The Uncle Vic International Invitational 2002 -- Second Annual Bertram 31 Event with a Coonass Flair ! |
By JOE MACALUSO Advocate outdoors writer - The Advocate Online, Baton Rouge, LA
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Fourrier knows enough about catching the big, ocean-roaming fish hanging within reach of Port Eads, and knew enough to make a late-June trip to hunt for big yellowfin tuna, and he knew where to go. Even in marginal conditions, the action on yellowfins has been solid since the middle of March. Wahoo, bull dolphin, and blue and white marlin were attacking trolled baits, making the trip 20-plus miles from the mouth of South Pass all the more alluring.
The "how many" comes into play because he knows the more trips into the deep, blue sea, the better the odds of catching a trophy fish. That happened, and he has pictures to prove it. Trolling 50 miles out in the "prettiest blue water we've seen all year," the five-man crew latched onto something extraordinarily big. How big? "My son Brad -- he caught the fish -- is 6-foot-3 and weighs 220 pounds, and the fish he caught is as big as he is," Andre Fourrier said. "After he fought the fish about 30 minutes to get it to the boat, it took everyone aboard to get the fish into the boat. "It was a grand experience." The yellowfin bottomed out a 200-pound scale, and the elder Fourrier estimated it to weigh 220 pounds. |
Brad Fourrier holds the 200-pound-plus yellowfin tuna taken last week aboard the Nathan III. With him, from left, are brother Carter Fourrier, Earnest Fields and Matt Bordelon. Brad battled the fish for nearly an hour and his dad, Andre Fourrier, said it took everyone aboard to get the giant into the boat. They were fishing 50 miles south of the Mississippi River's South Pass.
Andre Fourrier has been plying the deep waters off the mouth of the Mississippi River long enough to know that it's not how much but how many that determines a catch of a lifetime.
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