under very challenging conditions Captain Jay never gave up on finding the fish for my 14 and 11 year old sons and me and provided a very fun day in the process. Overall it was a slow day of catching fish due to the high water and windy conditions, but we caught enough along the way to keep us motivated. We finally hit a jackpot at the very end of the day with very little time left on the trip. Captain Jay kept us out longer to make sure we got all the fishing we could out of that spot.  He did everything possible to put us on fish, even a bumpy and wet ride to a spot further out - undoubtedly my 11 year old’s favorite part of the day (other than catching the fish of course). Along the way, Captain Jay had a great attitude, a fun personality, and is great with kids. I would highly recommend Captain Jay and book with him again myself.

My usual guide out of Venice wasn’t available on the days I could fish, so I booked Capt. Jay to take me out. Wanting to avoid an early-morning drive from the west side of New Orleans, I stayed at a bed & breakfast in Buras, thinking I’d have a 20-minute drive south to Venice the next morning. To my surprise, Capt. Jay texted me we’d fish out of Buras, so talk about convenience! We had to delay a little due to heavy fog, but we got across the Mississippi and into the marshes, where we began. Nothing was hitting, so as expected, we took a 15-minute ride to Capt. Jay’s “secret spot,” a short distance into the Gulf. This was the ticket, and we limited out on redfish by 10:45 am - three of them were very nice sized (see picture of two of them). We also caught some sheepshead and a bonus was four speckled sea trout, not many of which had been caught recently. We even caught an undersized black drum, which we released. Capt. Jay actually called some other boats based out of Buras to tell them where the action was, but none of them would “come out” to the spot. Needless to say, from the reports I heard and the fish I saw back at the dock, we out fished everyone. Capt. Jay told me he fishes out of Venice sometimes, and he’s even gone out of the mouth of the Mississippi for tuna, although that trip is an anomaly. Needless to say, he knows where to fish all over the area south of New Orleans, and I highly recommend him - this is coming from someone who’s fished the area since the 1970’s. The bonus is Capt. Jay is a hoot to chat with while fishing, so it’s doubly fun.